2019-20 Departmental Results Report

Table of Contents

Correctional Investigator’s message 
Results at a glance 
Results: what we achieved 
Core Responsibilities 
Independent oversight of federal corrections 
Internal Services 
Analysis of trends in spending and human resources 
Actual expenditures 
Actual human resources 
Expenditures by vote 
Government of Canada spending and activities 
Financial statements and financial statements highlights 
Financial statements 
Financial statements highlights 
Supplementary information 
Corporate information 
Organizational profile 
Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do 
Operating context and key risks 
Supporting information on the program inventory 
Supplementary information tables 
Federal tax expenditures 
Organizational contact information 
Appendix 1: Definitions 
Appendix 2: Gender Based Analysis 

Correctional Investigator's message

In 2019-20, my Office continued to move forward in advancing systemic-level (or “root cause”) investigations. Three national-level investigations were conducted and completed in the reporting period:

1. A Culture of Silence : National Investigation into Sexual Coercion and Violence in Federal Corrections
2. An Investigation of Therapeutic Ranges at Male Maximum Security Institutions
3. Learning behind Bars : An Investigation of Educational Programming and Vocational Training in Federal Penitentiaries

The investigation of sexualized violence in federal prisons was ground-breaking as it represents the first time that my Office has publicly reported on this issue. Other investigations undertook in 2019-20 included:

• Case reviews of Medical Assistance in Dying
• Replacement of CSC’s Prisoner Escort Vehicles
• Bill C-83 reforms and implementation (abolishment of solitary confinement)
• Egregious use of force cases
• Dry cells
• Inmate access to the Media

Through the reporting period, my Office took steps to further develop our capacity to carry out prison inspection activities as a complement to our investigative mandate. This is consistent with Section 174 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act , which confers the right to enter and inspect federal penitentiaries and “carry out therein any investigation or inspection.” In context of COVID-19, we initiated short, targeted inspection-like visits to federal correctional facilities in the Quebec and Ontario regions. We intend to refine our approach to inspections, consolidate what we have learned so far, and take this work forward into 2020-21.

The evolving COVID-19 situation threw a curve ball into all of our lives, not just work plans and corporate priorities. We finished out the reporting year (March 31, 2020) in the middle of a viral outbreak. Though visits by my Office to institutions were suspended mid-March, critical/essential services were maintained. The Office’s toll free number in every penitentiary remained open and operational. Investigators initiated regular contacts with Inmate Welfare Committees, institutional Health Services and senior management. Two COVID-19 updates were released and included recommendations for mass testing of inmates at affected sites, inmate access to face masks, independent verification of CSC’s infection prevention and control protocols, and public disclosure of CSC plans for returning to a “new normal.” These recommendations (and others), have been accepted by CSC and the Government, and are consistent with public health measures in place in the rest of Canada. Mandatory testing and provision of masks to inmates (not just staff) recognizes that the spread and severity of COVID-19 infection in settings such as prisons and long-term care facilities is far more likely to be serious and widespread. As the virus moves into its second wave, my Office will continue to maintain vigilance.Clearly, however, it will be some time before things normalize, and no one can predict when my Office or CSC will resume to a business as usual footing.

It is with great pride that I submit this Departmental Results Report which provides information on how my Office has fulfilled its important mandate in fiscal year 2019-20.

Ivan Zinger J.D., Ph.D. 
Correctional Investigator of Canada

Results at a glance

Who was involved? 

40 Actual FTEs Utilization

What funds were used? 

$ 5,440,958 
Actual Spending

Results Highlights 

• Responded to 5,553 offender complaints
• Interviewed 1,132 offenders
• Responded to over 27,582 contacts (including via the toll free number)
• Completed the review of 1,109 Use of Force files
• Completed the review of 109 cases involving serious bodily injury or death
• Spent 354 cumulative days in penitentiaries
• Completed three (3) major national level investigations

All this in an effort to ensure better correctional outcomes for federal offenders.

For more information on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core Responsibilities

Independent oversight of federal corrections

Description 

The Office of the Correctional Investigator conducts investigations of complaints directed to the Correctional Service of Canada by federal offenders (incarcerated or in the community); by offenders on behalf of another offender; and by family and friends on behalf of an offender. It also carries out systemic investigations of issues that affect large numbers of federal offenders. The Office of the Correctional Investigator reviews all Correctional Services of Canada investigations of deaths in custody and serious bodily injury cases to ensure Correctional Service of Canada compliance with law and policy and conducts reviews of all use of force incidents. The Office of the Correctional Investigator’s investigative activities support a safe, lawful and humane federal correctional practice to ensure that federal correctional decisions and practices are in compliance with human rights, law, policy, and are fair.

Results 

Over the past fiscal year 2019-20, the investigative team responded to 5,553 offender complaints, conducted 1,132 interviews with offenders, and staff spent a cumulative total of 354 days visiting federal penitentiaries across the country. The Officer’s use of force and serious incident review teams conducted 1,109 use of force compliance reviews and 109 mandated reviews involving assaults, deaths, attempted suicides and self-harm incidents.

In 2019-20, the Office undertook three national-level investigations:

1. A Culture of Silence : National Investigation into Sexual Coercion and Violence in Federal Corrections,
2. An Investigation of Therapeutic Ranges at Male Maximum Security Institutions, and
3. Learning behind Bars : An Investigation of Educational Programming and Vocational Training in Federal Penitentiaries.

Also, in 2019-20, the Office completed a number of major cases and updates:

1. Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) – case review
2. Replacement of CSC’s Prisoner Escort Vehicles
3. Bill C-83 Reforms and Implementation
   1. Structure Intervention Units
   2. Clinical Independence and Professional Autonomy of Registered Health Care Personnel
   3. Patient Advocates
4. Use of Force Reviews- Egregious Cases
   1. Pain Compliance
   2. Use of Stun Grenade
5. Dry Cells
6. Inmate Access to the Media
7. Edmonton Institution Update – Staff Discipline
8. Indigenous Corrections – Update

Internal Services 

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are: /p>

• Acquisition Management Services
• Communications Services
• Financial Management Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Legal Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Management and Oversight Services
• Real Property Management Services

Results

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted OCI operations at their very core, resulting in the activation of our Business Continuity Plan in mid-March. As an essential service providing critical external prison oversight, around 90% of staff had to work from home and the office suspended all of our planned visits to penitentiaries. Nonetheless, our team members kept delivering on their core functions – taking inmate calls, investigating individual complaints, reviewing uses of force incidents – all the while taking stock of a new reality by monitoring inmates’ conditions of confinement in all federal penitentiaries on a regular basis. Of note, the Office was able the increase the number of complaints it addressed from last year.

The Office has introduced new business practices to optimize linkages between individual investigations and systemic reviews/investigations. A few of the measures to achieve this goal include the co-location of the policy and research group with the investigative stream, regular coordination meeting between these two teams, and the introduction of the CI cases (i.e. Correctional Investigator cases), whereby the investigative stream identifies and brings to the CI’s attention individual cases that have potential systemic dimensions.

The vision for the office is to be a world-leading correctional ombudsman’s office, particularly in today’s digital economy. The OCI is focused on being innovative, adaptive and a flexible organization, confident in the face of rapid technological change. This year, the OCI made great strides in implementing new technologies to assist the Correctional Investigator in filling his assumed function. Some of these new technologies include: hosting the public web site using Cloud services, a shared case management system leveraging modern software and a collaboration platform to communicate internal information. As the pace of digital disruption is accelerating, the OCI developed a five-year IM/IT plan that takes the organization from one that is mostly paper-based system to one with a full digital office.

In the next fiscal year, the Office will build upon the great work already undertaken and modernize our business processes in an effort to improve investigations of offender complaints and systemic issues, in order to fulfill our legal mandate to its fullest.

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources 

Actual expenditures 

Departmental spending trend graph

 
 

Over the last several fiscal years, the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s actual spending has incrementally increased over the past four years, averaging $5.0 million of voted appropriations. Because of incremental program integrity funding secured in Budget 2018, spending in 2019-20 increased to $5.2 million. This level of expenditures should be maintained in future fiscal years as well. 
 

Beginning with 2018-19, overall spending increased because of permanent program integrity funding secured via Budget 2018. This funding was used to hire new investigative resources.

Actual human resources

The Office of the Correctional Investigator’s full-time equivalents (FTEs) utilization has remained static in recent fiscal years. However, the number of FTES in the primary core responsibility increased in the reporting period because of incremental program integrity funding secured in Budget 2018.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada. 

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase .

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements 

The Office of the Correctional Investigator’s financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2019, are available on the departmental website .

Financial statements highlights

The Condensed Statement of Operations, as it has in the past, highlights the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s consistency in establishing planned results and linking these to the financial resources required to achieve them. In this reporting period, the difference between actuals and planned results is 157,879 or 3%.

In the Condensed Statement of Financial Position, the difference between the organization’s net financial position over the last two fiscal years is 28,464 or 15%.

Supplementary information 

Corporate information 

Organizational profile 

Appropriate minister: The Honourable William Sterling Blair, P.C., C.O.M., M.P. 
Institutional head: Ivan Zinger, J.D., Ph.D. 
Ministerial portfolio: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness 
Enabling instrument: Corrections and Conditional Release Act 
Year of incorporation / commencement: 1973 pursuant to the Inquiries Act and 1992 pursuant to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act .

Other: 

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do 

Mandate and role

For information about the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s role and mandate, visit the organization’s website. 
For more information on the organization’s mandate letter commitments, see the Minister’s mandate letter .

Operating context and key risks 

For information about the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s Operating context and key risks, visit the organization’s website. 

Graphical presentation of Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory

The Office of the Correctional Investigator’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2018–19 are shown below.

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase .

Supplementary information tables 

The following supplementary information tables are available on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s website: 

• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures 

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures . This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information 

Office of the Correctional Investigator Canada 
PO Box+ 3421, Station D 
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6L4 
Canada 
Telephone:  1-877-885-8848 
Fax :  613-990-0563

E-mail: org@oci-bec.gc.ca 

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit) 

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires) 

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle) 

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a Core Responsibility are reflected in one or more related Departmental Results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel) 

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three-year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Result (résultat ministériel) 

A Departmental Result represents the change or changes that the department seeks to influence. A Departmental Result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel) 

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a Departmental Result.

Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats) 

Consists of the department’s Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels) 

A report on an appropriated department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation) 

Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein) 

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+]) 

An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, Programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales) 

For the purpose of the 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada’s Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale) 

An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires) 

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement) 

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement) 

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement) 

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan) 

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues) 

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

priority (priorité) 

A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s) or Departmental Results.

program (programme) 

A group of related resource inputs and activities that are managed to meet specific needs and to achieve intended results and that are treated as a budgetary unit.

result (résultat) 

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives) 

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique) 

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization's mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible) 

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées) 

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

Appendix 2: Gender Based Analysis +

Governance Structure 

The OCI’s gender-based analysis + (GBA+) and development of this framework was completed by assessing the impact of investigative activities on diverse groups, including women and men. It was determined that this analysis will remain relevant going forward as the OCI’s investigative activities and priorities typically remain the same. The focus of this analysis was on three specific groups: federal offenders who are Indigenous, federal offenders who are women and federal offenders who have mental health issues; as well as the intersection between these groups.

Indigenous offenders are overrepresented in federal corrections. To date, Indigenous individuals represent 31.2% of the inmate population, while only accounting for approximately 5% of Canada’s overall population, Indigenous offenders represent 26.6% of the total offender population (31.2% of the in-custody population and 20.3% of the community population). The employment, health and general needs of Indigenous offenders are higher than the general offender population. They are overrepresented in maximum-security institutions, in segregation and in use of force interventions. They typically have poorer correctional outcomes (e.g. lesser rate of parole, more releases at Statutory Release and more parole revocations), than the general offender population.

The number of women prisoners has increased 31% in the last 10 years. Specifically, Indigenous women are overrepresented in federal corrections as 44.3% of women offenders are Indigenous. The population of federally sentenced Indigenous women has increased by 68% over the last 10 years (since 2010-11). Women offenders in general have higher rates of self-injury, victimization and mental health issues than their male counterparts. Within the federally sentenced female population, Indigenous women have the highest rates in relation to these indicators

Offenders with mental health issues are overrepresented in federal correction. These offenders typically have higher needs than the general offender population in terms of health, employment and their correctional outcomes tend to be poorer (e.g. higher rates of segregation, more use of force incidents, less access to programs and they are released later in their sentence).

Over the 2019-2020 reporting period, the Office completed several projects using gender-based analysis including the following:

• Analysis and summary of corrections issues related to the final report of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Working Group.
• A statistical analysis of participation in the Mother-Child program within women’s federal facilities.
• Completed a summary and analysis of the Correctional Service of Canada’s national recidivism study. The analysis was conducted by gender and ethnicity..
• 2018-19 OCI Annual Report, the following issues were discussed in the women’s chapter: .
  • Transgender inmates
  • Profile of Indigenous women
  • Programming space for Indigenous women
  • Strip searches at women’s federal facilities
• Systemic Investigation on Learning Behind Bars – conducted visits to women’s institutions to examine both education and vocational skills training. Final report provides analysis and discussion on the types of jobs women reported that they would like to participate in as some women felt that the current suite of employment opportunities were not sufficient or adequate.
• Systemic Investigation on Sexual Coercion and Violence – conducted interviews at women’s institutions to better understand their challenges and issues with respect to sexual coercion and violence while in prison.
• Indigenous Corrections – news release (January 21, 2020) contained analysis of Indigenous individuals (including separate analysis on Indigenous women) in federal institutions.