On this page:
- From the Correctional Investigator
- Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
- Planned spending and human resources
- Corporate information
- Supplementary information tables
- Federal tax expenditures
- Definitions
From the Correctional Investigator
Dr. Ivan Zinger, Correctional Investigator of Canada
The annual process of developing the organization’s Departmental Plan provides me with an opportunity to reflect on the important mandate in the pursuit of excellence in the field of independent prison oversight. In this regard, the oversight of human rights within the federal correctional penitentiary system requires an adherence to the core principles espoused by the United Nations:
All prisoners shall be treated with respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings. There shall be no discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
It is my conviction that Canadians overwhelmingly support these human rights principles and their application to federally incarcerated individuals housed under the care of the Correctional Service of Canada at penitentiaries throughout the country. Historically, my Office’s operational priorities have been founded on these core principles as well as the adherence to law and public policy. Through our complaint resolution process, prison inspections and investigation of systemic issues affecting large numbers of incarcerated individuals, my Office will continue to strive for the Correctional Service of Canada and its staff to apply these principles when interacting with individuals under their care with a view to ensuring a safe, lawful and human correctional system resulting in more positive correctional outcomes.
In 2025-2026, my Office will give priority to improving its service standards in the resolution of complaints, continue to implement a team-based inspection model in compliance with international standards, and develop criteria for identifying conducting systemic and thematic investigations. Internally to my Office, work will continue on ensuring workplace inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.
I look forward to reporting on my Office’s activities, performance and results in what promises to be another year of positive organizational change.
Ivan Zinger, JD., Ph.D.
Correctional Investigator
Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services.
Core responsibilities and internal services
Core responsibility 1: Independent oversight of federal corrections
In this section
- Description
- Quality of life impacts
- Indicators, results and targets
- Plans to achieve results
- Planned resources to achieve results
- Related government priorities
- Program inventory
- Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year
Description
The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) conducts investigations of complaints directed to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) by individual federal incarcerated or supervised offenders, and carries out systemic investigations of issues that affect large numbers of federal offenders. The OCI reviews all CSC investigations of deaths in custody and serious bodily injury cases to ensure CSC compliance with law and policy and conducts reviews of all use of force incidents. The OCIs 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.
Quality of life impacts
The OCI, through its core responsibility in providing independent oversight of federal corrections, contributes to the Good Governance domain of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada and more specifically to Discrimination and unfair treatment indicator through all the activities mentioned in the core responsibility description.
Indicators, results and targets
This section presents details on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025-26 for its core responsibility, Independent oversight of federal corrections. Details are presented by departmental result.
Table 1: A safe, lawful and humane federal correctional practice
Table 1 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Independent oversight of federal corrections
|
Departmental Result Indicators |
Actual Results |
Target |
Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of recommendations made in relation to individual offender complaints that were addressed by the Correctional Service of Canada. |
2021-22: 88% 2022-23: 92% 2023-24: 91% |
90% |
March 31, 2026 |
|
Percentage of recommendations made in relation to the Office’s corporate priorities that were addressed by the Correctional Service of Canada |
2021-22: 80% 2022-23: 80% 2023-24: 80% |
100% |
March 31, 2026 |
Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
The following section describes the planned results for the organization’s core responsibility, Independent oversight of federal corrections in 2025-26.
In 2025-26, as is the case every year, the investigative complement of the OCI will focus on responding to issues and concerns that affect incarcerated individuals or those being supervised in the community and require resolution. The expectation is that this involvement will result in positive correctional outcomes for these individuals as well as the correctional system writ large through the completion of systemic and thematic reviews, prison inspections and investigations.
In this reporting year, the OCI will advance the following priorities, aimed at improving its services:
-
Improve service standards to ensure more prompt resolution of incarcerated person’s complaints through efficient investigative processes by implementing:
- a monitoring process to ensure that 85% of incarcerated persons' complaints are resolved within 30 days of receipt and that the average treatment time remains under 15 days, and
- regular case review meetings to monitor the progress of ongoing investigations and identify any potential improvement processes.
-
Implement team-based inspection model in compliance with international standards as a tool to oversee compliance with human rights obligations, by:
- developing monitoring practices to ensure that inspections of most federal penitentiaries at least twice a year to monitor adherence to human rights standards,
- adopting reporting models, for institutional visits, that focuses on collective and systemic issues, and
- adopting visiting standards that ensures a follow-up of conclusions from previous visits.
-
Develop criteria for identifying systemic and thematic investigations, that consider previous investigations, and includes:
- using complaint data to identify and analyze various trends and emerging issues,
- reviewing compliance with the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and policy, and
- conducting stakeholder engagement with diverse individuals and groups and respond to inquiries related to policy and research concerns.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 2: Planned resources to achieve results for Independent oversight of federal corrections
Table 2 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
|
Resource |
Planned |
|---|---|
|
Spending |
$5,832,410 |
|
Full-time equivalents |
38 |
Complete financial and human resources information for the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
The OCI continues to demonstrate its commitment to Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) through its investigative work on a range of issues affecting federally sentenced individuals, with a focus on vulnerable populations including Indigenous Peoples, Black individuals, women, gender diverse individuals, aging offenders and individuals with mental health concerns. In 2025-26, the OCI will maintain this focus and highlight relevant statistics in the Annual Report.
The OCI plans to further establish and strengthen its governance of GBA Plus by appointing a champion and will begin work to develop a GBA Plus Framework that is appropriate and of manageable scale given the size of the organization. With the formalization of this as an analytical tool to assess the potential impacts of policies, services, and other initiatives on diverse groups of stakeholders, the OCI will be able to ensure that GBA Plus considerations are reflected in its work products.
To build upon its existing reporting related to gender and diversity factors, the OCI will review its current data collection and analysis processes to assess coverage and identify areas where there may be opportunity to further develop disaggregated data. Given the complexity of this exercise and the dependency on well established systems, it is anticipated that collection of any new data will require incremental progress over time.
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The OCI has commitments in support of three UN Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), namely Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and Climate Action (SDG 13). More information on the OCI’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.
Program inventory
Independent oversight of federal corrections is supported by the following programs:
- A safe, lawful and humane federal correctional practice
Additional information related to the program inventory for Independent oversight of federal corrections is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.
Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year
- There were no changes to the reporting framework in the last year.
Internal services
In this section
- Description
- Plans to achieve results
- Planned resources to achieve results
- Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses
Description
Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:
- management and oversight services;
- communications services;
- legal services;
- human resources management services;
- financial management services;
- information management services;
- information technology services;
- real property management services;
- materiel management services;
- acquisition management services.
Plans to achieve results
This section presents details on how the department plans to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.
In 2025-2026, the OCI will pursue work on workplace inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA), and continue to be responsive to the gender and diversity of its clients by accelerating its Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) efforts. Specifically, it will implement the following measures:
- Increase IDEA awareness, including consulting on and acquiring best practices.
- Develop and implement an IDEA action plan that addresses specific gaps and builds on opportunities.
- With the support of subject-matter experts, develop of an organizational GBA Plus Framework.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 3: Planned resources to achieve results for internal services this year
Table 3 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
|
Resource |
Planned |
|---|---|
|
Spending |
$2,231,108 |
|
Full-time equivalents |
10 |
Complete financial and human resources information for the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses
Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year. This commitment is to be fully implemented by the end of 2024-25.
The OCI surpassed the 5% requirement in 2024-25. As such, it will continue to implement similar measures such as continuing to identify Indigenous businesses available with the necessary expertise to meet its contracting needs and collaborate with service providers to implement planning and reporting methodology aimed at meeting and exceeding the 5% target namely using various contracting mechanisms made available.
Table 4: Percentage of contracts planned and awarded to Indigenous businesses
Table 4 presents the current, actual results with forecasted and planned results for the total percentage of contracts the department awarded to Indigenous businesses.
|
5% Reporting Field |
2023-24 Actual Result |
2024-25 Forecasted Result |
2025-26 Planned Result |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Total percentage of contracts with Indigenous businesses |
15% |
11% |
10% |
Planned spending and human resources
This section provides an overview of the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2025-26 with actual spending from previous years.
In this section
Spending
This section presents an overview of the department's planned expenditures from 2022-23 to 2027-28.
Budgetary performance summary
Table 5 Three-year spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
Table 5 presents how much money the OCI spent over the past three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.
|
Core responsibilities and Internal services |
2022-2023 Actual Expenditures |
2023-24 Actual Expenditures |
2024-2025 Forecast Spending |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Independent oversight of federal corrections |
$4,200,573 |
$5,480,588 |
$5,053,794
|
|
Subtotals |
$4,200,573
|
$5,480,588
|
$5,053,794
|
|
Internal services |
$1,561,141 |
$1,796,588 |
$2,075,052
|
|
Totals |
$5,761,714
|
$7,277,176
|
$7,128,846
|
Analysis of the past three years of spending
The variance in expenditure from 2022-2023 to 2023-24 is attributed to incremental funding received through an allotment increase.
More financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.
Table 6 Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
Table 6 presents how much money the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.
|
2025-26 Planned Spending |
2026-27 Planned Spending |
2027-28 Planned Spending |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Independent oversight of federal corrections |
$5,832,410 |
$5,835,100 |
$5,835,100 |
|
Subtotal |
$5,832,410 |
$5,835,100 |
$5,835,100 |
|
Internal services |
$2,231,108 |
$2,232,136 |
$2,232,136 |
|
Total |
$8,063,518 |
$8,067,236 |
$8,067,236 |
Analysis of the next three years of spending
The information in the table reflects constant financial requirements over the next three years, demonstrating an expected stable operating environment.
More detailed financial information on planned spending is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.
Funding
This section provides an overview of the department's voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. For further information on funding authorities, consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures.
Graph 1: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period
Graph 1 summarizes the department's approved voted and statutory funding from 2022-23 to 2027-28.
Graph 1 shows approved funding from 2022-23 to 2027-28 in bar format, differentiating between voted and statutory funding.
|
Fiscal year |
Total |
Voted |
Statutory |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2022-23 |
$6,063,844 |
$5,416,848 |
$646,996 |
|
2023-24 |
$7,054,793 |
$6,437,662 |
$617,131 |
|
2024-25 |
$7,462,410 |
$6,734,211 |
$728,199 |
|
2025-26 |
$8,063,518 |
$7,211,675 |
$851,843 |
|
2026-27 |
$8,067,236 |
$7,214,900 |
$852,336 |
|
2027-28 |
$8,067,236 |
$7,214,900 |
$852,336 |
Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period
The graph 1 and table show constant funding over the period, reflecting a stable operating environment for the operations of the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
For further information on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s departmental appropriations, consult the 2025-26 Main Estimates.
Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s operations for 2024-25 to 2025-26.
Table 7: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ended March 31, 2026 (dollars)
Table 7 summarizes the expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers for 2024-25 to 2025-26. The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.
|
Financial information |
2024-25 Forecast
|
2025-26 Planned results |
Difference (forecasted results minus planned) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Total expenses |
$7,780,432 |
$8,701,521 |
$921,089 |
|
Total revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers |
$7,780,432 |
$8,701,521 |
$921,089 |
Analysis of forecasted and planned results
The information in the table reflects a minor increase in funding requirement for 2025-26, reflecting an expected small increase in staff level.
A more detailed Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and associated Notes for 2025-26, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, is available on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s website.
Human resources
This section presents an overview of the department’s actual and planned human resources from 2022-23 to 2027-28.
Table 8: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services
Table 8 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents, for the OCI’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.
|
Core responsibilities and internal services |
2022-23 Actual full-time equivalents |
2023-24 Actual full-time equivalents |
2024-25 Forecasted full-time equivalents |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Independent oversight of federal corrections |
28 |
26 |
31 |
|
Subtotal |
28 |
26 |
31 |
|
Internal services |
8 |
8 |
10 |
|
Total |
36 |
34 |
41 |
Analysis of human resources over the last three years
The information in the table reflects a minor increase in planned human resources consistent with incremental funding received in 2023-24 through an allotment increase.
Table 9: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services
Table 9 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents, for each of the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years.
|
Core responsibilities and internal services |
2025-26 Planned full-time equivalents |
2026-27 Planned full-time equivalents |
2027-28 Planned
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Independent oversight of federal corrections |
38 |
38 |
38 |
|
Subtotal |
38 |
38 |
38 |
|
Internal services |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
Total |
48 |
48 |
48 |
Analysis of human resources for the next three years
The information in the table reflects additional increase in planned human resources from 2024-2025 resulting from incremental funding received in 2023-24 through an allotment increase, but remaining constant from 2025-26 to 2027-28.
Corporate information
Departmental profile
Appropriate minister(s): The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, P.C., M.P.
Institutional head: Ivan Zinger, J.D., Ph.D
Ministerial portfolio: Public Safety
Enabling instrument(s): 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
Departmental contact information
Mailing address:
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
Email: org@oci-bec.gc.ca
Website(s): www.oci-bec.gc.ca
Supplementary information tables
The following supplementary information tables are available on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s website:
Information on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s website.
Federal tax expenditures
The Office of the Correctional Investigator’s Departmental Plan does not include information on 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 as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.
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, departments 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 3year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.
departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. 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 quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.
departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.
Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.
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. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.
gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
Is an analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
Using GBA Plus involves taking a gender- and diversity-sensitive approach to our work. Considering all intersecting identity factors as part of GBA Plus, not only sex and gender, is a Government of Canada commitment.
government priorities (priorités gouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2025-26 Departmental Plan, government priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the most recent Speech from the Throne.
horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more federal departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
Indigenous business (entreprise autochtones)
For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, a department that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.
non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Non-budgetary authorities that comprise assets and liabilities transactions for loans, investments and advances, or specified purpose accounts, that have been established under specific statutes or under non-statutory authorities in the Estimates and elsewhere. Non-budgetary transactions are those expenditures and receipts related to the government's financial claims on, and obligations to, outside parties. These consist of transactions in loans, investments and advances; in cash and accounts receivable; in public money received or collected for specified purposes; and in all other assets and liabilities. Other assets and liabilities, not specifically defined in G to P authority codes are to be recorded to an R authority code, which is the residual authority code for all other assets and liabilities.
performance (rendement)
What a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department 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 department, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department 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 to the expected result.
planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in 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.
program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.
result (résultat)
A consequence attributed, in part, to a department, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single department, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the department’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.
target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that a department, 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.
