Issue 37.4
Editorial by IRVING KULIK, CCJA Executive Director
Congress Recap: 5th World Congress on Probation and Parole.
Go to the CCJA Home page to view the presentations and keynotes.
Hosted by
CCJA’s 38th Biennial Canadian Congress on Criminal Justice
In collaboration with
The Confederation of European Probation
Correctional Service of Canada
International Corrections and Prisons Association
Parole Board of Canada
Public Safety Canada
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The 5th World Congress on Probation and Parole held Sept 28-Oct. 1 in Ottawa (ON), Canada brought together community and criminal justice partners from around the world to share information and unique perspectives on corrections and conditional release. The success of this event was ensured by the collaboration of the Parole Board of Canada, Correctional Service of Canada, Public Safety Canada, the International Corrections and Prisons Association and the Confederation of European Probation.
CCJA Interview with Anil Anand
By NANCY WRIGHT
JUSTICE Report Editor
Anil Anand, author, speaker, leadership & change management coach, counts 29 years of policing experience with the Toronto Police Service and numerous publications on policing and policing policy including his widely distributed book Mending Broken Fences Policing; An Alternative Model for Policy Management. Anil holds a Master of Laws (Osgoode), an MBA (Rothman School, University of Toronto), a Global Executive MBA (St. Gallen, Switzerland), a degree in Physical and Health Education (University of Toronto), and a Black Belt (Japan Shotokan Karate Association). Anil brings a global, innovative and collaborative approach to organization challenges, management, and leadership. In this CCJA Interview, Anil Anand offers insightful, informed replies to a variety of questions on topics related to his research, including sentencing reports for vulnerable groups and the need for policy development supporting an integrative approach for access to services related to trauma, the paradox of poverty and public safety.
Solitary Confinement in Canada and the Promise of Structured Intervention Units in Canadian Penitentiaries (*Part 1)
By HOWARD SAPERS
Chair, Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel
Chair of the Structured Intervention Units Implementation Advisory Panel (SIU IAP) and former Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers takes an historical look at the practice of segregation (solitary confinement) in Canadian penitentiaries. Considered in the 19th century as penitence ’programming’ through self-reflection, the practice of isolation was foundational to the ideology and architecture of early North American prisons and became embedded in Canada’s early correctional culture. Its use was deemed a factor in the Kingston Pen riot (1971), which led to the establishment of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (1972). Despite several major studies calling for reform, Canada’s historical attempts to implement recommended changes have been doomed in part by a powerful correctional culture primarily committed to security and control. Ultimately, the practice of segregation was abolished in law in November 2019. See JUSTICE Report 38.1 (2023) for Part 2, which will focus on the challenges of implementing the legislated replacement of segregation – the controversial new system of Structured Intervention Units. Part 3 of this trilogy, scheduled to appear in 38.4, will discuss responses to recommendations made in the SUI IAP Annual Report. *This article draws heavily on the 2021-22 Annual Report of the Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel (SIU IAP) that monitors, assesses and reports on issues related to the ongoing implementation.
A Fading Faith in Policing
By GREGORY LEWIS BISHOP
RCMP, Retired
The need for top-down, multifactorial change to offset social impacts of trends that are in some ways external to policing is evidenced by the prevalence of poverty, mental health issues, substance misuse, dropping-out, in-school bullying, childhood neglect/abuse, and discrimination. Participatory approaches related to policing/corrections are warranted but will require advanced communication for unprecedented integration with other community supports. A needed shift in how government influences policing will require a more community-based framework for setting priorities, establishing approaches and determining funding. As such change comes into view, so will a strengthening of faith in our peace officers and the organizations governing them.
Canada’s Corrections System –
The New “Scoop”
By ANIL ANAND
Leadership & change management coach, author, and former Canadian police officer
As in Canada, First Nations Peoples around the world – Aboriginal Peoples in Australia, Māori in New Zealand, tribes along the Amazon, in Russia and Japan – are fighting their historical cancellation. It is incomprehensible for most of us what cancel culture has meant to peoples so effectively dismissed over the ages through outlawing of their social and spiritual practices, abduction of their children for forcible indoctrination by foreign and abusive authorities, criminalization of their language, subjection to religious conversion, relocation, and even murder.
FACT IN FICTION
By NANCY WRIGHT
Fact In Fiction is a new column for the Justice Report. It will present brief analyses of novels relating to the Canadian justice sphere. This first installment of Fact In Fiction features a brief interview with Bob Chrismas, Canadian police staff sergeant, post-doctoral researcher and author. In his first novel, The River of Tears, Bob Chrismas (2021) brings his experience – over 35 years of service in Canadian law enforcement – to bear in a story that contextualizes Aboriginal victimization, police indifference, and a local sex trafficking industry that many Canadians don’t even know exists. Using the genre of creative nonfiction based on first-hand accounts (testimonials) and professional experience, Bob gives voice to Canada’s police officers and Aboriginal people as the lives of Dani Taylor and Detective Jack Bondar intertwine in a shared quest for justice.
The River of Tears. BOB CHRISMAS (DIO Press Inc. 2021)
“The protagonists, Dani Taylor and Detective Jack Bondar, are adversaries at first. They are thrust together in the worst of circumstances when Dani’s sister goes missing. Dani distrusts the police and hates the system that has held her people down. Jack holds biased stereotypes and a lack of understanding about Indigenous peoples. He has a jaundiced view of humanity as a result of his experiences as a police officer. The two eventually come to understand each other’s perspectives and learn to work together to achieve great things…” (Chrismas, Preface, 2021).
YOUNG RESEARCHER CONTRIBUTIONS
Self-Compassion and Mindfulness in Policing
By BRANDI CHRISMAS
M.A. Student, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, University of Manitoba
Policing is not for the faint of heart and officers are well trained to take risks, but officers in training would benefit from content related to techniques of mindfulness and self-compassion. Occupational stressors in policing are divided into organizational stressors (i.e., things that can be changed) and operational stressors (i.e., things that are a part of the job). Brandi Chrismas coins a term, supra-operational stressors, to denote what happens when organizational stressors, such as the case of no backup in rural areas, go systemic (See Ricciardelli, 2018). Calling for more research into occupational stressors and the creation of training related to mindfulness and self-compassion, Brandi Chrismas concludes that supra-operational factors must also be resolved.
The Social Impact Technology Summit hosted by the Centre for Social Impact Technology
By MEGAN DAVIDSON
Mount Royal University Student and Community Outreach Specialist for the Centre for Social Impact Technology
On November 3rd and 4th the Centre for Social Impact Technology hosted the first Social Impact Technology Summit. The event brought together speakers and community leaders from around the globe to discuss digital technology innovation and social innovation within local and international contexts. The Summit highlighted the current challenges faced by the social sector in employing technology to support initiatives aimed at reducing poverty, food security, crime and mental health crises. As leading public interest technologist Afua Bruce noted in her session, we are in “a world built around systemic exclusion, where the power is held without power to make decisions”.
Trauma and Truth: Taking National Responsibility for Reconciliation
By SARAH BORBOLLA GARCÉS
Honours Student, BA (Double Major: Criminology and Sociology), University of Toronto
Discussing the role of the traditional Western justice model in Indigenous oppression, Borbolla Garcés acknowledges the magnitude of challenges facing the Canadian criminal justice system in relation to Indigenous over-representation in victimization, arrests, convictions, and prisons. Noting Gladue and other Restorative Justice initiatives related to traditional Indigenous justice practices, Borbolla Garcés reminds us that change is easier to mandate than to implement. The student author points out that vestiges of systemic discriminatory practices persist in the Canadian legal system and cause moral and socio-economic harm. Applauding the TRC’s use of testimonials, she recommends researchers emulate this practice, engaging both Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices, to foster understanding among all Canadians as to why a shift away from traditional models of law and reparations to a model focused on social restoration is on the table.
Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the Association’s views, but are included to encourage reflection and action on the criminal justice system throughout Canada.