Hon. Wanda Thomas Bernard: Honourable senators, I am grateful to be here on the unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabeg territory. I am speaking today in support of Bill S-230, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. Thank you to Senator Pate for dedicating your career to advocacy for humane treatment of people in Canadian prisons and identifying this as one of the most serious violations of human rights we see in Canada, and thank you for your speech today.

This cruel punishment is happening in institutions across the country as we speak. Whether under the name “segregation,” “structured intervention units,” “dry cells” or “secure units,” the impact is the same: undeniable harm to mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

I had the privilege of meeting with and talking to hundreds of prisoners on the fact-finding missions during the Human Rights Committee’s study on the human rights of federally sentenced persons. We heard similar stories in every institution, stories of the deplorable experience of being placed in segregation: an unthinkable experience no one — and I repeat, no one — should have to live through. Colleagues, I firmly insist the punishment for a crime is the sentence itself, not repeated unlawful inhumane treatment while you are serving your sentence.

Some of the most troubling stories we heard were from Indigenous and Black incarcerated women and their advocates.

We have just heard Senator Pate speak of Tona. Tona was one of the people the committee met with, and her story has stayed with us. Tona was a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, and it was so disturbing to hear stories of irreparable harm to her health and well-being. We heard many other women’s stories that followed a similar trajectory to hers.

Indigenous and Black children are overrepresented in the child welfare system, which directly feeds into the disproportionate representation of Indigenous and Black adults in prisons in Canada.

This is what we sometimes refer to as the child-welfare-to-prison pipeline. The child-welfare-to-prison pipeline is an important context when imagining what kinds of treatment we find acceptable as lawmakers. The Human Rights Committee study found that Indigenous and Black prisoners were overrepresented in segregation as well.

Honourable senators, this is a direct child-welfare-to-prison and prison-to-segregation pipeline. These systems have repeatedly failed this group of vulnerable people over and over. The harms of segregation, including negative psychological impacts, are felt after only 48 hours of segregation. But the committee also heard about longer-term impacts, as Senator Pate just outlined for us, like the irreversible psychological harm that can occur after only 15 days in solitary confinement.

Colleagues, I’m going to repeat what Senator Pate has reminded us today — that Tona spent 10 years in segregation. Imagine.

I would like to emphasize two of the recommendations from our report Human Rights of Federally-Sentenced Persons:

Recommendation 33

That the Correctional Service of Canada ensure that Structured Intervention Units adhere to the most recent court decisions and respect Canada’s human rights obligations and international commitments, including by:

eliminating the use of solitary confinement for all federally-sentenced persons;

taking into account the different needs and experiences of particular groups, including LGBTQI2-S persons and women;

eliminating solitary confinement in excess of 15 days;

providing meaningful human contact and continued access to programming as well as 24-hour access to health and mental health services; and

establishing judicial oversight to review all Structured Intervention Unit placements and decisions.

Recommendation 34

That the Correctional Service of Canada immediately end the use of separation by any name with youth, women and those with disabling mental health issues, and implement mental health assessments and judicial oversight to eliminate the overrepresentation of federally-sentenced Indigenous Peoples, Black persons, other racialized persons and persons with mental health issues in Structured Intervention Units.

Colleagues, I remind you of these recommendations from our committee, which were tabled in 2021. I encourage you to revisit the study’s findings and recommendations to understand the critical nature of Bill S-230.

I fully support this bill because I believe that no one deserves to experience the inhumanity of time spent in segregation. I believe we can and should legislate meaningful alternatives. Thank you. Asante.