Although no evaluation of the 1997 strategy has been provided, the final paragraph of the draft 2002 Strategy, sub-headed Conclusion, does contain a very brief, but important, reflection on problems with implementation of the 1997 policy:

In 1997 when the first Mental Health Strategy for Women Offenders was published, it was believed that a three-year time frame for full implementation of the continuum of care would be sufficient. However, despite some significant developments… limitations relating to both fiscal considerations and the ability to recruit and retain staff with the necessary expertise to work with women offenders have, especially in some of the more remote locations, extended the implementation period."

Despite the brevity of this passage, and its position at the end of the document, it identifies two critical areas that, in our view, should be addressed as threshold issues in any evaluation of CSC's strategies for providing mental health services to women; namely, 1) fiscal considerations, and 2) recruitment and retention of appropriate staff.

1. Fiscal considerations

Some of the evaluative questions we consider relevant in this regard are:

• What are the fiscal constraints that have limited the implementation of appropriate mental health services for women prisoners?
• In what ways have they limited implementation? What impact have they had?
• What are their causes? and;
• How can the limitations imposed by fiscal considerations be overcome?

It is CAEFS' submission that the provision of mental heath services to federally sentenced women is not considered a sufficiently high funding priority in budget processes, at both the political and bureaucratic level, especially in comparison with the priority afforded to funding for expansion of prison infrastructure and enhancement of security.

We submit that a frank and thorough examination of budget processes needs to be carried out in order to determine what, precisely, the obstacles to adequate funding of mental health services for women are, so that they may finally be addressed. However, it is also our submission that there is little point in promulgating "unresourced" strategies, given the reality that the priority should be placed upon the development of community-based resources.

As the Board of Investigation Report with respect to the February 5, 2000 Suicide of Saskatchewan Penitentiary prisoner, Earla Brass found that:

The level of mental health services provided to BRASS did not conform to the requirements of the Mental Health Strategy for Women Offenders, approved by the Service in 1997. (Finding 19, p. 44)