International Women's Day, March 8, 2002, marked the first anniversary of CAEFS' complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Commission has decided to conduct a systemic review of the manner in which the human rights of federally sentenced women are violated. They have also agreed to issue a special report regarding our allegations of the human rights violations of women prisoners on the basis of sex, race and disability.

The Human Rights Commission conducted its initial public discussions on the subject on February 25, 2002, in Ottawa. Although the Commission invited individuals and organizations that wrote in support of our complaint, they were not provided with the necessary resources in order to ensure their attendance at the meetings. CAEFS has already raised concerns regarding the limitations that this process will place upon meaningful input, particularly from women's, Aboriginal and disability groups.

At the meeting on February 25, 2002, the Commission requested that representatives of the Correctional Service of Canada, academia and the community, including CAEFS and formerly federally sentenced women themselves, present their perspectives regarding such matters as classification, treatment and other health issues, particular concerns of and for Aboriginal women, and community release options. While it is not clear exactly how the Commission plans to complete its process at this stage, CAEFS will develop submissions in conjunction with other national women's, Aboriginal, disability and social justice groups who filed documentation in support of CAEFS' complaint.

CAEFS is in the process of developing a discussion paper regarding the human rights abuses and potential remedies that we are interested in having the Commission examine. Thanks to the resources that we have received from the government, we will consult with those groups who have an interest in the human rights issues of concern. We will also provide resources to such groups in order to facilitate their capacity to comment and improve upon our submissions, as well as to enable them to develop their own submissions to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in respect of our complaint on behalf of women prisoners across the country.

Largely as a consequent of the work that we are engaged in with respect to this complaint, CAEFS is also being invited to many social and criminal justice, as well as academic and alternate sectors, international meetings, conferences and fora. We are pleased to build upon the profile raised by previous such presentations, as well as the Women's Resistance conference, in order to continue to raise domestic and international awareness of the realities of federal sentences, as they are lived by women prisoners. We anticipate that CAEFS' will finalize submissions early in 2003.