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CANADIAN ASSOCIATION
OF ELIZABETH FRY SOCIETIES Executive Director's Report Priority Issues and Law Reform Initiatives It seems entirely fitting that we mark the quarter century mark of our association by holding our national meeting in prison with the women on whose behalf we work and exist. Unfortunately, although we strive to see the end to the current use of criminalization and imprisonment to address social issues, we are witnessing a continued trend in the opposite direction. Indeed, the past decade has seen a number of women serving sentences of two years or more grow by 500% in this region alone. The challenges remain many as we continue to see the exponential increase in the marginalization, criminalization and imprisonment of women throughout this country and globally. The following report will provide you with an overview of our challenges and achievements this past year, as well as some forecasting of the work that the membership projects for CAEFS. 1. Challenges to Laws and Policies a) Systemic Review by the Canadian Human Rights Commission The beginning of this year saw CAEFS finalizing our submissions to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), and on January 28, 2004, nearly three years after CAEFS’ complained about the discriminatory treatment of women prisoners by the Canadian government, the Commission issued its special report. Entitled, Protecting Their Rights: A Systemic Review of Human Rights in Correctional Services for Federally Sentenced Women, the CHRC Report made 19 recommendations for far-reaching changes with respect to the manner in which the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) might work to alleviate the systemic discrimination experienced by women serving sentences of two years or more. |
