The duty to accommodate has become the cornerstone of human rights legislation. As a service available to the public, the federal prison system is obligated to accommodate prisoners with mental disabilities. For the reasons cited above, this paper contends that with respect to FSW with mental disabilities who require ongoing mental health services, the most appropriate and effective form of accommodation is the development of community resources outside the prison system.

The CSC has the right to argue that such an accommodation would create an undue hardship. However, concrete, objective evidence and not just impression must uphold such a claim. Given the failure by the CSC to adequately accommodate FSW with mental disabilities to date, and given the limited number of women who may ultimately require such accommodation, the CSC will find it difficult to raise a successful defence of undue hardship.

Similarly, the equality guarantee of the Charter requires governments and their agents (such as the CSC) to avoid actions that perpetuate discrimination and promote instead, actions to ameliorate disadvantage experienced by particular groups such as persons with mental disabilities. Discrimination under the Charter is only permitted where the government can meet the onerous test of proving that such discrimination is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. Once again, fulfilling this test may be an insurmountable hurdle for the CSC.

In conclusion, FSW with mental disabilities are one of the most disadvantaged groups in our society. Such women are often sentenced to prison as a last resort. Prisons must therefore pay extra special attention to how they deal with the disadvantage of such women. We must not allow prisons to ignore human rights laws, and to be the one Canadian institution that systematically discriminates on the basis of mental disability. Ultimately, we must not allow the federal prison system to be the dark corner on Canada's landscape of human rights.