FEDERALLY SENTENCED WOMEN:
Canada’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Failure to Adhere to International Obligations

I. Introduction

This paper, prepared on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL),¹ has been developed for submission to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) to assist in the CHRC’s systemic review of the treatment of federally sentenced women.

NAWL is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing women’s equality through law reform advocacy, research and education. NAWL was founded in 1974 and currently has 19 local chapters, in addition to its national office. Members include lawyers, law professors, students and others who share NAWL’s goal of improving the status of women in Canada. NAWL’s work involves a wide number of areas of the law, including criminal law, family law, health law, equality and human rights law. The general objectives of the work NAWL does are:

• The achievement of equality for all women within law and the legal system;
• The elimination of violence against women;
• The guarantee of a decent standard of living for all women;
• The provision of guaranteed employment and equitable pay for all women;
• The removal of social and economic barriers to women’s equality;
• The establishment of an equitable family law system, in particular one that provides fairly for women and their children in the event of divorce or separation; and
• The guarantee of reproductive choice.

Because colonial behaviours and racism remain prevalent in Canada, NAWL makes analysis of colonization and racism a necessary starting point for NAWL’s legal and policy development work.