National Association of Women and the Law		Association nationale de la femme et du droit
1066 Somerset Ouest/West, Bureau/Suite 303, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4T3, tel: 613-241-7570, fax: 613-241-4657

News Release

Date: May 14, 2003

Sharmila Biswas-Mistry
communications officer
613-241-7570 ext. 26

FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION

CANADA’S UNFAIR TREATMENT OF WOMEN PRISONERS

OTTAWA- The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) is submitting a critical report to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) alleging that the Canadian government has breached its fiduciary duties to federally sentenced women (FSW) in Canada and has disregarded the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and certain international human rights obligations.

Examples of violations of government obligations include discrimination in the security classification of FSW, the housing of women in men’s prisons, the utter lack of adequate programs for FSW at all security levels, the virtual absence of minimum security conditions for women, and the continued use of male guards on the front lines in women’s prisons.

NAWL points out the treatment of FSW amounts to breaches of fiduciary obligations owed by the Government of Canada through Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to all FSW and in particular, to Aboriginal FSW.