On November 8th – National President David Neufeld, Regional Vice-President Kirsty Havard (CSC British Columbia) and PSAC Regional Representative Alex Vital Stuit (PSAC Vancouver Regional Office) visited Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village. Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village is on 75.326 acres of land granted to CSC under the terms of a special use permit from the Province of British Columbia. Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village is a minimum-security institution for Indigenous men. The site is located in the community of Harrison Mills (140 km east of Vancouver), with the closest neighboring community being the Sts’ailes First Nation community.
This was President Neufeld’s first visit to Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village and to meet the USJE members who work there. Local President Cass Fried welcomed the union representatives to the site and provided an extensive tour that featured the only longhouse within Canada’s correctional facilities. The institution is known as the fifth longhouse on the traditional territory of Sts’ailes. The three union representatives were given the chance to better understand the traditional and holistic Indigenous teachings that the staff and Elders practice withing the Healing Village These holistic programs provide training and maintenance skills for the residents with the aim of improving their employability upon release.
The union representatives got to meet several members of the Case Management team and to speak about their work. One area of tension remains the workload pressures that staff can feel when the population of the site grows past 40 residents. The maximum number of residents at Kwìkwèxwelhp is 50.
President Neufeld provided an update on USJE’s work with CSC on the Parole Officer Workload Review (as negotiated during the last round of collective bargaining) and identified that a new subcommittee was recently created to review the “complexity” of cases across the service. It is anticipated that the review will look at the time given to work with Indigenous offenders across the country (for all levels of security and different sites) and how CSC will provide the time needed to meet all of the rehabilitative expectations and legislative requirements when working with Indigenous offenders. It was noted by Parole Officers on site that a “1 to 15” ratio is considered the maximum number of residents that should be supervised at one time by a Parole Officer on site if current supervision and case management expectations are to be met safely. President Neufeld committed to bringing this information back to CSC as part of the current workload review.
RVP Havard provided an update for members on USJE’s ongoing Presumptive Injury Campaign and the role that her Member of Parliament, Peter Julian (New Westminster-Burnaby) played in tabling Bill C-357 into the House of Commons in September 2023. The members expressed their appreciation for the campaign and acknowledged the importance of advocating for mental health support for front line members as it relates to operational stress injuries.
President Neufeld and RVP Havard made a point of stopping by the kitchen to visit the FOS member who works on site. The representatives shared about USJE’s Food Service Officer Campaign and learned about the important work that this member performs as it relates to working with the residents and preparing food for various spiritual events that are scheduled on site. RVP Havard intends to do some follow up on the specific challenges faced in the kitchen at the site.
Recently, RVP Havard assisted the members in a situation where they were not receiving their commuting allowance from CSC as employees of the site. Every USJE members the representatives spoke to were very appreciative of the union’s assistance on this matter.
President Neufeld and RVP Havard would like to thank the USJE members who took the time to speak with them during this visit and to educate them on the important work they do at the site. A big thanks is also sent to Local President Cass Fried and for the other local executive members for this commitment to the local and our union.