On September 8th, National President David Neufeld and Regional Vice-President Kirk McIntosh (CSC Manitoba) visited Stony Mountain Institution (SMI) located in Stony Mountain, Manitoba. The purpose was to provide a site tour to Conservative Member of Parliament, Colin Reynolds (Elmwood/Transcona) and to give MP Reynolds an opportunity to learn about how USJE’s members contribute to the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders back into our communities, both in Manitoba and across the country.
In July, President Neufeld met with MP Reynolds for the first time and invited him to participate in a future workplace visit. MP Reynolds gladly accepted the invitation and indicated a strong willingness to speak directly with USJE members about their work. President Neufeld, RVP McIntosh and MP Reynolds were warmly welcomed to SMI by Local President Carlos Portillo of USJE Local 50026. The tour began with a meeting in the Warden’s Office with the Acting Warden, Keri Emms, Acting Deputy Warden Kory Abrams and Acting Assistant Warden Interventions, Kailee Dumond. The focus of this meeting was to discuss the history of SMI, to obtain general information around the operations of the site and to explain the role CSC plays in public safety.
This meeting was followed by a two-hour tour of the medium security site, and a stop at the 96-bed maximum security unit. The tour also included opportunities to stop and speak with USJE members in the areas of Sentence Management, Administrative Services, SIS, Housekeeping, Unit 6, the Programs Department, the Structured Intervention unit and Unit 1.
In support of USJE’s ongoing Food Service Officer Campaign, MP Reynolds also visited the kitchen in order to learn about the challenges of working in the kitchen. Staff shared how things have changed at SMI’s kitchen since the brutal assault of a FOS member in August 2021 – and how the renovations have improved the working conditions.
It remains the hope of USJE’s front-line members who work in kitchens that CSC will utilize more Food Service Officers in the kitchen in the future rather than rely heavily on inmate labour. These members shared that changing the dependency on inmates for crucial tasks in the kitchen should help to create a safer and more reliable working environment for Food Service Officers.
During his visit, USJE representatives took the opportunity to speak with MP Reynolds about the real challenges that the Comprehensive Expenditure Review represents for CSC at a time when workloads are extremely high and the demands of the job are ever increasing. The representatives explained how the Deficit Reduction Action Plan (begun in 2012) had a dramatic impact on CSC and how the department continues to feel its negative effects in many ways. MP Reynolds was very appreciative of the information provided and asked many good questions around what efficiencies could be found as part of this review or how things could be done differently.
The USJE representatives spent time talking about the USJE Presumptive Injury Campaign and why changes to the Government Employees Compensation Act (GECA) are so important for USJE members. During our discussion, we felt as though MP Reynolds appreciated the difficult work that USJE members perform and how operational stress injuries are incurred as a result of their regular exposure to traumatic incidents, materials and criminalized persons. MP Reynolds intends to attend USJE’s World Mental Health Day event on Parliament Hill on October 8.
USJE wishes to thank MP Reynolds for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit SMI and to learn about the incredible work that USJE members perform within CSC. His interest and willingness to learn more about the challenges our members face is also very much appreciated.
President Neufeld and RVP McIntosh also would like to thank Local President Carlos Portillo, Kory Abrams and Kailee Dumond for assisting with this extensive morning site visit. It is USJE’s intention to bring more Manitoba MPs through SMI in the future with a plan to meet with more members across all parts of the clustered site (minimum, medium and maximum sites).