Bill will limit inmate complaints
Tories target ‘frivolous’ grievances
AConservative private member’s bill aimed at cracking down on frivolous complaints lodged by inmates over things like the size of one’s omelette or the absence of White History Month cleared the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Bill C-293 seeks to prohibit offenders who habitually submit grievances deemed frivolous or vexatious from continuing to do so without approval from the corrections commissioner.
According to the bill, prohibition orders must be reviewed annually by the commissioner and cabinet can tweak the new rules through regulation, as opposed to legislation, should the need arise.
“Bill C-293 is an effective piece of legislation that will help reduce the ongoing abuse of the grievance system by a handful of inmates,” Roxanne James, the Conser-
Bill C-293 is an effective piece of legislation ...
MP ROXANNE JAMES
vative backbencher who introduced the bill, said Wednesday.
“It will free up Correctional Service of Canada resources and it will allow CSC to fulfil its legal obligation to provide offenders with access to a fair and expeditious grievance process.”
Noting most inmates use the grievance system “in good faith,” James said her bill is designed to help people such as Michael Aaron Spidel, a British Columbia inmate serving a second-degree murder sentence. He was vindicated in Federal Court this summer when a judge ruled authorities indeed failed to address his seemingly legitimate grievances in a timely fashion.
The Tories and Liberals pushed the bill through, but the NDP voted against it. Public safety critic Randall Garrison said the bill fails to address the heart of the problem.
He said it won’t stop vexatious complaints but will create more paperwork for the corrections commissioner.
It also won’t stop inmates from appealing to the prison ombudsman who gets about 6,000 complaints a year, nor does it stop them from taking the government to court.
Garrison said the government has also failed to consider key recommendations outlined in a 2010 report commissioned after the death of Ashley Smith, the New Brunswick teenager who strangled herself inside a segregation cell at Grand Valley Institute in Kitchener, Ont.