The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) slammed the Saskatchewan government’s planned $120 million expansion of the Saskatoon Remand Centre.
The expansion will consist of 216 cells and have a capacity of up to 427 people. The remand centre houses people charged with crimes but haven’t been convicted.
“This is Scott Moe’s ‘Jail of Dreams’ – ‘build it and they will come,’” said Kim Beaudin, the National Vice-Chief of CAP.
Beaudin accused the Saskatchewan government of being “out of touch” with the issue of over-representation of Indigenous people in jails.
“According to most recent statistics, three-quarters of those held in remand in Saskatchewan are Indigenous,” said Beaudin.
The provincial government said a major focus of the Saskatoon Remand Centre expansion is to ensure high-risk accused - such as rival gang members - are securely kept in custody and segregated from each other if necessary to ensure the safety of staff, other offenders and the public.
“This expansion represents a significant step forward in our ability to provide a safe environment for remanded individuals,” said Christine Tell, Minister Corrections and Policing in a statement earlier this month. “Combined with our existing remand strategies and programming, it will provide more space to successfully manage the population of offenders and accused in our correctional system.”
The province estimates the expansion will create more than130 additional full-time positions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, and about 600 temporary full-time jobs over the course of construction.
A report released by Canada’s prison watchdog said Canada’s correctional system is one of the highest staffed correctional systems in the world.
“Adding an estimated 130 positions in Saskatchewan adds enormous ongoing costs that will do nothing to address the relationship with Indigenous people in Saskatchewan,” said Beaudin.
He added that the money spent on expanding the remand centre should go towards treatment programs.
“This money could be used towards treatment centres and educational opportunities to keep people out of jail, and to help those already imprisoned.”
Correctional Investigator Dr. Ivan Zinger, whose annual report was tabled in Parliament in February, said Indigenous offenders are overrepresented in the number of suicide attempts, making up 39 per cent of all incidents in the last 10 years.
CAP is calling on the federal government to intervene.
“If the provincial government will not take steps to respect the rights of Indigenous people in Saskatchewan, the Federal government must intervene,” said Beaudin.
Design for the expansion of the Saskatoon Remand Centre will begin this summer and construction is set to start in 2021.
