Abstract

Prisoners, Policy and Human Rights

Ailsa M. Watkinson and Kim Pate

Human rights laws are designed to promote social inclusion. Advocates have used and are using human rights laws to bring about changes to social welfare policy. I propose to discuss some of the successes and disappointments with an eye to identifying human rights laws as a means to promote the social inclusion of prisoners and enhance the delivery of social welfare policies and programs that are likely to be of assistance to them.

Within this framework I will discuss a recent Charter challenge to prisoner voting rights and a Canadian Human Rights complaint currently underway and instigated by the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS). The compliant is a systemic challenge to the policies of Corrections Services Canada. The focus is the discriminatory effects experienced by women prisoners based on sex, ancestry and disability.

If the case is successful, CAEFS will be in a position to ask, as a remedy, for changes to current policy and/or the establishment of new ones. The complaint provides an example of how to use the human rights process as a mechanism of policy evaluation and how policy can be influenced by community based organizations.

Bios

Ailsa Watkinson is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina located in the Saskatoon Community Education Centre, St. Andrew’s College. She received her Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Saskatchewan in 1992. Her research was on the Courts' interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the possible consequences of their interpretation on the decision-making role of administrators. Prior to completing her Ph.D. she worked for twelve years for the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.

Ailsa is the President of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) and a member of the Saskatchewan Elizabeth Fry Board In 1995 Ailsa Watkinson began the legal process of challenging the use of corporal punishment on children. She argued that section 43 of the Criminal Code, which allows for the use of force to correct a child's behaviour, violates the rights of children under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada on June 6, 2003.

In 1999 Ailsa released a book entitled Education, Student Rights and the Charter. As well, she has co-edited two books on systemic violence. She has published a number of journal articles which focus on such topics as child sexual abuse, corporal punishment, sexual harassment, employment equity, the Charter as policy advocate, globalization, and the administration of equality rights.

Kim Pate is currently the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and Past President of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice. In addition to her work with and on behalf of criminalized women and girls, Kim has been a strong advocate for social justice and has worked on criminal justice and penal reform matters for approximately two decades. A teacher and a lawyer by training, she has experience working from grassroots organizing to policy development and legislative formulation and reform at local, regional and national levels. Her interests and expertise span such inter-related areas and issues as: criminal justice, child welfare, social services, mental health and educational reform; community development processes and peer-support and advocacy approaches; addressing individual and systemic discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class, income, age, ability and sexual orientation; women’s issues generally; First Nations self-governance; immigration and New Canadians; street youth and juvenile prostitution; literacy; victim-offenders, mediation and other forms of alternate dispute resolution.

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