Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. The position of Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime has been vacant since October 1, 2021. For the past two months, victims of crime have had no official representative within the federal government. The last time this position was vacant, in 2017, it took the Minister of Justice a year to fill the position, whereas around the same time, the position of Correctional Investigator, the ombudsman for criminals, was filled in a month.

Can you explain to the victims and to this chamber, during this week of action against violence against women, why the position is still vacant and when the Department of Justice plans to fill it?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Senator, you used the word “torture” several times. Do you have an idea of the number of complaints the Correctional Investigator has received about torture in prisons, in federal penitentiaries, and do you know how many of these complaints were founded?

[English]

Senator Pate: The use of “torture” comes from the international UN rules on the treatment of prisoners and from the special rapporteur on torture and detention. That definition is one that the courts have then used — the 15-day limit, as anything beyond that can amount to torture. Yes, there have been complaints put in through the Correctional Service of Canada. I do not have the exact number at my fingertips. I do know that the Correctional Investigator of Canada has investigated many. I do know that when Dr. Doob — who was actually the chair of the minister’s advisory committee to review these structured intervention units — couldn’t even get the data himself nor could other members of the committee, and when they did finally get data and saw just how many times — and I mentioned the number of times, I think it was 49 or more — people were held for six times the 15-day limit that was put in place, even then corrections tried to say that in fact their documentation was problematic. So part of the challenge — and I think it’s something that all of us would be interested in seeing — is how to actually hold accountable the Correctional Service of Canada to do the job it’s supposed to do. With almost one-to-one employees per prisoner, presumably we’d see a lot more of that information being made available in a more transparent and accountable way.

[Translation]