Senator Petitclerc: Senator Gold, could you also inquire as to when the most recent audit was conducted in the correctional system to examine the level of accessibility for persons with disabilities and reduced mobility?

If no comprehensive review has been conducted, is one planned and, if so, when?

Hon. Chantal Petitclerc: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

An article in the Toronto Star last week caught my attention. The article was about lack of accessibility in federal penitentiaries. It tells the story of Kitten Keyes, an inmate at Grand Valley Institution who uses a wheelchair.

She says she was forced to sleep on the floor for 21 days straight because her cell wasn’t accessible, so she couldn’t get to her bed. She also soiled herself because she couldn’t reach the toilet in her cell. I found that so upsetting, that I dug deeper and found out that the problem is all too real, as laid out in the 2019 report by the Office of the Correctional Investigator and the Canadian Human Rights Commission entitled Aging and Dying in Prison: An Investigation into the Experiences of Older Individuals in Federal Custody.

When the Accessible Canada Act was passed, the federal government committed to making Canada a barrier-free country, starting with places under its direct authority.

This much is clear: Accessibility should be universal for everyone, including inmates. Senator Gold, how will your government fix this problem? I witnessed the problem first-hand when I visited a prison with Senator Pate.