On Thursday, June 9th, National President Jeff Wilkins, Ontario Regional President Chris Bucholtz and CSN Coordinator François Ouellette met with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino in Ottawa. During this meeting the Minister was briefed with an update on our respect campaign and was provided with the original copy of our petition. It was explained to the Minister that our lengthy campaign resulted in some systemic change at the Labour Management table, but there remains much work to be done regarding recognition for our members who worked through the Covid-19 Pandemic and procuring more body scanners and contraband detection devices.
We asked the Minister to investigate the current status of the regulations under the CCRA on the use of body scanners, as the interim CSC policy, which allows an inmate to choose between a strip-search or body scan, will prove this important tool useless. We also informed the Minister that we would like the installation of the procured ground intrusion detection systems slated for institutions in the Ontario, Prairie, and Pacific Regions to begin immediately.
The Minister reiterated his respect for the work our members are doing and stated that our health and safety is a priority for his office. We will soon follow up with the Minister seeking answers to our questions.