Canada’s commitments and responsibilities regarding Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

In 1975, at the Fifth UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Canada’s Delegation officially endorsed the SMRs. This meant that Canada agreed to consider embodying the SMRs within both federal and provincial legislative frameworks.

In 1997, Max Yalden, former Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, chaired a Correctional Service Canada Working ] Group on Human Rights. The group’s mandate was to review and make recommendations regarding CSC’s compliance with international human rights laws. The Report of the Working Group was completed in December of that year, along with two guides setting out international and domestic human rights obligations with respect to prisoners and CSC employees. The Report concluded that “Canada is generally compliant with all the relevant international and domestic human rights norms, as are most other advanced democracies in terms of their legal and policy frameworks.” However, it noted that the Canadian Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) does not invoke or even allude to international obligations and norms, such as the SMRs.

In 2013, Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, identified some of the areas in which Canada does not comply with the SMRs.

1. Contrary to rule 9(1), which states that “it is not desirable to have two prisoners in a cell or room,” federal correctional practice allows for double- and even triple-bunking of inmates, the practice of placing two or three inmates in a cell designed for only one. More than 20% of Canada’s federal inmate population is double-bunked.
2. Contrary to rule 8(d) which stipulates that “[y]oung prisoners shall be kept separate from adults,” Canada permits some young offenders under the age of 18 to serve their prison sentence in adult institutions. This practice violates both the SMRs and the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
3. Contrary to rule 11(a) which requires that all cells have “windows large enough to enable the prisoners to read or work by natural light,” some penitentiary cells do not meet this minimum standard.
4. Contrary to rules 22-26 which provide minimum standards for health care such that it is of the same standard provided to the general public, the quality and delivery of health care in Canadian penitentiaries often fails to meet professionally accepted practice or is not equivalent to community standards.