By Taylor MacPherson

Positive Spaces program a growing initiative in federal prisons

Dec 18, 2017 | 11:00 AM

More and more employees of Correctional Service Canada (CSC) are learning about the issues facing Canada’s gender and sexually diverse community, thanks to a growing grassroots training program.

The Positive Space initiative, a voluntary training program, has been available to CSC employees since 2015. Rachel Parker, a Positive Spaces program facilitator and corrections employee with 18 years’ experience, said the program has been very well-received across Canada.

“We have hundreds of people across the country who are trained as positive space champions,” Parker said. “It’s definitely something that has expanded and it’s gone really, really well for us.”

The Positive Spaces program was started as a grassroots project by employees who wanted to help ensure basic human rights were respected by all staff members, Parker said. Members from every region of Canada helped develop the program’s content and now the training is available to every CSC employee at every institution who participates on a volunteer basis.

During the four-hour sessions, Parker said employees are given a basic primer on what it means to be gender or sexually diverse, and some of the challenges facing those communities. Participants also learn the associated terminology, she said, which can sometimes be confusing and often changes.

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Although staff will not emerge trained as professional counsellors, Parker said they leave the sessions ready to create a positive space where inmates and other staff members can feel comfortable bringing forward their issues. Staff who have completed the training are given placards for their offices and uniform pins, she said, which advertise a safe space.

“This is some place where it’s safe to talk,” she said. “If you need help, if you need support, we’ll find that for you.”

Parker said some are pushing to make the program mandatory. With the recent passing of Bill C-16 adding gender identity and expression to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination, Parker said the topics of gender and sexual diversity have never been more relevant for CSC. Inmates have traditionally been segregated and searched based on gender, she said, but staff must now understand the issues those systems can create for some prisoners and how to address them in a respectful manner.

Dexton Bourne, Prince Albert program coordinator with the Saskatchewan Pride Network, was recently invited to join a Positive Spaces training session at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary. Bourne praised the program, saying a good understanding of the terminology will make CSC staff more confident and comfortable discussing gender or sexuality in their workplaces.

“The bottom line is just respect,” Bourne said. “The program really gives people the language to be able to show respect for gender and sexually diverse people.”

Many gender and sexually diverse individuals can feel isolated and alone, Bourne said, and the isolation can be compounded further by an institutional setting. Positive Spaces gives staff members the tools to help break that isolation which will improve the likelihood of successful rehabilitation for inmates and reduce the mental health risks for both inmates and staff.

Bourne said it’s exciting to see federal correctional staff taking the initiative and proactively working against discrimination. While there is still work to do, Bourne said the Positive Spaces program is a great way to get staff thinking about the topics and help ensure everyone is respected.

“Obviously there’s a lot of room for improvement in corrections with transgender inmates and gender and sexually diverse people in the system in general, but this is definitely a huge step,” Bourne said. “It’s really great to see that positivity moving forward.”

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews