[homeles_ot-l] Community Consultation Invitation - March 13

[Shanisse Evelin Kleuskens]

Good afternoon everyone,


I am writing to request your participation in a community consultation
process organized by the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project
<http://www.cp-ep.org/> (CPEP) aimed at identifying alternative ways for
the Government of Ontario to spend some of or all of the funds earmarked
for a new and bigger jail in Ottawa towards measures to keep people out of
jail, while expanding services and enhancing care in our communities. Given
the links between homelessness and incarceration (and involvement with the
criminal justice system more broadly), it is our hope to gain a greater
understanding of what supports and funding are needed in the community from
homelessness service providers with your experience and expertise during
this consultation.



Below, we outline our two-stage consultation process which we hope will
inform how the Government of Ontario allocates resources to enhance safety
in Ottawa region. We also provide some background information about the
proposed new and bigger jail in Ottawa.



Based at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, CPEP is an
organization of criminology professors, students, and community members who
conduct research and engage in public education on criminalization and
punishment, their impacts and available alternatives.



Please let Justin (contact info below) know if you are willing to
participate in the private and/or public stages of the consultation. If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at this email
address.

All the best,


Shanisse


Contact information: Justin 613-793-1093 <(613)%20793-1093> (cell)



*Community Consultation – Stage 1*

Tuesday, March 13 at 7pm

Faculty of Social Sciences, Room 4006

University of Ottawa



This stage is an *invite-only roundtable* with local service providers and
community groups to discuss how each of their organizations would propose
allocating public funds in scenario A ($11 million) and scenario B ($16.7
million), including for services they presently or could potentially offer
where expanded or new capacity is needed in the community (see below for
details about each funding scenario). CPEP members will be taking notes
during the roundtable and prepare infographics and posters to share with
the public. Please note that organizations sharing information can choose
to remain anonymous on CPEP public education materials.

*Community Consultation – Stage 2*

Date in April 2018 to be announced

Jean Pigott Place

Ottawa City Hall



This stage will include a *community fair and discussion* open to all
Eastern Ontario residents during an evening in April 2018. During the first
hour, the public will be invited to consult kiosks featuring infographics
and posters on alternative ways to spend funds currently allocated towards
a new and bigger jail in Ottawa within the community. During the second
hour, a group discussion will be moderated for residents to share their
views on how we could build community in Eastern Ontario. Please feel free
to invite your family, friends, colleagues and community members to attend
this event.


*Background:*

In May 2017, the Government of Ontario announced that it was planning to
build a new 725-bed jail to replace the 585-bed Ottawa-Carleton Detention
Centre (OCDC). While some oppose the project in its entirety, others
support the idea of a new jail, but are not comfortable with the idea that
it will be 25% bigger than the existing facility when (a) more than half of
Ontario’s prisoners are on remand, (b) Indigenous and racialized peoples
are mass imprisoned, (c) jails like OCDC have become dumping grounds for
those living with mental health and drug use issues who have often not had
access to adequate services in the community, and (d) that there are better
ways to invest scarce public resources to address the needs of criminalized
populations that often find themselves in conflict with the law because of
a lack of government funding and support for community-based services such
as housing.

If built, the proposed jail will cost $11 million more to operate every
year than OCDC according to Statistics Canada figures. The
public-private-partnership to design, build, finance and maintain the
facility will cost between $500 million to $1 billion over 30 years for an
annual cost of $16.7 million to $33.3 million per year according to
Infrastructure Ontario estimates.



In the absence of public consultation on how to spend hundreds of millions
of dollars to enhance community safety in Eastern Ontario in the lead-up to
and after the announcement of the new jail, the Criminalization and
Punishment Education Project is organizing a *two-stage community
consultation* that will explore how $11 million (scenario A – a new jail
the same size as OCDC and therefore with no additional operational costs =
585 beds) to $16.7 million (scenario B – no new jail  therefore no
construction costs associated with the project) could be invested in
Eastern Ontario every year to address various forms of inequality and
reduce incarceration, while also enhancing community safety.



Justin Piché, PhD <https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/897/profile>
Professeur agrégé / Associate Professor

Responsable - Recherche et Diffusion / Coordinator - Research and
Dissemination
uOttawa Criminologie / Criminology <http://www.uottawacrm.ca/>



(613) 562-5800 ext. 1812 <(613)%20562-5800>

justin.piche at uottawa.ca



Director, Carceral Studies Research Collective
<http://socialsciences.uottawa.ca/criminology/news/carceral-studies-research-collective-launched>

Researcher, Carceral Cultures Research Initiative
<http://www.carceralcultures.ca/>

Co-editor, Journal of Prisoners on Prisons  <http://www.jpp.org/>

Member, Criminalization and Punishment Education Project
<https://www.facebook.com/CPEPgroup/>
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