May 5, 2016
Province Pays Tribute to Role of Corrections in Creating Safer Communities
Today, the province and Ontario’s correctional services staff marked the fifth annual Ceremony of Remembrance honouring staff who have fallen in the line of duty while serving in Ontario’s correctional services.
This year’s Ceremony of Remembrance was held on the future site of the Correctional Services Monument on Queen’s Park Legislative Precinct Grounds. At the service Yasir Naqvi, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services announced the creation of a new annual Premier’s Award for Excellence in Correctional Services.
This new award will recognize a member of Ontario’s correctional services who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, teamwork, or innovation. The award is part of the province’s work to recognize correctional services staff, and celebrate extraordinary achievement in service excellence, bravery, humanitarianism, volunteerism and inclusion. Other existing correctional awards include:
- The Minister’s Correctional Services Awards, which honour excellence in service delivery, bravery, humanitarian services and volunteerism
- The Viola Desmond Inclusion Award, which honours exemplary achievement in diversity, equality, inclusion and accessibility
Recognizing the dedication and sacrifice of correctional services staff across the province is a key part of the government’s transformation of Ontario’s correctional system to build safer communities. |
QUICK FACTS
- All current correctional services staff are eligible for the Premier’s Award. The recipient will be selected by a panel of correctional services management, a correctional services staff member and an independent member from another Ontario government ministry.
- A Private Member’s Bill has been introduced by Indira Naidoo-Harris, MPP for Halton, that, if passed, would formally establish the first week of May as Correctional Services Staff Recognition Week.
- The Correctional Services Monument was announced at the 2015 Ceremony of Remembrance. The design is being finalized and construction is scheduled to begin this fall.
- Since March 16, 1884, 18 men and one woman have died in the line of duty in correctional services in Ontario.
- Consultation on the Correctional Services Monument included the Ontario Heritage Trust, Infrastructure Ontario and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
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QUOTES
“Ontario’s Correctional Services staff do vital work in meeting the needs of offenders, providing essential medical and other supports, and helping to keep our communities safe. This Premier’s Award is an excellent way to honour outstanding achievement in correctional services and to say thank you to correctional staff for the work that they do.”
— Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario
“Correctional Services staff are essential partners in Ontario’s justice system. Their enormous contributions to keeping our communities safe are conducted both behind institutional walls and in offices throughout our neighbourhoods. With this monument and these awards, our government and the people of Ontario have the opportunity to say thank you and to highlight the work of the dedicated women and men and who proudly serve their communities, to tell their stories and to honour those who gave their lives to serve.”
— Yasir Naqvi, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services |
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