Women's facilities

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) operates five women’s institutions as well as a healing lodge:

• Fraser Valley Institution
• Edmonton Institution for Women
• Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge
• Grand Valley Institution for Women
• Joliette Institution
• Nova Institution for Women

All women's institutions, except the healing lodge, are multi-level and accommodate:

• minimum-security women
• medium-security women, and
• maximum-security women

The healing lodge for women offenders accepts women classified as minimum or medium security.

Minimum- or medium-security level women live in housing units with communal living areas. They are responsible for their daily needs such as:

• cooking
• cleaning
• laundry

The main institutional building provides access to:

• programs
• recreational activities
• health services, and
• other services

CSC also accommodates women with mental health needs at:

• the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC) in Saskatoon
• L’Institut Phillippe-Pinel of Montreal

The RPC provides both intermediate and acute mental health care. It has a unit for women offenders that accommodates all three security levels.

CSC has an agreement with L’Institut Phillippe-Pinel of Montreal (IPPM) in Montreal, Quebec. The IPPMS is a provincial forensic psychiatric hospital that provides mental health services.

CSC accommodates maximum-security women in secure units (SU). SUs provide high-level intervention and supervision by specialized staff.

The structured living environments (SLE) house women who:

• are classified as minimum or medium security and
• have intermediate mental health needs and/or cognitive limitations

Staff in these housing units have specialized mental health training. They provide more support and supervision.

Section 81 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) allows CSC to enter into an agreement with an Indigenous community for the provision of correctional services to Indigenous offenders.

The Buffalo Sage Wellness House (BSWH) is:

• in Edmonton, Alberta
• the first women’s Section 81 facility in Canada (opened in 2011), and
• is operated by:
  • Native Counselling Services of Alberta

With the help of staff and Indigenous Elders, BSWH helps women make appropriate choices and positive changes in their lives.