Ottawa appoints new official in charge of Indigenous corrections

Mar 27, 2023 | 9:59 AM

OTTAWA — The federal government has appointed a deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections in a move towards tackling the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s criminal justice system.

Correctional Service Canada announced today that it is promoting Kathy Neil, a Métis official, to serve in the role beginning May 1. 

The hiring of such a position was a call to justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which released its recommendations in 2019.

Neil is currently the corrections agency’s assistant deputy commissioner of correctional operations in the Prairies, was previously the warden of Saskatchewan Penitentiary and has also served as a community health worker.