Dr. Stephen Hart

The plaintiffs sought to certify a class action on behalf of Indigenous female offenders, alleging that the Correctional Service of Canada's use of the Custody Rating Scale and other assessment tools improperly overclassified them into higher security levels.

The Federal Court dismissed the certification motion.

The Court found that the pleadings failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action for negligence or breaches of sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.

Furthermore, the Court held that the proposed common issues were intrinsically individualistic, a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure, and the proposed representative plaintiffs were unsuitable.

A Métis federal inmate challenged correctional authorities’ use of psychological and actuarial risk tools for Indigenous offenders, alleging statutory and Charter breaches.

The Court held that authorities breached their duty under s. 24(1) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act by continuing to rely on the tools without taking reasonable steps to confirm validity for Indigenous persons.

The Court declined to find violations of ss. 7 or 15 of the Charter on the evidentiary record.

Declaratory relief was granted in light of the prolonged and ineffective grievance history, but no broader injunctive remedy was ordered.