THUNDER BAY – Solicitor General Michael Kerzner made a trip to Thunder Bay on Monday.
The trip’s purpose was for Kerzner to see the progress of the construction for the new correctional centre in Thunder Bay for himself.
“We're investing over $1.2 billion right here in Thunder Bay," Kerzner said. "There are hundreds of construction jobs that are here helping build a state of the art 345 bed facility to help keep Ontario safe.
“I'm going to tour our facility and I want to firstly give a shout out to the correctional officers that are working very hard here. They're part of our pillar of public safety and I just want to check in on them and tell them how much I appreciate the great work they're doing to keep Ontario safe."
Kerzner said this new facility will have programming spaces, spaces that reflect culture and have additional opportunities for people to learn in the program to eventually reintegrate back to our communities and do so safely.
“One of the things that we do is part of our community reintegration and we rely on the chaplains and we rely on the native inmate liaison officers . . . we rely on the people that do the programming so that the skills and the programs that they attend here will help prepare them for community reintegration," Kerzner added.
“At the end of the day when that happens, we reduce the rates of recidivism back into our communities. That's a goal that we have."
The correctional officers are the pillar of public safety and officials will always have their backs, he said.
“We will always support them in any way that we can. And I have a great relationship with the locals here, with the local presidents here. I come to see them as part of my visit," Kerzner said."
“Their concerns to our government are important and that's exactly why we will continue to invest in their mental well being to make sure that they know that our government led by Premier Ford cares about them and we care about our public safety morning, noon and night.”
Kerzner also said there are a number of programs being worked on to help with first responders mental well being.
“Our message is simple. We care about our first responders. We care about our correctional officers and their mental well being and we'll do everything that we can through the resources to make sure that that they know there's help available to them.”
Officials are also looking at the capacity in Northwestern Ontario, Kerzner said.
“That's why we're adding the 345 beds in addition to what we have. That's why we brought our new modular build right here on this property, 60 new beds. That's why we've expanded another modular build in Kenora," he added.
“We're continuing to look at our capacity numbers and Northwestern Ontario and we'll continue to assess it."
