Thank you for standing with us against solitary
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- Published on Tuesday, 27 January 2015 17:44
- Written by editor
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Dear PAOV,
Last week, the BC Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada launched a constitutional challenge to the abuse of solitary confinement in federal prisons, and we couldn't have done it without your support.
Sparking a national conversation
Since last Monday, BCCLA lawyers have been speaking about this issue nonstop across the country. An editorial in The Globe and Mail declared that ‘Solitary should be rare,’ and that they hope the BCCLA succeeds where the federal government has 'abjectly and shamefully failed.' The Toronto Star wrote in support of our challenge, calling it 'welcome.' And The National Post published this piece, proclaiming that with the launch of our lawsuit “A new day has come in the fight to end excessive forms of prisoner isolation in Canada.”
You can listen to this powerful CBC radio interview with BobbyLee Worm, a BCCLA client, solitary confinement survivor, and outspoken advocate for reform. And you can explore the legal questions at issue in our case in this piece in The Georgia Straight.
Time's up: we can stop solitary
It shouldn’t require a lawsuit to scrap this practice, but the Canadian government has ignored repeated calls for reform for decades. So with your support, we are fighting for this long-overdue change.
We know change is possible. In 2011, we sued the federal government on behalf of our client BobbyLee Worm, a young Indigenous woman from Saskatchewan, who was held in solitary confinement for over three and a half years under a program known as the ‘Management Protocol.’ Following our lawsuit, the government announced it would end the use of the program across Canada.
Now we’re setting our sights on ending the abuse of long-term solitary confinement in all federal prisons, and momentum is building. Find out more about our case here, and explore our frequently asked questions.
Your generous support has made it possible for us to challenge this abuse of solitary confinement. Continue to stand with us by following our progress on Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Josh Paterson, Executive Director
and the entire BCCLA team
