Case information

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Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Constitutional law - Fundamental freedom - Equality rights - Criminal law - Habeas corpus - Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20 - Civil procedure - Stay - Two inmates currently incarcerated at Isabel McNeill House to be involuntarily transferred to Grand Valley Institution - Whether the Court of Appeal for Ontario erred in law in deciding that the transfer of the Applicants would not result in a deprivation of their residual liberty - Whether the transfer of the Applicants contravenes ss. 4(d), 28 and 30 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and ss. 17 and 18 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations - Whether the transfer of the Applicants infringes s. 15(1) of the Charter, in that minimum security for men prisoners are confined in a minimum security environment - Whether the transfer of the Applicants is arbitrary, contrary to s. 7 of the Charter.

The Applicant inmates are serving life sentences for murder and have been classified as minimum security prisoners, and have been incarcerated at Isabel McNeill House (“IMH”) in Kingston, Ontario. Currently, only two of the four Applicants are still incarcerated at IMH. One Applicant, Lorie Dodd, was released on day parole on September 24, 2008 and another Applicant, Lisa Olsen, was transferred to Grand Valley Institution (“GVI”) in August 2008. IMH is a very old building and has been used as a minimum security facility for women incarcerated in the federal penitentiary system for many years and has a ten person capacity. Because of its age, IMH needs a thorough and expensive retrofit. The Correctional Services of Canada (“CSC”) has decided to close IMH permanently and move the Applicants to GVI in Kitchener, Ontario. GVI is a multi-level federal penitentiary for women and contains housing for minimum security prisoners and separate housing for medium and maximum security prisoners. All of the housing is within the same institution and the prisoners share common administrative and recreational facilities. CSC plans to transfer the Applicants to the minimum security residences within GVI. The Applicants moved for habeas corpus, claiming that the transfer resulted in a deprivation of their residual liberty interest and was unlawful because it was contrary to the relevant legislation and offended various provisions of the Charter. The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the habeas corpus application. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The Court of Appeal also dismissed the Applicants’ motion for a stay of its decision pending determination of the Applicants’ leave application in this Court.