Corrections vows to work with city

By Jordan Nicurity The Vernon Daily Courier http://www.dailycourier.ca/

At city council on Monday, it was clear there are some major issues that need to be addressed by Corrections Canada before the city approves its plans to locate a 12 to14 resident halfway house in Vernon. According to Brian Lang, district director of Corrections Canada, the city’s position is completely understandable. Lang made a brief presentation to council although, at the request of council, he did not name which of the two bids to run the halfway house had succeeded.

Coun. Barry Beardsell said that council approval of the Corrections Canada plan was based on the satisfactory completion of 25 recommendations – one of which was a comprehensive report examining the circumstances surrounding Eric Fish’s disappearance from the previous halfway house and the murder of Bill Abramenko. Lang said he would try to get what portions of the report that could legally be released to council as soon as possible, however, it may not satisfy the questions council had. “The terms of reference are fairly narrow, so certain expectations of that report might not be met. It is not supposed to attach blame or find fault but to see if policy was followed,” said Lang, also noting that the report only examined Corrections Canada’s role in the affair, not the role of the RCMP, the parole board or Howard House.

Coun. Cunningham said that although there were concerns surrounding the halfway house, not having one was perhaps a greater risk for the community. “We are creating a false sense of security in the community because we don’t have a building called halfway house. (Parolees) are still out there.” Lang confirmed that there are 42 parolees already in Vernon, but none of them would be eligible for the halfway house, meaning that residents of the house would be new to Vernon. However, Lang said that the selection of the residents of the halfway house would be done by a screening committee comprising of citizens, a member of the RCMP and a member of the agency that won the bid.

In spite of the city’s concerns, Corrections Canada has the power to go ahead with its plans regardless of council approval. However, Lang assured reporters that this is not an option that they are considering. “The partnership we established in 2004 is very important to us and it’s in everyone’s interest to work together on this. We would not think of imposing a halfway house on Vernon.”