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continued from p.1 Her work with the Public Safety Committee, she said, has included a clause-by-clause review of the unionization of the RCMP and a study of post-traumatic stress in first-responders. "I knew it was an issue, but the magnitude of the issue is huge," said Damoff. "It is not just an issue for the people who are performing the jobs. It's also an issue for us because you want people who are in those positions to be doing their job at their best and if they are not as mentally well as they should be, they are not performing their job as well as they should be. It is something we really need to raise awareness about." She noted corrections officers have a particularly high suicide rate and pointed out these people are not as celebrated as a firefighter or a police officer despite the work they do to keep the public safe. Damoff's role with the Public Safety Committee also resulted in her taking a tour of Manitoba's Stony Mountain Correctional Facility, one of Canada's oldest prisons. She also toured a Community Corrections Centre, which yielded startling information. "We have 16 of these across Canada. These are facilities for people who will not be accepted into a halfway house. They are not dangerous offenders, but I guess they would be just below that. We have mandatory release after people serve two-thirds of their sentence so people are released from prison, but they need to be somewhere where they are supervised," said Damoff. New MP delves into women's, First Nations and corrections issues "This is not a minimum-security facility. There is no one on-site with a weapon. Some of the cuts that were made to the system removed police officers who were at those facilities... There is really very little security." When she asked staff at the centre she toured about success stories, Damoff said she was told that for those staff, success involved making sure the people there did not re-offend or become unlawfully at-large. The staff told her residents of the centre are likely not to be rehabilitated, noting they include sex offenders who have refused to participate in rehabilitation programs and others required to serve their entire sentence. "It was a real eye-opener. I really think, we as Canadians, need to pay attention to our corrections facilities. Many of us think we don't need to invest money there, but we do need to invest money in our corrections so that people, when they are released, are not re-offending. The prison farms we used to have provided skills training," said Damoff. "The majority of people who are going to prison are getting out, so what kind of people do we want to be released?" Damoff also spoke about her work on the Status of Women Committee and a recommendation that the government use Gender-Based Analysis Plus, an analytical tool used to develop policy with a gender lens. The idea is that when something like infrastructure spending comes forward, the tool looks at the proposal to see if jobs are being cretions communities. "I have to say though, that is not nearly enough," said Damoff. "The amount of funding that goes to those kids versus our kids... It's not even close. You shouldn't be limited in your education because of where you were born. If you were born in Fort Severn or Attawapiskat, you should have the same opportunities as a child that is born in Oakville or Burlington." Damoff noted when she toured the Pelican Falls First Nations High School in Sioux Lookout, Ont., she learned 19 of the school's 200 students had attempted suicide during that school year. "I got in the car and I started crying because if that was Blakelock High School... it wouldn't just be national news, it would be international news," she said. "But because it is in Sioux Lookout, and it is First Nations kids, we don't hear anything about it and that is just wrong." Damoff applauded Rotary Oakville Trafalgar's efforts to help First Nations youths get an education and then return to their communities so they can bring change. The Oakville North-Burlington MP's Rotary Oakville Trafalgar appearance was one of several stops Damoff has made in Oakville and Burlington recently. She also visited with Canada Summer Jobs students at the Oakville Soccer Club Thursday and spoke on similar topics before the Rotary Club of Oakville West on July 26. 3 | Thursday, August 4, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Oakville North-Burlington MP Pam Damoff addresses the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver ated equally for men and women. "If you think about the types of infrastructure you're normally investing in, it is a lot of skilled trades. We don't have as many women in skilled trades so we need to promote more women in those jobs so when we are investing money we are providing jobs to both men and women," said Damoff. Knowing Rotary Oakville Trafalgar's interest in First Nation's communities, Damoff also touched on the federal government's investment of $2.6 billion over five years in First Nations education and more than $8 billion in First Na- Skyway Jewellers Love and Cherish DIAMOND JEWELLERY 10K AND 14K GOLD CUSTOM DESIGN JEWELLERY REPAIRS 2501 Third Line, Oakville 905.827.0700 · www.skywayjewellers.com