Shortreed v. Canada ( Attorney General )
T-2180-96
Cullen J.
3/7/97
13 pp.
Application for judicial review of several decisions of Correctional Service officers concerning use of Inmate Welfare Fund by Inmate Committee at Warkworth Institution in Campbellford, Ontario, to purchase legal texts, cancellation of inmate's Outlook magazine and editor's position, and confiscation of two law books-(1) Use of Inmate Welfare Fund to purchase legal texts-Bissonnette v. Canada (Commissioner of Corrections) (1996), 122 F.T.R. 166 (F.C.T.D.) applied-Paragraph 4 of Commissioner's Directive 861, using mandatory language as to use of Fund, not including purchase of legal texts-Restrictive interpretation of that provision did not give sufficient importance to policy objective of contributing to general inmate welfare-Paragraph 4 not necessarily prohibiting purchase of legal texts, especially in light of Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations, s. 97(3) which provides that Service shall ensure inmates have reasonable access to legal reading materials-Applying principles set out in Bissonnette to case at bar, only question to answer: whether decision to void purchase order in keeping with Regulations, s. 97(3)-However, given access to books already available and evidence of respondent's concern Fund threatened by purchase, on balance, applicant has not made its case-(2) Cancellation of Outlook magazine and editor's position-Magazine designed, pursuant to Standing Order, 765 to "provide structured avenues of selfexpression"-Applicants have failed to show decisions concerning Outlook magazine unreasonable in any way-Proposed issue had no original submissions in it, consisting exclusively of reproductions of previously published articles-Copyright concerns alone were enough to reject issue-Issue of cancellation of Outlook magazine and editorial position now moot as publication of Outlook has since resumed-(3) Alleged confiscation of law books-No evidence officers decided books contraband, and seized them on that basis-Evidence rather to effect officers concerned over abuse of photocopying privileges for unauthorized personal use, and books examined to see if for personal use or for authorized use-No error of fact or jurisdictional error-Issue now moot as books returned to applicant within few days-Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations, SOR/92-620, s. 97(3).