Union head calls for Yasir Naqvi to resign over Ottawa jail mismanagement

Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi should be removed from cabinet over "his inept handling" of the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre, according to the head of the union representing guards at the jail.

Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Warren "Smokey" Thomas issued a statement calling on Premier Kathleen Wynne to demand Naqvi's resignation following a management shake-up at the jail last week.

Naqvi had confirmed in a statement Friday that deputy superintendent Mike Wood has been named acting superintendent at the jail, replacing former superintendent Maureen Harvey.

Harvey, said Naqvi, is "no longer with the Ontario public service."

But Thomas called Harvey "a respected jail superintendent who enjoyed a track record of expanding human rights for inmates and for her forward thinking on how jails should operate in the 21st century."

Conditions at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre had come under fire in a 2015 community advisory committee report that found the jail often served substandard food, and had both overcrowding of inmates and staff shortages.

Naqvi had praised Wood in appointing him as the acting superintendent, saying he would continue to run the jail in a safe and secure manner. 

Thomas said the statement shows that Naqvi is out of touch.

"He has dismissed all of the evidence out of hand and made an outrageous statement that this jail is well run and safe and effective and that's just not the case, and it really is the tipping point with me, I believe he should step aside," he said.

Naqvi responds

Naqvi said in a statement issued late Tuesday he takes his focus is on improving conditions at the jail.

"That means there must be changes and sometimes hard decisions but we will do what it takes to build the type of correctional system that improves staff and inmate safety, strengthens mental health supports and breaks the cycle of reoffending to build safer communities for all," he said in his statement.

Naqvi said he had a "good working relationship" with Thomas and that he hoped they can "continue working together to build a system built on better rehabilitation, mental health supports, and reintegration programs."