“NEITHER PS NOR THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY CONTROLS WHEN A PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW OF C-83 WILL TAKE PLACE.”

Look again at the first entry in Letters….. posted on December 31, 2025, with its short letter to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree questioning for a second time why he has failed to meet a statutory requirement in Bill C-83, legislation his ministry sponsored.

A response came in an undated letter defending the Minister attached to a March 19 email from the Ministerial Correspondence Unit at Public Safety Canada.  There’s good reason to reproduce that letter in its entirety here:

Dear Mr. Klassen:

Thank you for your correspondence of December 23, 2025, in which you expressed your concerns regarding the absence of a formal review of Bill C-83 (42^nd Parliament, 1^st Session). I am responding on behalf of the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety, in my capacity as Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of the Crime Prevention Branch.

First, I would emphasize that Public Safety Canada (PS) remains fully committed to ensuring that federal correctional institutions are safe and humane environments that support effective rehabilitation and reintegration.  This includes ensuring that the operations of Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) are consistent with the letter and intent of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the provisions introduced as part of Bill C-83.

Neither PS nor the Minister of Public Safety controls when a parliamentary review of C-83 will take place.  That said, once initiated by Parliament, PS will be prepared to contribute to a thorough assessment of the successes and remaining challenges of the SIU model.  The extensive input provided by the SIU Implementation Advisory Panel over the course of its mandate, alongside input from correctional staff, inmates, and civil society stakeholders, will be essential in identifying and implementing potential improvements to the current system.

Ultimately, any findings or recommendations resulting from a C-83 review undertaken by Parliament will be met with serious and careful consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

Talal Dakalbab,
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister
Crime Prevention Branch
Public Safety Canada

Mr. Dakalbab wrote the only letter a civil servant could, and his politician boss would do the same.  We are assured that government policy is compliant with “the letter and intent” of the law.  Not just that, but the government is anxious to fully engage in an assessment of its obligations, to meet with all manner of folk in the process, and to ensure it is working for the betterment of society as a champion of Canadian values.

Hooey.

Given the subject at hand, since when does Public Safety pay attention to what an inmate has to say?  And what is this business with, “Neither PS nor the Minister of Public Safety controls when a parliamentary review of C-83 will take place.”  Isn’t this simply a matter of obeying the law?

We emailed Senator Kim Pate, “to get a straight answer” as we put it, to the question of who controls the timing of a parliamentary review.  She came back with, “CSC, the Minister, or a Parliamentary Committee could initiate the review.”

(A momentary pause to the narrative:  We’ve exchanged several notes with Senator Pate over time, and while she always respectfully uses “Mister” in her salutations, her notes and cards are signed simply, “Kim.”  Andrew Osborne on her staff emailed at 6:52pm on a Thursday evening to say he’d passed the email on to the senator.  Senator Pate answered at 9:19pm the same evening.  Some people in Ottawa do work late.)

Moving on.  Who is Talal Dakalbab?  Okay, he’s a senior assistant deputy minister here, but where has he been and where is he going?  He’s been with the Crime Prevention Branch at Public Safety since 2020.  In this position, he’s represented the Canadian Government on many national and international bodies focused on drug use and addictions, criminal and justice policies, and was part of a committee watching over the execution of recommendations for a mass casualty event.  He spent two years before that in the executive of the Canada Border Services Agency, and from 2011, Mr. Dakalbab held management offices with the Parole Board of Canada, including a time as its Chief Operating Officer. 

He began his federal public service career as a parole officer at Correctional Service of Canada and worked his way up through various management positions at CSC in operations and case management.  To come full circle, as of March 23 this year, Talal Dakalbab is now the new Commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada, succeeding the retiring Anne Kelly. 

What is the initialism so widely used today?  OMG.  This is the man who wrote that letter?  Does he believe what he wrote?  Likely not, but he’s bound to work and manage by it.

The Public Safety Minister needed to hear from us again.

April 13, 2026

The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree,
Minister of Public Safety,
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

Re:      Bill C-83, another national shame.

Minister Anandasangaree:

I have an undated letter from Talal Dakalbab, your Senior Assistant Deputy Minister when he wrote, that was attached to a March 19, 2026, email from your ministry.  It’s in response to my December 23, 2025, letter to you concerning Bill C-83’s mandated review of our prison SIU units.

Mr. Dakalbab was not entirely truthful in his letter.  I question his claim that Public Safety Canada (PS) “remains fully committed to ensuring that federal correctional institutions are safe and humane environments that support effective rehabilitation and reintegration.”  For a start, the SIU Implementation Advisory Panel (IAP) to which Mr. Dakalbab references released its final report in late 2024.  It indicates that the system has largely failed to meet its legislative goals. 

Mr. Dakalbab is either unaware of the panel’s conclusions or is unconcerned.  What’s more, he failed to notice the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s Annual Reports for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 which “characterized the Structured Intervention Unit (SIU) regime as a failure that has largely replicated the conditions of solitary confinement it was meant to abolish.”  Was Talal Dekalbab setting personal policy as he assumed his new position as the Commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada?

Quoting further from Mr. Dakalbab’s letter, “Neither PS not the Minister of Public Safety controls when a parliamentary review of C-83 will take place.”  This review is not optional.  You’re over two years late in meeting the Bill’s requirement, a Bill your ministry sponsored.  Correctional Service of Canada could initiate the review. Minister, you could order the review.  Or a Parliamentary Committee could step in.

Do you believe this flagrant violation would escape an OPCAT condemnation?  Oh yes, I forgot, Canada won’t ratify OPCAT. 

Charles H. Klassen

cc:       Commissioner Talal Dakalbab, Correctional Service of Canada. 

More “Letters” to come.