The decision by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) to eliminate all librarian positions in federal penitentiaries across Canada — coupled with its intention to end funding for the CEGEP education program serving incarcerated people in Quebec’s federal institutions — represents a sweeping and regressive dismantling of rehabilitative infrastructure within our prison system.

Taken together, these actions signal a stark retreat from education, literacy, and meaningful rehabilitation. They undermine decades of progress and contradict both Canada’s domestic law and its international human rights commitments.

Sign the open letter here by Friday, February 27, 2026