Canadian Women’s Prisons

Hi everyone,

My name is Heather Mason, and I am a former federal prisoner who was incarcerated at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario.

In 2017, Bill C-16 was passed, and the Correctional Service of Canada implemented a transfer policy based on self-identification. Males who identify as women but who have not had surgery or on hormones can apply for a transfer to a women's prison. This policy is one-sided as females who identify as men are denied transfer due to overriding health and safety concerns.

There have been sexual assaults, physical assaults, harassment, and other issues that have resulted from this policy.

No one is willing to discuss this issue or investigate the policies and practices of allowing transfers from men's prisons to women's prisons or the impacts on the lived realities of incarcerated females.

I am starting this fundraiser to help pay for the cost of the activism needed to get the attention of the people who are supposed to be helping us, criminalized women. The money will go towards stickers, flyers, banners, protests, and travel expenses. I am also offering the women honorariums for filling out a survey about their experiences while incarcerated with males who identify as women.

For more information on the situation in women's prisons, you can read the brief I submitted to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security at the link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b3UwWP8aDCFXM6988...