The province says it’s working to try and solve the shortage of correctional service officers in the region.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says one idea is attracting jail guards from Manitoba.
“The Northern Correctional Officer Recruitment Program is something that we’re just putting the contours to now, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to focus on a more local recruitment strategy rather than relying on transfers, which sometimes can be temporary,” Rickford says.
Rickford says they seemed to have success in training jail guards locally as opposed to in southern Ontario.
A union official says the Kenora Jail is currently short about 11 correctional service officers and OPSEU calls the situation a “powder keg.”
