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Corrections officers say they're being forced to work without pepper spray at their side

Michael Lundy says firefighters wouldn’t be sent to work without a hose and police officers wouldn’t hit the street without their guns.
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Ontario Public Sector Employee Union corrections officers protest Friday in front of the Thunder Bay District Jail, concerned many are no longer certified to carry pepper spray on the job.

Michael Lundy says firefighters wouldn’t be sent to work without a hose and police officers wouldn’t hit the street without their guns.

Why then, he asked Friday, would corrections office be sent into Ontario prisons and jails without a canister of pepper spray at their side?
According to Lundy, president of the local OPSEU union, corrections officers must recertify to carry pepper spray every two years, but the province’s lack of hiring has left workers with too much on their plates and no time to take the test.

It’s leaving prison guards vulnerable, he said, a group of about two dozen corrections officers picketing in front of the Thunder Bay District Jail.

“Staff are being disciplined, suspended and sent home for not being properly certified to carry their personal protective equipment,” Lundy said.

“We’ve asked that the employer accommodate us to a post that doesn’t involve inmates at this point until they can get some training done for us.”

Lundy said prison guards face plenty of danger on the job and often have to deal with inmates who are carrying homemade weapons.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way inside prison walls, he said.

“In the province alone last year there were 855 assaults on correctional officers. Some of those involved weapons,” he said.

“With the deterrent of the pepper spray that we now carry, the assaults are starting to decrease.”

Lundy, whose OPSEU workers are negotiating a new contract, said management has let the training lapse.

“I look at it this way. If you had a corrections site and you were ordered to wear a hard hat and glasses and they broke, they wouldn’t send you to do the work. I don’t see where the ministry has any leg to stand on saying we have to do this.”

Lundy added there is a memorandum between the province and the union to provide the training.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services has been contacted for response to the allegations. 



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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