Correctional Service Canada approved 26 inmates assigned male at birth for placement in women’s institutions from fiscal 2019–20 through 2025–26, according to a response to Conservative MP Frank Caputo’s Order Paper question. Ten approvals came in 2022–23 alone.

The figures technically count approvals, not the number of those inmates currently housed in women’s prisons. CSC provided no breakdown by institution or offence, withholding that information on privacy grounds. It said CSC, rather than a judge, made each placement decision.

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Those decisions are under scrutiny in a constitutional lawsuit brought by Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights, with lawyers funded by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The group argues that placing inmates born male in women’s prisons puts female prisoners at risk.

Ottawa’s statement of defence confirms that two complaints at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener led to criminal charges. After a female inmate complained in April 2020, one gender-diverse inmate was charged with sexual assault and criminal harassment. Following a separate complaint in October 2024, another was charged with two counts of sexual assault. The filing does not say those charges resulted in convictions.

The government also acknowledged other complaints, while disputing or saying it could not verify many of the lawsuit’s allegations. At Grand Valley, a 2018 sexual-assault complaint prompted a police investigation, but no charges were laid. At Fraser Valley Institution in British Columbia, a woman reported in 2021 that another inmate had sexually and physically assaulted her. Police opened a file, but the complainant declined to speak with them. At Saskatchewan’s Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, a woman reported a sexual assault in 2019 but did not provide details or pursue charges, according to the defence.

The filing describes two physical altercations at Fraser Valley, in 2017 and 2019, involving gender-diverse and female inmates. CSC says its investigations found both participants were instigators in each altercation. It also says one other sexual-assault allegation at Grand Valley was later retracted by the complainant.

Ottawa denies that any alleged harm flowed from its gender-diverse inmate policy. CSC says it assesses transfer requests individually, including risks to other prisoners, and can deny a request when safety concerns cannot be adequately addressed. 

The constitutional challenge remains before the Federal Court.