Campaign to save prison farms - back in high gear

Oct 01, 2009

(l-r) Charlie Cumpson, John Peters, Hailey Conium, Liberal candidate David Remmington, MPP Wayne Easter, and “Stormy”

Now that the summer harvest is winding down, local farmers are once again gearing up in their fight against the government's decision in February 2008 to close six prison farms across Canada.

Local farmers were angered most recently by the decision by Correctional Services Canada to withdraw Frontenac Institution’s cattle from entry into the Holstein Show at the recent Kingston Exhibition and Fair. Farmers saw the move as a means to silence their opposition to the closures.

So on September 24, the coalition group that united in opposition to the closures, made up of members and representatives from the Frontenac Cattlemen’s Association, the Frontenac Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union Local 316, the Sisters of Providence and Urban Agriculture Kingston, met for a rally at the Frontenac Institution in Kingston, one of the six prison farm programs slated to close.

In attendance was Jeff Peters, director of the NFU’s local 316, who brought along two of his cows and a donkey. The latter bore a sign reading “PC prison farm consultant”. The large group of supporters who donned green “Save Our Farms” t-shirts generated much car honking approval of local drivers passing by.

When I spoke to Jeff Peters, he pointed to the large Frontenac Institution lawn sign “Paying their way through agriculture” and explained, “The food on this farm is consumed by the inmates and it will cost a lot more money if we are going to have to buy food for these inmates.” He continued, “We have a revitalization plan for this prison farm system and we’re not giving up. This farm here has a great future. It has 1000 acres of prime agricultural land and being within the city it has the potential to showcase how farming and people can get along.”

Peter Dowling, provincial director of the NFU explained the motivation behind the day’s rally, “We’re here to get the point across to the Liberals and other politicians that the answer here is revitalization, not closures.”

The rally included a 2PM tour of the Frontenac farm by a group of delegates including Diane Dowling, the VP for NFU Local 316, Liberal agriculture critic MPP Wayne Easter and local Liberal candidate from Frontenac, Lennox and Addington David Remmington and others. The tour was intended to present the revitalization plan to the warden for the Frontenac Institution with the hope of changing her mind.

Also present at the rally and showing support for the campaign against the closures were Federal NPD and Green Party candidates for Kingston and the Islands Daniel Beals and Eric Walton.

Constable Bryan Bowers of the Kingston City police who has a background in restorative justice was also out to support the campaign and stated, “The prison farms to me play a significant role in building relationships and from a restorative justice perspective there is an important healing paradigm here. To lose this opportunity would be very unfortunate.”

MPP Wayne Easter was very clear why he was in attendance and what he hoped to accomplish. “We hope to bring the Harper Government to its senses and change their mind about this decision. As a former solicitor general, I know this institution paid its way and so do many others. The Liberal Party wants to save these farms for a number of reasons: They provide food to the institutions across the country; there is no other approach that is more rehabilitative in terms of inmates working with livestock - it builds character, skill and pride; and finally, for the government of Canada to basically imply and, in fact, state that these skills are no longer important in Canadian society is an absolute insult to every single member of Canada’s farming community.”

A second rally was planned the following Monday on Sept. 28 in Ottawa on Sparks Street to continue to draw attention to prison farm closures. For more information, visit www.saveourfarms.ca.