A BRIEF HISTORY

In 2009-2011, Canada’s prison farms were dismantled. The Correctional Service of Canada said prison farms “did not reflect labour market demands of today and of the future.” In 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau committed to restore prison farms in Kingston Ontario to provide prisoner “skills training.”

In 2018, the federal government allocated $4.3 million over five years for full implementation of an industrial goat dairy farm. The decision was later amended to include a commercial cow dairy operation as well.

The former prison farms fed prisons. The new prison farms, which were mandated to be fully implemented over five years (2018-2023), will focus on commercial milk production. Prisoners will factory farm 2200 goats to supply infant formula for the Chinese market. While the goat farm has been delayed by multiple failed procurement attempts, a small herd of cows has been added to be milked under research quota, with the milk to be sold commercially to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. As of July 2024, no dairy operations have begun.

By 2024, cost of implementation reached $27.7 million in direct spending, plus millions more in procurement and consultancy fees, and millions more to be spent on dairy infrastructure. Due to complications, no dairy operations have yet been achieved.

Since 2016, Evolve has proposed ethical prison farm models. Since 2018, Evolve has opposed the new commercial-industrial prison farm model. In January 2021, Evolve published the academic report “Canada’s proposed prison farm program: Why it won’t work and what would work better” exposing details of the prison farm plan and flagging potential harmful impacts on prisoners, staff, and surrounding communities.

In March 2021, the Correctional Service of Canada announced the “temporary pause” of its industrial goat farm. CSC maintains that the goat program “will resume.” In 2022, CSC quietly commenced construction of a manure lagoon and dairy facility infrastructure at Joyceville Institution under a $10.5 million contract. The construction is scheduled for completion in July 2024.

In July 2024, Evolve published a full report, based on eight years of investigation and over 38,000 pages of government records, Prison Farms Exposed: Revelations from Access to Information.