In the Spotlight: Documenting Our National Impact
Explore how Book Clubs for Inmates is making headlines across Canada. Our media archive features news stories, press coverage, and national awards that highlight the transformative impact of literacy and civil discourse within Canadian penitentiaries.
The Red Deer Advocate talks about our ChIRP program at Bowden Institution.
The ChIRP program offers a way for the kids to feel closer to their non-present parent, and a way for inmates to create a more personal connection with their.
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The Joys of Reading with Friends
It was a pleasure to witness our dedicated volunteers at Warkworth Institution being spotlighted in an engaging interview by Watershed Magazine. Be sure to explore the insightful article featuring the remarkable contributions of Erin O’Sullivan and Judy Kaufman.
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Let’s Talk
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has beautifully chronicled the success of our ChIRP program on their “Let’s Talk” website. ” Through these tales, readers are offered an immersive insight into the manner in which CSC diligently upholds its commitment to enhancing public safety and supporting rehabilitation. The collaborative efforts of organizations like Book Clubs for Inmates and ChiRP play a pivotal role in this transformative journey.
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A CBC article discusses how book clubs benefit inmates in Ontario women’s prisons.
Former inmate Emily O’Brien says the monthly book club she used to attend, as part of a program at federal penitentiaries across Canada, helped her and others learn to “communicate in a peaceful way.”
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Canada’s prison book clubs, closed by COVID-19, pick up where they left off
Book-club participants had been assigned to read The River a month earlier, and must now share what they thought of it.
Read the articleThe Exciting Times
BECAUSE APATHY IS BORING
Tom Best is featured in the Exciting Times Newsletter
Tom’s enthusiasm for literacy is second only to his compassion for others. These two qualities produce a perfect marriage that engages, empowers, and enables all levels of participants in BCFI.
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Port Moody high school student aims to give inmates life skills through literacy
BCFI runs volunteer-led book clubs where inmates meet monthly to discuss books. It began in 2008 in a small Ontario penitentiary and has spread to facilities across the country, including five chapters in B.C.
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Fighting the Literacy Epidemic Inside Canada’s Correctional Facilities
According to BCFI’s Executive Director Tom Best, literacy can profoundly affect an inmate’s life, both while inside and outside of prison. Books can expand one’s horizons in dramatic and unexpected ways, especially when it comes to building empathy. And that, he says, is an important skill to have inside a prison.
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Carol Finlay Receives Honorary Degree From St Thomas University
We are delighted to announce that Carol Finlay, our founder, received an honorary degree from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, on July 5. St Thomas University has a strong social justice reputation. She was recognized for founding BCFI and bringing life and hope through literature to the incarcerated, one of the most marginalized populations in Canada. In her Commencement Address she spoke about pursuing a life of meaning through volunteering in the community.
Carol’s full addressBCFI Founder Carol Finlay Receives Meritorious Service Medal 06/07/18
PHOTO CREDIT: SGT JOHANIE MAHEU, RIDEAU HALL © OSGG, 2018.
The board of directors of Book Clubs for Inmates is delighted to announce that Founder, Carol Finlay, received a Meritorious Service Medal (blue medal in photograph) on Friday, July 6, 2018.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, presented the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division) to Carol Finlay, O.Ont., M.S.M. at the ceremony at the Citadelle of Québec.
As Carol says, “ I accepted this award on behalf of all the wonderful volunteers and financial supporters of BCFI, without whom none of the work of BCFI would be possible.”
BCFI joins National Associations Active in Criminal Justice (NAACJ)
03/09/2018
We at BCFI are very pleased to announce that we have been recently become members of NAACJ (National Associations Active in Criminal Justice). The goal of NAACJ is to enhance the capacity of its member organizations to contribute to a just, fair, equitable and effective justice system.
BCFI joins 19 other member organizations who are national in scope and who represent a diversity of groups engaged in the field of criminal justice. This diversity covers a variety of areas, including non violent conflict resolution, transitional housing, law, research, advocacy, policy , training, literacy, counselling and restorative justice. Membership offers us the opportunity to engage with other community based justice related organizations, Correctional Service of Canada and Public Safety in a more co ordinated and effective manner.
For more information on NAACJ please go to their website at www.naacj.org
Colin Campbell, Author of “Free Days with George” and George Visit Bath Brook Club
Book Drive For Beaver Creek: 10/31/2016
BCFI is thrilled to thank Thomas Heintzman OC, a retired litigation lawyer, who collected nearly 4,000 books from neighbours, colleagues, and friends during a month-long book drive for Beaver Creek Institution’s library. Tom sent out over 200 emails asking for donations of the books requested by inmates, and also collected dictionaries, reference books, text books, cook books, and more. Today, Thomas loaded the books into a moving truck and drove them up to the library. Many thanks to everyone who donated books! Thank you, Tom!
Michael Hurley
BCFI volunteer, Michael Hurley, presented two poems, “Down Inside” and “22-Year-Old Feet”, for Robert Clark on Friday, May 10th. Download the poems here
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Dialogue on Canada’s Federal Penitentiary System and the Need for Change.
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Rev. Carol Finlay, the founder and director of Book Clubs for Inmates, says that women’s prisons in Canada have become places of despair, hopelessness and depression. (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)
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BCFI annual report 2017 (24/10/18)
2017 marks Book Clubs for Inmates’ tenth anniversary of transforming lives through the power of books.
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