SLSC regularly seeks information from our members on what they consider to be their most pressing local and national issues.  We review and organize this information into themes that guide our activities. Currently, our four priority areas are:

1. promoting healthy environments and improving access to health and mental health care for criminalized and marginalized populations;
2. enhancing community corrections capacity for integration supports through adequate resources and communications with Federal partners;
3. establishing meaningful access to safe, affordable housing; and,
4. raising awareness about community-based criminal and social justice services that directly contribute to safer, supported, and healthier communities.

We see these four priorities as being connected in ways that significantly affect justice-involved people and the broader public. Our small but dedicated team of staff and volunteers strives to take on activities each year that focus on meaningfully addressing these issues from a national perspective. Current projects we are undertaking to achieve these priorities include:

Youth Justice & Youth Homelessness

SLSC recently completed the research project Pursuing Justice: Bilateral interactions among the criminal justice and housing sectors for preventing youth homelessness (2025). This study explored how the youth housing and youth justice sectors impact experiences of youth homelessness across Canada. 

To continue this work, we recently secured funding for a new project that will leverage the findings from the Pursuing Justice study to inform a Solutions Lab called Pursuing Housing: Scaling Options for Justice-Involved Youth under the federal government’s National Housing Strategy. This lab will create effective, affordable housing solutions for justice-involved youth with complex needs by identifying the core requirements for success, and then testing and scaling what works. By breaking down silos, it will bring together youth, housing providers, service organizations, and communities to co-design housing that is viable, scalable, and sustainable.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Pursuing Housing project, and CLICK HERE to sign up for our project engagement list.

Life & Indeterminate Sentences

Since the creation of the life sentence in 1976, our network has studied its implementation and impact, and was involved in establishing the LifeLine© service in the 1980-90s as a targeted response to the needs of people with a life sentence. Despite international recognition and more than 20 years of successful operations, funding for LifeLine© was cancelled in 2012. Since then, the PeerLife Collaborative (PLC) has been responding to the needs of this population, and has been available to support a limited number of lifers in the Ontario region.

Since 2017, SLSC developed resources and actively called on CSC to develop a national strategy for life-sentenced people. SLSC and PLC’s work and advocacy continue to be informed by the knowledge and experience of community-based agencies who understand that preparing for release is critical for safe and successful reintegration. SLSC and PLC’s work in this area has been recognized by the Office of the Correctional Investigator, including in the 2023-24 Annual Report, which featured a national systemic investigation titled, Hope Behind Bars: Managing Life Sentences in Federal Custody (see recommendation 26). 

Building on this history and experience, SLSC, in partnership with Lifers’ Liaison Group (LLG), is pleased to announce the launch of our new initiative: inteGREAT (Generating Resources & Equitable Access Together), thanks to support from The Law Foundation of Ontario! This project will create inteGREAT as a system navigation service within and beyond the federal prison system. This project will bring different partners and strategies together to improve access to legal information, education, and resources. inteGREAT will enhance transparency, coordination, and accessibility by strengthening new and existing efforts and modernizing how information and navigation supports are delivered in prisons and the community. The project will start in Ontario by focusing on enhancing intersectoral capacity to improve access to justice for people with life and indeterminate sentences, and the professionals and organizations who support their case management and community integration.