Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (SOR/92-620)

155 For the purposes of sections 116 and 117 of the Act, the releasing authority may authorize an unescorted temporary absence of an offender

• (a) for medical reasons to allow the offender to undergo medical examination or treatment that cannot reasonably be provided in the penitentiary;

• (b) for administrative reasons to allow the offender to attend to essential personal affairs or legal matters or to matters related to the administration of the sentence that the offender is serving;

• (c) for community service purposes to allow the offender to undertake voluntary activity with a non-profit community institution, organization or agency, or for the benefit of the community as a whole;

• (d) for family contact purposes to assist the offender in maintaining and strengthening family ties as a support to the offender while in custody and as a potential community resource on the offender’s release;

• (e) for parental responsibility reasons to allow the offender to attend to matters related to the maintenance of a parent-child relationship, including care, nurture, schooling and medical treatment, where such a relationship exists between the offender and the child;

• (f) for personal development for rehabilitative purposes to allow the offender to participate in specific treatment activities with the goal of reducing the risk of the offender re-offending, or to allow the offender to participate in activities of a rehabilitative nature, including cultural and spiritual ceremonies unique to Indigenous persons, with the goal of assisting the reintegration of the offender into the community as a law-abiding citizen; or

• (g) for compassionate reasons to allow the offender to attend to urgent matters affecting the members of the offender’s immediate family or other persons with whom the offender has a close personal relationship.