Keith Tower, who employed offenders, including Jacquard, through Corrections Canada’s CORCAN Construction program, also testified on day two of the hearing. CORCAN puts inmates to work in the field of construction and exposes them to various construction trades, which they might pursue once back on the street after serving their sentences. For their work the inmates received an incentive pay of $2.25 an hour, and also earned an institutional pay.
“There sure are a lot of good workers incarcerated,” Tower testified, and he included Jacquard in that group. Tower oversaw Jacquard in the program for a period or seven or eight years.
“He was one of the best workers we had,” said Tower, explaining that Jacquard was not afraid of work, never complained and never wasted or damaged materials. If he accidentally broke something, he was very concerned. He was also very quick to catch onto skills.
“He had a good work ethic,” Tower said.
About his visits to Greenfield House – a halfway house in Moncton – a caseworker testified that Jacquard was pleasant, very open to discussion and very compliant. She said they were happy to have Jacquard and are always open to his visits.
“When he walks through the doors, I see a man that’s trying to do good, make good and get on with his life,” said the witness.
But that’s not to say that getting on with his life will be easy. Inmates, particularly lifers, face many obstacles when trying to reintegrate into society after being in prison for so long. The simple things in life that many of us take for granted can be a hard adjustment for people who have been locked up for years or decades.
The court has been told that if ever released, it is not Jacquard’s intention to return to Yarmouth. He wants to move out west to find work there.
And if the National Parole Board ever grants him parole, the jury was told parole is a slow and gradual process involving many steps. It is far from an overnight process.
Jacquard is expected to testify Wednesday at his hearing. Although two weeks of court time have been set aside for the hearing there is a possibility the testimony and evidence could wrap up Wednesday or Thursday. The court is not sitting on Friday, so the charge to the jury may only be given on Monday with their jury deliberation taking place at the start of next week.
