Vancouver, March 15, 2007 -- The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, along with the Honourable Wally Oppal, British Columbia Attorney General and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, on behalf of the Honourable John Les, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, today announced $1,938,000 in funding to prevent youth gang violence in British Columbia. The Preventing Youth Gang Violence in B.C. project is a four-year strategy to help guide communities on how to prevent youth gang violence. It is the first of its kind in the province.“Canada’s New Government is taking a balanced approach to keeping our communities safe by focusing on law enforcement and crime prevention,” said Minister Day. “This funding will help youth at risk make smarter choices and will help prevent their involvement in gangs and serious criminal activities,” he added. “We are very concerned about youth gang violence in our communities. Several of our communities have faced increased gang activity and violence in recent years. We need to work together to put an end to this violence and to keep young people from being lured into gangs,” said Minister Oppal.The B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General’s Victim Services and Crime Prevention Division are receiving $1,938,000 for the Preventing Youth Gang Violence in B.C. project to provide support for youth gang prevention initiatives at both the community and provincial levels. B.C. communities currently engaged in the strategy include Vancouver, Surrey, Abbotsford, Richmond and Kamloops. Some of the potential activities include public forums, education and awareness campaigns, after-school recreation programming, youth mentoring programs, positive youth development programs, intervention strategies, cultural camps (particularly for aboriginal youth), parent education and youth outreach. The project will include involvement from police, municipalities, school districts, youth serving agencies, community agencies and local youth.As part of Public Safety Canada, the National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) works to increase community action to prevent crime, develop and share knowledge of effective crime prevention strategies and coordinate multi-level support for crime prevention. The NCPC helps communities develop local solutions to local problems.Information:Media RelationsPublic Safety Canada613-991-0657Mélisa LeclercDirector of CommunicationsOffice of the Honourable Stockwell DayMinister of Public Safety 613-991-2863Karen JohnstonCommunications DirectorPublic Affairs BureauMinistry of Public Safety and Solicitor General250-812-0495
