EDMONTON, August 10, 2012 — The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, and the Honourable Laurie Hawn, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Centre, announced today that support has been extended for the promising crime prevention project, Walking the Path Together, run by the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.
“This important program helps at-risk children and their families make smart choices and avoid future involvement in criminal activity,” said Minister Toews. “Our government received a strong mandate from Canadians to continue to fight crime and make our streets and communities safe for our families and our children. Crime prevention programs such as this one will help us in meeting this goal.”
Walking the Path Together works with Aboriginal children and their families who have been exposed to family violence in an effort to steer them away from a life of violence and to encourage smart life choices. The approach involves intensive individual and family-based intervention, and is offered in women’s shelters located in five First Nations communities throughout the province of Alberta.
“I am delighted to see this program will continue to make a difference in our community,” said MP Hawn. “I am so proud of the hard work that is being accomplished at the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.”
“The lives of Aboriginal children and their families can be healed and transformed through this program,” said the Honourable Robin Campbell, Minister of Aboriginal Relations. “By ending the cycle of violence our communities are made stronger and safer, benefitting all Albertans.”
In 2011 alone, the government funded 138 community-based crime prevention programs through the National Crime Prevention Strategy, in which nearly 16,000 at-risk youth participated; thirteen of those programs were located in Alberta.
The Harper government’s support for this project demonstrates a commitment to preventing crime and making our streets safe. To help ensure that all Canadians can feel safe in their own communities, the Government of Canada is also investing $7.5 million per year in the Youth Gang Prevention Fund, which helps those youth who are most at risk of offending.
Funding for this project comes from the National Crime Prevention Strategy’s Northern and Aboriginal Crime Prevention Fund which is administered by the Government of Canada’s National Crime Prevention Centre.
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