Home Newsroom 2004 Speeches (archive) McLellan: 2004-11-13

National crime prevention strategy funding announcement

Speaking notes for
The Honourable Anne McLellan

Summerland, British Columbia
November 13, 2004

As delivered

Good morning everyone. Thank you, Scott Boswell, for your kind introduction.

As some of you know, as a lot of you here in this community know, our National Crime Prevention Strategy is something that we're very proud of in the Government of Canada, and it works in hundreds of communities - we're now in more than 850 communities with 4,300 projects all over this country. Crime prevention works on the basis that it's so much better if we spend some of our human and financial resources up front to help young people stay out of trouble and get their lives on a good and productive course.

We also all know that at the end of the day, if we spend a little bit of money on prevention as well as some of our time, effort, skill and expertise on prevention, it saves us, as a society, so much more in the long run. If people's lives get off track for whatever reason, if they get in trouble with the law, there are social costs, costs in terms of law enforcement and so on.

Therefore the whole notion of positive development, which we see reflected here very much in this project, is that it's so important for us to understand the root causes of what may lead some, especially our young people, to get into trouble. First, we need to understand the root causes and then we need to try to work together as communities - and families - to fix it and fix it early. And there are so many positive ways that that can be done.

In fact, here in the Okanagan valley there are a number of very exciting projects. And I'm very pleased today to be able to announce that through our National Crime Prevention Strategy the Government of Canada is providing more than $481,000 to 15 projects in the interior region of British Columbia and one from Victoria.

Most of the projects we are announcing here today focus on working with youth to develop crime prevention strategies and build safer communities. Other projects focus on the personal security of women and girls and the quality of life in Aboriginal communities.

Penny Lane, where we are gathered today, is particularly interesting. I know that Scott will be speaking about it in a few minutes so I won't go into detail, but I do want to mention that it was sponsored by the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism and aims to reduce at risk behaviour in youth by providing entrepreneurship opportunities and training.

Using the power of business partnerships to create solutions to crime can help communities become more economically and socially stable.

All 16 of these projects exemplify the hard work, dedication and innovation of concerned Canadians working to make sure that their communities offer opportunity.

All of you here today can take great pride in what we are announcing because you know that crime prevention is about working at the front-end of our lives and in our communities to prevent problems later on.

But it's also about partnerships. It's about, for example here in Summerland, the business community supporting this initiative. It's about law enforcement. And I'm very, very pleased to see so many of the local RCMP detachment here this morning. It's about community members where the local Member of Parliament, the local MLA, everybody comes together. The local council coming together to identify needs in the community and figuring out how we can make a real difference in the quality of people's lives.

That's what you did here and that is what's happening in the interior of British Columbia and all over our country in these crime prevention programs. It's about positive partnerships. And it's about the grassroots.

I think you'd probably agree, Rick, that even if it's the government in Victoria, let alone the government in Ottawa, it's very hard for us to understand what's happening in a community like Summerland. So, our National Strategy works on the basis that it's the grassroots. It's the local communities who work together in partnership to identify their needs. They then come and talk to the local council, the provincial government and the Government of Canada about whether we can form a partnership to make a difference.

I'm so excited about this program because it's about local communities identifying their resources and their needs. I guess first of all their needs and then the resources they have to meet those needs, and then working in partnership with others.

I just want to say, Scott, a big thank you to you and everybody involved in this wonderful project, Penny Lane. I met some of the young people earlier who are involved. Clearly you're doing a fantastic job here and I hope to have the chance to chat more with you after the official part of this ceremony.

On behalf of the Government of Canada and Prime Minister Paul Martin, who actually just happens to be down the road in Penticton this morning, I want to say thank you again to this community and everybody involved in Penny Lane and the other projects that we're announcing today. They're a real tribute to the people who live and work in the interior of British Columbia. Thank you all very much.