Commissioner's Speeches

Banking On Youth To Make A Difference

Remarks by:

Lucie McClung
Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada

February 10, 2004
Toronto, Ontario


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Good morning, everyone. My name is Lucie McClung. I'm the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada.

And it is my pleasure to be one of your hosts for this day. Your other hosts are the Students Commission, the East Metro Youth Service, the Esteem Team Association, the Toronto Police Empowered Student Partnerships Program, and Taking IT Global.

It's my pleasure to have the opportunity to talk to you directly, because I am talking to people who have already decided that they want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

I'm talking to people who have decided to influence their immediate surroundings, to make a difference.

We all share the same need to feel safe and well in our home, schools and neighbourhood. And we don't, when there is crime, or the potential for crime.

By your presence here today, you have already understood that crime is the affair of many more than a few individuals - it is the affair of the community. Sometimes big communities like cities and sometimes smaller communities such as your schools.

The Correctional Service of Canada runs 52 penitentiaries and, with the help of community-based organizations, hundreds of half-way houses. Today, as we speak, there are 21,000 individuals who are serving their sentence of two years or more either behind bars or under parole supervision in the community.

So, we know a lot about what didn't work. We see it every day as people struggle to put their lives back on track against very severe odds.

But, we also know something about what does work.

And what works is involvement. That is the fundamental ingredient, the necessary underpinning to putting our knowledge and savoir faire into action.

What works is what you will be doing today: getting involved to ensure well-being - to build safe communities.

You have decided to design projects that focus on preventing crime. You are on to something here!

Before you get to it, I'd like to leave you with two thoughts that you could remember to shape your thinking about these two projects:

1. Reach out.

People in Canada's prisons today pretty much started out like you and me and the people we know. Most were ordinary kids whose lives got off track for one or more reasons.

They may have started getting into trouble at school or hanging out with the wrong crowd. They didn't know how to deal with the frustration and anger that they felt. They felt isolated and therefore weren't able to deal with their problems. Then they probably started using drugs or drinking to get away from their problems, and this led to even bigger problems.

They didn't get the support that they needed.

Big problems - such as crime, drugs and alcohol addictions and violence - are only solved through relationships.

So paying attention to the nature and scope of relationships in your community / in your school is absolutely the right thing to do.

So yes, reach out.

Involve the greatest number of people in your projects as you can. The more the better!

2. Seize the day / chill / rock on / or whatever it is that you say to take charge and really live to the fullest.

Recognize your capacity, your ideas and your energy - your power. Do you know how much power each of you has?

YOU are the one who can best identify the most important issues that you face today.

YOU are the one who is in the best position to decide how to tackle those issues.

And therefore YOU are the one who can best go out and actually deal with those issues.

My colleagues and I can help you by pointing you in some directions, directions that worked well for others. For example we can support you with the tools to help you to figure it out, such as organizing today.

But remember that we can only tell you what worked best for us, or what we have learned through our relationships with others over the years.

It will be up to you to shape the directions that work best for you, the directions that YOU will take.

So, go at it with focus and energy.

Go ahead and make a difference.

We are counting on it.

This event is called Banking on Youth for a reason: we are counting on you to take action to ensure safety and well-being in your immediate community.

Your crime prevention projects will be posted on the web. Taking IT Global will do this for us. Your projects will be the start of something BIG - if you make it so.

How serious are we?

Well, $5,000 was put aside to make your projects come alive. I encourage you to take us up on this offer.

The National Crime Prevention Centre, and your peers, will review your proposals and pick the ones that are the most promising to make a difference.

Outstanding projects, once implemented, will be recognized at a special event next year that will be hosted by the Empowered Students Partnerships and us, the Correctional Service of Canada.

So, how serious are YOU?

Reach out and seize the day.

We will all be better off for it!

Thanks so much for your time today.