CBC.ca - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Five crime prevention projects in the Northwest Territories, including three in Yellowknife, will receive a total $9 million in federal funding announced ...
<http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/07/13/nwt-crime-prevention.html>
Five crime prevention projects in the Northwest Territories, including three in Yellowknife, will receive a total of $9.3 million in federal funding announced late last week.
Most of the multi-year funding, announced Friday, will go toward projects targeting at-risk youth in Yellowknife, Hay River, and on the K'atlodeeche First Nations Reserve near Hay River.
The youth projects aim to build up young people's abilities to cope with problems, set goals, and resist violence and substance abuse.
"You don't see the results right away, but years into the future we hope that we will see, through initiatives like this, stronger, more vibrant, safer, better more pleasant communities," Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan told reporters in Yellowknife on Friday.
Receiving the largest share of federal money is the Yellowknife Catholic Schools board, which will get $7.1 million over five years for a youth leadership program for high-risk children and teens.
The South Slave Divisional Educational Council in Hay River will receive $1.4 million over five years for its own leadership program, working with youths aged 12 to 19.
The K'atlodeeche First Nations Reserve will get just under $474,000 over three years to provide workshops in life skills, personal development and employment skills, as well as provide outdoor and cultural activities.
Two other Yellowknife-based crime prevention programs are receiving federal funding, including a pilot project by the Coalition Against Family Violence subcommittee.
The project, which will receive $160,000 over 15 months, will target men who are likely to use violence in their intimate relationships. It will be based in Yellowknife, the capital city.
"I know everyone thinks Yellowknife gets everything, but Yellowknife also gets a lot of people that aren't welcome in their home communities because they've burned bridges or because they've made the choice. Some people just choose to live in a bigger centre because maybe there are more job opportunities," said Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society of the N.W.T., who is also a member of the coalition's subcommittee.
"If we look at, for example, the homeless population, so many of those people are from another original home community but [are] living here. So yes, Yellowknife does seem to get a lot, but we also have a lot of the social problems that exist, and we have a lot of the service providers here and the expertise for delivering the services."
Bardak said the project will be tested in Yellowknife before being implemented in other northern communities.
Also receiving funding will be a territorial government program that works with 85 crime prevention professionals across the territory. That initiative will receive $166,000 over 15 months.
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