Funding Announcement to help youth at risk

Remarks by
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety

January 11, 2007
Winnipeg, Manitoba
As delivered

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you, Your Worship Sam Katz, for that warm welcome.

I always enjoy being in Winnipeg. It's a city of opportunity and will continue to be for the future under good civic leadership of individuals like the mayor and others.

I'm also delighted to be here with my colleague, Joy Smith, who I'll introduce shortly.

The Government of Canada supports the safety and security of its citizens. To keep our communities safer, we are taking a balanced approach by focussing on law enforcement and crime prevention. I'm talking about a two-pronged approach-the long arm of the law, which is the enforcement side, and the open arms of the community.

Joy Smith and I just spent some time with Inspector Madill at “D” Division. We heard about the incredible pressures faced not just here in the city, but also all over the province. Today, I would like to make an announcement of funding that will help address issues of youth involvement with guns, drugs and gangs in a our communities.

We want to empower local communities and local groups to keep Canadians safe and secure. That is why, today, I am announcing a $16-million fund that will be directed to reducing youth crime. We are committed to helping groups that are providing programming for youth at-risk, which shows them a different and better path in life.

We want to commend our policing forces, the City of Winnipeg and the RCMP throughout the province for their hard work in this area. We want to let people know that this funding will complement the work they do.

The funds themselves are divided into two categories. First, approximately $11.1 million will be allocated for public safety. Another $5 million will be directed toward assisting youth who are already drawn into the justice programs.

We acknowledge that it will be the local people and local groups, and voluntary and non-profit organizations that will come forward with the ideas to put in place-in this province, and in fact across the country-the types of programs that will help reduce youth involvement in crime. This Government and our Prime Minister have great confidence in people at the local level to do what you can do to make this a reality.

We will be able to track, measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the programs. The result is going to be safer communities, more secure streets and a youth population that is even more protected from things that draw them into the wrong kind of activities.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your interest.