National Youth Justice Policing Award 2001

ANNE ATLEO (Elected Chief Councillor, Ahousaht, British Columbia): As in any other community, we have the social ills, the alcohol and drugs, the violence, the verbal, the bullying, everything is in Ahousaht that's in any other community. The way we deal with it is for the youth to address it immediately, for the family to take responsibility for that youth, for the youth to take responsibility for their own actions, and to do it as quickly as possible so that there is an immediate cause and effect displayed.

NARRATOR: Canada's Youth Justice Renewal Initiative is based on three key directions: prevention, meaningful consequences for youth crime and intensified rehabilitation and reintegration to help youth return to their communities. The Initiative includes new legislation, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but looks beyond legislation and even the youth justice system itself to explore ways society as a whole can address youth crime and its associated factors.

The Youth Justice Renewal Initiative places a high priority on the creative, innovative ways police officers deal with young offenders. The Minister of Justice recognizes these individuals with an annual award that celebrates their success and informs Canadians about these innovative approaches. There were 33 nominations for the Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award for 2001 that demonstrate the high level of achievement and success in police and communities all across the country. This year, there is one winner, two certificates of distinction and three honourable mentions.

The Department of Justice, in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, is pleased to present the Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award to RCMP Constable Max Morin,currently posted to Ahousaht, B.C., near Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This award honours his success in building trusting and respectful relationships with young people and his imaginative leadership in starting and supporting innovative projects involving Native youth. From eye-opening educational field trips to Vancouver's lowest east side and active participation in healing circles to a close partnership with the Ahousaht Holistic Centre, Constable Morin has worked hard to give a sense of identity and pride to young people in trouble with the law and at risk of being in trouble with the law.

MARIE JESSIE DONAHUE (Native justice worker, Ahousaht, British Columbia): I nominated Max because he is a very sensitive person and he's entirely approachable. And one of our goals here is to create a relationship with the RCMP, with our young population here. Max goes to that level of communicating with them. He does not talk down to them. He talks with them. In the end, he maintains the law by using traditional values and beliefs and fits it in with you're breaking the law when you do this. And he'll use and quote the Criminal Code so that we know what we're dealing with. But he'll also pull in the moral or the traditional aspect of hurting another human being and how do I go about making up for what I did? And he uses that quite effectively.

CONSTABLE MAX MORIN (RCMP officer, Ahousaht, British Columbia): One of the methods I encourage and use in Ahousaht here is the talking circle. That's a method we've been using for our restorative justice program. We're here to settle a dispute between two students. The talking circle is where the victim and the accused both sit in a circle, facing each other. The victim is there with support people like the parents, a brother, an uncle, a grandmother - sometimes all of them. And it's the same with the offender. The circle only comes about if the offender takes responsibility of what he has done, admits that he did wrong and shows remorse. It brings these two people closer together and they understand each other. Usually everybody walks away happy. There are usually hugs. And I've seen tears and people are showing each other love instead of being mad at each other. It brings them together. The talking circle has that. And so far, the ones we have been doing have been 100 percent successful.

ANNE ATLEO: Max can reach them at a level other adults haven't been able to reach some of the young people, just by the way he does approach them, and he treats people like people. He gives them the benefit of the doubt. He tries to understand their position, and he's willing to hear people out; but he's also willing to call them on the irrationality of their argument. He'll call them on that.

CONSTABLE MAX MORIN: My philosophy is to encourage young people to live a healthy lifestyle and to keep trying, that it isn't easy. Nothing comes free, and that the path that we're walking is sometimes hard to stay on. If they do fall off, I let them know everybody has a chance to get back on and it takes hard work sometimes. Sometimes, it's just a little bit of an adjustment on their lifestyle and they're back on track.

DAVE FRANK (Clinical councillor, Ahousaht Holistic Centre, Ahousaht, British Columbia): Max attracts the youth in a good, positive way. Being so highly visible and being there for the youth, he does a lot of things at the school. He brings us in to the school to talk to them, to explain to the children what the consequences are of their actions and things like that. That brings us back to the way we taught the First Nation people, that we taught for prevention rather than intervention, and that has been Max's style.

NARRATOR: RCMP Constable Max Morin, this year's award winner, exemplifies police officers in Canada who are exercising their discretion in dealing with young people in effective, creative ways. A certificate of distinction goes to RCMP Sergeant Dave Dort, of Grand Falls, Newfoundland, for his work in teaching youth about the danger of underage drinking. He co-produced with local kids "Good Times Gone Wrong", a series of short video vignettes showcasing the pitfalls of alcohol abuse by young people.

DAVE DORT (RCMP Sergeant): I had experience before working with a production company on producing a video. I got together with all the stakeholders - the youth, the parents, the teachers and business community - to collaborate, make it a youth-driven initiative so that they would buy in, coordinating it, working with them, interacting with them. If it was something that a bunch of adults did, they would likely tune out. It was fun for me and it was fun for them.

NARRATOR: A certificate of distinction is also presented to RCMP Constable John Kennedy, of Stellarton, Nova Scotia. His use of books and book reports as an alternative to court for youth who have committed minor offences has proved successful. His "Adopt a Library Program"responds to his belief that there was a connection between youth's lack of literacy and their committing crimes.

CONSTABLE JOHN KENNEDY (RCMP): Illiteracy is an educational problem and it's not really a police problem. It's a community problem, and if the community doesn't come together and say okay, we're going to build partnerships and we're going to try to fight this problem as a community, then it'll fail. But if we look at it as a community problem and say hey, we need everybody in the community on board in this project, and together we can make a difference and together we will. But we've got to start now. We don't need to start 20 years from now.

NARRATOR: An honourable mention for this year's Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award goes to Sergeant Wade Blake, of the RCMP "B" Division for his outstanding work introducing a community justice committee in Labrador. He is a firm believer in alternative youth-oriented initiatives, and the community justice forum process has had an astounding impact on the lives of many young offenders.

SERGEANT WADE BLAKE (RCMP "B" Division): What we found in the number of cases that we've done is that after the victim has an opportunity to look at the offender and say "You affected me, you hurt me, you did this to me", and for the offender to turn around and say "Gee, I really didn't understand that I affected people in this way and I'm sorry", a lot of times, when it comes to the part in the forum where the facilitator goes around the group and asks "What would you like to see happen here?", the victim is the one who often says "Well, he said he was sorry. That's all I wanted to hear." That's the power of this whole process - being able to face the offender and the offender having to face and owe up to their responsibilities to the commun ity and to the victim.

NARRATOR: An honourable mention goes to Constables Grant Obst, Tim Korchinsky and Randy Huisman, of the Saskatoon Police Service in recognition of their work in developing Operation Help. This program is dedicated to providing immediate assistance to young persons in Saskatoon apprehended for their involvement in the sex trade. These constables have succeeded in breaking down barriers and stereotypes that many young people have toward police officers.

UNIDENTIFIED:The principles associated in Operation Help focus on alternative measures and using positive support mechanisms to encourage lifestyle changes; and first and foremost would be the youth. We want to make sure that we get girls at an early enough age that they're not entrenched into the street. The younger they are that we get at them, the better chance at rehabilitation and getting them back on track.

NARRATOR: An honourable mention goes to Detective Grant Hamilton, of the Victoria Police Service, who has also achieved success in helping youth involved in the sex trade. Detective Hamilton is a leading member of the Rock Solid Program, an innovative, anti-violence initiative aimed at youth.

DETECTIVE GRANT HAMILTON (Victoria Police Service):It used to be that I wanted to get charges against those pimps and things like that. But now, it's just the fact to get the girls out and make them safe, make them have a lifestyle change and from the work we do with them, the intervention we do, we usually carry on a long-term relationship with them so that we know a lot of these kids for two, three years. We're not judgmental. We just try and tell them that these are the appropriate decisions they should be making. And from there, every time it seems they have a subsequent crisis, they usually call us for some form of assistance, whatever that is. And that shows that obviously we're building a relationship with them, which sometimes it's hard for these kids to establish.

NARRATOR: The Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award acknowledging the efforts of individual police officers and teams of police officers working in the community for the youth of Canada.