12 PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW Meet senior staff member. | Joanne Siqurdson . a long term employee, Joanne who has been very. supportive through the years said, “My quality of life has improved - greatly since I’ve been working ~ with the Brentwood Bluewater Bar and Grill, thanks to owners Jacky and Mike” Joanne has created a family of friends throughout the years and she loves her job. She invites you to join her for breakfast or lunch and some good conversation. 7172 Brentwood Dr. Brentwood Bay 652-9515 Judy Reimche Peninsula News Review _ A group of people in Cen- tral Saanich want to see changes in how youth crime is handled. The group, un- der the name of Peninsula CrossRoads Community - public forum on Thursday, May 27, to tell the commu- ~ nity about a growing trend in law enforcement. More than 80 ‘people showed. up: to hear» what panel members. Regional Crown Council Bob Gillen, -. Arrowsmith” Community ~ Conference Program coor- The District f Contral Saanich | | ~ Oak Haven Park Dedication Ceremony. Saturday. jig Sth, 1999 at tt 00: ain. : (inal Garden Gate reDrie) _ |. dinator Jeannie. Lundine, ‘Central Saanich Chief Con-. . stable: Paul Hames, Saanich ~ Constable - Carlos. ; tolowski had to say. Following t the: ceremony nny ig refi rahments + wil be provided anda guided walk to the: eR ges surnmnit will be offered Call BAA. A216 ~ for more information ~ Partners in Preservation~ _. the current process focuses ..on punishment; restorative justice looks at problem- solving. Restorative justice, - past behavior, but looks. at how to change. a person's means to put the person on amore positive path for the ‘Saturday June 1 2th 8 am to 4:30 pm * A Taste of the Peninsula Country Market | * Artin the Park * Kids Activities. 7 * Senior Centre Activities = : *Food Vendors | P.* Live Entertainment | | ee Fantastic Displays — She Sat lune 12th! and moral “Special thanks to the merchants & sponsors for thelr support 7 + Peninsula News Review + Peninsula Go- ‘Op . Butchart Gardens » Brentwood Bay Rotary = Clubs prentweae © cle & fied . Roya Bank + Thrifty’ « dle ied « City serie Folk Singer ’ sponsored'by Brentwood Bay| Rotary Club Check out the ¢ ¢ Great Sales “|. offered by the local Justice Association, held a: Gillen told the crowd that he said; doesn’t focus on~ behavior early on and the . * future. “Restorative justice puts victims at the centre; the of- fender accepts responsibil- ity for his actions and is of- fered an avenue for change, and the community plays a role in the process,” he said. “In a conferencing situation, the offender is asked ‘what | did you do? Why did you do it? What are you going to do about it?” he said. Such conferencing: also puts the offender. face to face with his victim, to whom. he must’ answer « those questions. And, con-' - trary to the present process," ‘the victim also has achance ‘to talk to the offender and tell him how the crime: af- -» School District representa- . _ fected his life: : _ tive Larry, Cross'and West: < a ern Communities. RCMP Tet-. notably Sparwood, Fort St. John and Maple: Ridge. “There are more than 40 communities involved in the. program who have received start-up funding of $5,000 from the Ministry of the At- torney General. On Vancou- ver Island, active programs are on-going in Parksville- Qualicum Beach and in the Western Communities, Port Alberni’s program start-up plans are nearing completion, as are those in several other Island com- munities, ; The concept comes from aboriginal people around |. the globe. Forms of confer- 1. -encing circles have been in place since time immemor- jal. in Australia, New Zealand and across North America, and are enjoying a resurgence in all. those countries, The state of Min- ‘nesota is most notable for its programs, which deal with minor crimes through 1 to programs in. state. pris: a ie fs Gass. y Cre nuemaunmanaendl EIEN VTLAM —$44-4900 Pacific Coant Savings Real Vstate Divislon lad, This form of: justice: has ; been’ practiced’ ‘in’ British’ Columbia for several.years. in many communities, most ons, including death row criminals: The idea is not to go soft:on crime, says pro- gram coordinator Kay Pra- nis, but to-offer restitution to the community. Gillen calls the process “restoring ‘the harmony i in. the commu- nity. ” School districts are utiliz: _ing the process to its advan- tage, also. Cross said School District 63: has several pro- grams in place that deal with problems such as bul- lying. He said the district is ‘prepared to assist the.Cen-: - tral Saanich group in what- ever program. it deems.as most. suitable: within ‘the : greater community. © ber of the steering commit- tee for. the host. group, the = process. He was involved i in- strongly supports © a similar program in White- court, Alberta for the past two years, and holds a Mas-. ters degree.in dispute reso- lution. The Whitecourt pro- gram, he said, had a 97 per cent success rate; in other words, only three per cent of those who go through the process commit further. crimes, “The ‘system acknowl-. edges that people are im-. portant, but makes them work. on. their. behavior. We're really talking about culture,” he said, stressing, “This is not a replacement, it complements what's go- ing on (in the “court process,” , Representatives in the au- dicnee who work with simi- lar programs within native communities . expressed support for the Central Saanich committee's plans. ‘Wednesday, June 2, 1999 JUDY REIMCHE PHOTO Larry Cross, Chief Constable Paul Hames, Barb Whittington, Judy Mazzocchi, Bob Gillen, Jeannie Lundine and RCHMP. constable Carlos Tettolowsk| were panelists for a forum on community justice last Thursday. rent system, judges have a wide disparity of decisions on judgements: now. ‘This - system has an opportunity to tailor resolutions that are more specific to the crime per case. And he reminded the audience that the idea was not to punish the of fender, or.to get revenge, it was about “making some- thing right, restoring har-— ‘mony to the community and changing bad behavior be- — fore it became chronic.” The idea for this group is to’..deal with. petty: crime, such.as petty theft, break. and entry, fraud, etc. involv- ing youth who are first of -- fenders, not with 3 more. Seri- ‘Hames; ‘who. along with” e - several other officers.from ~ Central. Saanich police:de- partment: has been a mem-: © ous crime: Several ° “shidents from a : ie : Parkland Secondary were i in eo 7 ferencing group could ser termine if. the remorse. shown by the offender. is) real. Tettolowski ‘said “ ‘we as police officers know who is active within communities. We can decide: who. is. a ~ good candidate for this sys- tem. Also, it comes out in Social worker Deborah. | Bell reminded the group to: remember the victims: “We don't want the victims to get lost in this,” she said. Concern was expressed ‘about the fact sentences for crimes would vary greatly. Gillen said, under the cur the process.” He cited examples of con- ferences he had attended where the offending youth” came in cocky and smirk- ing, but were soon in tears of real sorry for harming the victim. “Those were real tears,” he assured the audience. There was general inter- est shown in the audience for the process to continue to the next step in Central Saanich. Several people signed up to say they were interested in taking the training to be a facilitator or mentor for a program here. The next meeting to take — the necessary steps toward establishing a program is slated for Wednesday, June ~ 16,4 p.m, at Bayside middle achool, CL irvailne fasimaaLaaiicnemtnemmainabeisdibanian daseani mH tech rear trvtnrearinapeianen oe ey arsuerecetemina mmecanr trent a oA Tropical Paradise . sey “Take a nacanlon from: ordinary menns and try our new exciting ¢ cuinlne, = 772 Brentwood | Dr., Brentwood ood Bay B.C C16 For more. infor mation, call Barb Whittington at 652-3525 or Judy Mazzocchi at 652-1135, ca 652 2413 a a a a ee a sso uns bi ine ba en shbad thdeiesibd tl eid een Nida AAD Oldie ees aan