file photo/paNOW Staff

By Charlene Tebbutt

Anti-gang funding

Local community organization gets funding for anti-gang initiatives

Apr 25, 2019 | 2:33 PM

The provincial government is funding anti-gang strategies across the region, including one here at home in Prince Albert.

Ten community-based organizations will receive funding as part of the province’s Gang Violence Reduction Strategy. Each organization will receive $20,000 to address ways to stop people from getting involved in gangs, and help those wanting to get out.

The West Flat Citizens Group in Prince Albert will get one of the $20,000 grants. The money will be used to develop a new website and two resource pamphlets — one aimed at providing information and resources to people looking to leave a gang, and the other giving tips to families, teachers, caregivers and others on ways to spot and prevent youth involvement in gang activity.

Dawn Robins is the executive director with the Bernice Sayese Centre in the West Flat and chairs the Prince Albert Gang Strategy, which works in conjunction with the provincial gang strategy. She said more needs to be done, both to support people trying to leave gangs and to prevent youth from joining.

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“When they get out, we have these young men and women rejoining families or becoming parents once again, and we need to help them become healthier,” Robins said. “We’re going to help our community become safer and healthier … it creates a generational impact.”

Robins said information and data collected locally is also being put to good use to enhance the provincial gang strategy.

“West Flat Citizens Group and Prince Albert are a smaller part of a bigger picture,” she added. “We want to work really hard in the next couple years to have something significant across the province, and maybe a model for the rest of the country.”

Other communities around the region that received funding include the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, North Saskatchewan Victim Services in La Ronge and the Thunderchild First Nation. The province said in a release that another round of funding applications will open in the summer.

“We know that one of the most important places to start when addressing gang violence is in the community,” Corrections and Policing Minister Christine Tell said in the release. “These grants represent government’s commitment to work with communities across Saskatchewan to develop a united response to gang violence including suppression, intervention and prevention efforts.”

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Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt