New Board of Directors

The following people were elected to the Social Planning Council Board at the Annual General Meeting on September 29:

Executive:
Monica Johnson, Chair
Jay Goddard, Vice-Chair
Anne Burrill, Communications Director
Eva Navrot, Treasurer
Kim Herdman, Secretary

Directors at large:
Ann Smith
Rosanna McGregor
Diana French
Nancy Gale

Annual General Meeting Rescheduled

The Social Planning Council AGM has been rescheduled to September 29. Additional details to follow.

Imagine Williams Lake update

On April 9 we held our second community vitality session, focused on developing community action. The attendance was less than the initial meeting, but we are optimistic that there was an opportunity for some good discussion and planning. Priority items were identified as:

• arts and culture centre;
• youth and community leadership;
• community sustainability review;
• a buy local program;
• First Nations outreach;
• planning more community wide events;
• youth outreach;

While some of these ideas have been talked about for some time, and other have existing initiatives started, this was a good opportunity to have community members share their ideas.

We expect to recieve a report on the second session soon.

The project team and steering committee will be reviewing the reports and notes from the sessions in preparation for planning the next steps.

Annual General Meeting June 19

The annual general meeting for the Social Planning Council will be held June 19 from 4-7 pm. Location to be announced at a later date.

Imagine Williams Lake CVI results and focused planning Session

Community members are invited to participate in a Focus Session on April 9th, 2008 in the Gibraltar Room hosted by the City of Williams Lake and the Social Planning Council.

· Presentation of results from the Community Vitality Assessment held January 23, 2008
· A community priority setting session to identify projects for action
· A focused planning session to get short term action underway and begin planning for longer term activities
· An opportunity to get involved in making Williams Lake a better place to live.

Everyone from the community is invited and welcome to participate in this process. Bring your passion and your commitment to making Williams Lake a great community.

The summary report from the January Community Vitality Assessment will be available in the first week of April. It can be accessed on the City of Williams Lake website: www.williamslake.ca

If you are interested in participating in the Community Vitality Assessment process, please contact Andrea at
303-0346 or by email at imagine@williamslake.ca

Crime prevention requires more complex response than jail

The Social Planning Council of Williams Lake is a consortium of social service providers, concerned citizens and community educators dedicated to the promotion of social planning and the awareness of social issues based on research, informed practice and a concern for individuals who are experiencing social disadvantage. We would like to provide a concerned counterpoint to some of the views expressed by Walt Cobb in his February 7th column (No consequences for lawbreakers addicts, February 07, 2008).
In his column, Mr. Cobb appears to advocate for a fear-based approach to dealing with adolescents, and people who potentially commit crimes, including people with mental illness and addictions. While his response is no doubt based in a frustration we all feel with the current level of property crime in our community, it is nonetheless , just that an emotional opinion with little substance. We feel strongly that if taken seriously, Mr. Cobb’s get tough stance has the potential to actually do more harm than good by fostering an even deeper prejudice against marginalized and disenfranchised individuals in our community.
To be sure, as service providers, childcare workers, social workers and educators, we work with individuals who struggle with addictions and mental illness, with adolescents who leave unbearable home lives, with individuals with learning and intellectual disabilities like FASD for whom the world is not a welcoming and supportive place. We also recognize the difficulties our public school system faces trying to accommodate this diversity and at the same time having to prove that it is “accountable “ through standardized tests that simply reflect the socio-economic status of the neighborhoods of the schools in which they are conducted and not as Mr. Cobb suggests “showing up” the teachers.
To oversimplify the problem of crime by taking a get tough stance on issues of youth crime and addiction has been tried. The United State has the highest incarceration rate in the world (National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2006). It is 4 times the world average and several times higher than countries like Iran and Rwanda. It also has a number of very punitive laws for drug related and property crimes, such as the 3 strike law in California. Yet the crime rate in the US continues to be the same. There is no overall reduction in crime suggesting that the fear of going to jail has almost no effect on the crime rate.
It has long been suggested that what does work to reduce crime has been a solid investment in social infra-structure, Things like support for people living in poverty, the availability of drug treatment programs, liberalization of drug laws (where people struggling with addictions are not seen as criminals), adequate health care including mental health care, education and community supports for parents in particular single mothers and finally a strong public education system. The last decade in BC has seen a pronounced erosion of all of these services particularly in rural areas. The fact that in Canada we have some of these services speaks to our relatively low crime rate compared to other nations in the world.
Crime is obviously an emotional issue for people and no helping professional would advocate that there be no consequences for criminal activity, but to simplify it to an issue of getting tougher on young people and people facing addictions and mental illnesses and to point the finger at teachers and social workers as enabling this to happen is both counter productive and irresponsible. We hope this letter begins to help people understand that there are other less reactionary solutions to the problem.
--Submitted by Jay Goddard, Vice-Chair

Imagine Williams Lake - CVI Assessment a success!

We are pleased to report that we had over 75 participants at our CVI assessment meeting on January 23. Feedback to date has been very positive. Those who were unable to come to the session are welcome to complete the online survey until February 6. You can find it on the City of Williams Lake website: www.williamslake.ca.
We expect to receive the report in mid March and will be working hard to distribute it widely to the community. The follow up session will be held April 9.