Youth Justice Committee Ontario

Thanks to the support of FIREFLY, formerly the Patricia Centre for Children and Youth, we are proud to offer a Youth Justice Committee program in Dryden and the surrounding area.

The program was founded in early 2011 and includes 9 volunteer YJC Committee members from the community that will be receiving training from MAG in May, 2011. Another group of volunteers will be trained in the Fall of 2011. These volunteers, along with the Crown Attorney’s office, will provide YJC opportunities for low-risk young offenders to divert them from the formal court process.

The program is run by YJC Coordinator Bill Hovi. For more information on the program, please contact Bill directly at 223-8550.

Update: Six months after the Dryden and District Youth Justice Committee program began, volunteer conference facilitators have been trained. On Saturday, May 14, trainers from the Ministry of the Attorney General provided program training for seven local and two district volunteers. This training is the final step needed to begin working with youth who have been referred by local policing agencies or by the Crown Attorney’s office.

Volunteers have had to complete a formal application process to be considered for inclusion in this program. Community response continues to be very positive, to the point where an additional training session may be needed in the fall of 2011.

Justice partners in Dryden and district have been very positive in program roll out and we look forward to providing options for youth 12-17 who are in trouble with the law. Holding young people accountable and responsible for their actions is a key step in promoting community safety and good citizenship. We've attached some photos of the training:

Update:

To date, we have had our first four cases referred to our program. Two have been successfully completed and the other two are nearing completion. We are averaging four weeks between referral and conference dates, and 10 weeks from referral to completion dates.

We have another five volunteer facilitators who have been recommended to the Ministry for their approval. We hope to be able to host another training session in the fall of 2011. This will bring our volunteer complement to 11.

Our volunteers will be meeting in September to share the experiences of their first conferences. Plans are also underway to bring additional training in for our volunteers. This will give them an opportunity to reflect on the work they have done, and enhance the skills they have already developed. Early indications and comments show that there have been some pretty amazing things that have been learned and observed.