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Canadian Group Wins Youth Gold Award

18 November 2004

A Canadian youth project that devises sentences for young perpetrators of crimes motivated by racism and intolerance has received the Commonwealth Youth Gold Award from the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP).

The Youth Restorative Action Project (YRAP) is a justice committee which originated in the Canadian province of Alberta. Its members are between the ages of 12 and 24. YRAP is mandated under Section 18 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act to work in Alberta's Youth Court with young offenders, to discuss the harm that has been caused by their actions and to formulate methods to correct the damage. They try to hold young people accountable for their actions in a way that is educational and rehabilitative, rather than simply punitive. 

For example, a young person who injured another for using a racist term of abuse was instructed by the YRAP committee to highlight his frustration by composing a song. The committee held that, while the offender had a right to be angry, reacting with violence was not the answer.

Among other solutions devised by YRAP are community service, counselling, probation and custody. The project also deals with offenders affected by substance abuse, prostitution and homelessness. Consisting of 50 youth members and around 30 adult advisers, YRAP has already handled nearly 70 cases referred to it by police officers, judges and lawyers. 

The CYP award included a cheque for £3,000, a certificate and medallions for 20 members of the winning group. Bruno Picard, Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, accepted the prize on behalf of YRAP on 15 November 2004 at the Canadian High Commission in Georgetown, Guyana.

Armstrong Alexis, Regional Director of the CYP's Caribbean Centre in Georgetown, said at the presentation: "This group did not wait on adults to create a forum for them. They considered their circumstances as young people, they defined a programme, they established objectives, they implemented a plan and they provided a valuable service to other youth.

"My call today is for such initiatives to be replicated across the Commonwealth. We in the CYP are hopeful that through recognising the efforts of young people we will be able to build societies where young women and men are empowered to develop their potential, creativity and skills."

Every year, up to five Commonwealth Youth Silver Awards are given in each CYP region -- Asia, Africa, Caribbean (and Canada) and South Pacific. Winning projects are then considered for the Commonwealth Youth Gold Award. 

For further information about YRAP, please visit http://www.yrap.org/. For information on CYP please visit www.thecommonwealth.org/cyp.

 

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service  Issue 210  17 November 2004

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