On March 30th and 31st 2017, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council hosted the 2017 Canadian Municipal Network on Crime Prevention (CMNCP) at the Walper Hotel. During this two-day event, members of the network, representing 24 different municipalities across the nation, attended interactive lectures led by leaders in public engagement, mental health, and community development. […]
Homicide rates rose in 2015 in Canada, Ontario, and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area (CMA).[1] It will remain to be seen over the next few years whether this represents a notable change or simply reflhttp://ftn#1ects year-to-year variations in rates. Nonetheless, homicide rates in both Ontario and the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA continue to be below the national average, […]
All of the calls to action already mentioned in the previous blog posts (humanizing people in prison & advocating for programs that work) help to create and strengthen system change in big and small ways. The work of larger structural change is long term, often slow work: Not for the faint of heart, but everyone can […]
Inevitably, the Turn the Page book club discussions turned to the support provided to people in prison while they serve their sentences and the programs and support available during parole or upon release. Many people in attendance admitted to not knowing the reality facing people on the ‘inside’. The past 5-7 years have seen a […]
The Turn the Page book club stimulated a great deal of discussion about the stigma. Society, in general, has a negative stigma against people that have been in prison and often their family member and children too. People began to ask questions: How do we change this attitude in society and within ourselves? Given that […]
At first glance, Diane Schoemperlen’s memoir “This Is Not My Life: A Memoir of Love, Prison, and Other Complications” seems straight forward, in its own way, the stuff of TV shows and movies…. An author meets a fellow volunteer at a Kingston soup kitchen whom she knows has been is in prison, they become friends, […]
When you host a public book club, you just never know how things will unfold, much less when you host one with the title “Prisons, Justice and Love”! But we couldn’t have had a more engaging night if we had tried! Friends of Crime Prevention were pleased to host the first ever “Turn the Page” […]
Waterloo Region – The Friends of Crime Prevention network is hosting an evening with Diane Schoemperlen, author of This Is Not My Life on Thursday, November 3, 2016. This book recounts the story of her long-term relationship with a prison inmate and covers tough issues related to root causes of crime, such as family violence, […]
On November 3, Mike Farwell will join us for Prisons, Justice & Love – an evening with Diane Schoemperlen. And you’re invited too! It’s all part of the Friends of Crime Prevention Turn the Page Book Club, a community reading project to get people thinking and talking about stigma and justice. To get us ready for the community conversation […]
Ciao, Namaste, Salaam, Bonjour, Hi! Waterloo Region schools celebrate 10th Annual Say Hi Day Waterloo Region – “Say Hi Day” returns to elementary and secondary schools across Waterloo Region this Thursday, September 22, 2016. The message is simple: by saying Hi students get to know each other while promoting a greater sense of belonging and community […]
