Evidence of meeting #82 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:40 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Corrections and Policing, Government of Saskatchewan
Well, I think you're bang on.
First of all, it's a realignment, and at the end of the day you need to make sure you're doing everything, with a cradle-to-grave approach to intervention and prevention, and at the end of the day you also have to do the stuff downstream. The commonsensical approach is that if you take stuff out of the system....
In Prince Albert, not only is crime down, but prosecutions are down, social services intakes are down, and health room visits to the hospitals are down. Think of that and put dollars to it. We have the university studying it right now.
There's no question that this is the case.
Now you can use that money to reinvest in the areas we need to be in that we may not be getting into because of the volume that's jamming the system. Rather than design particular new ways, or different kinds of courts, such as domestic violence courts, or different things on the back end, the reality is that a lot of this stuff can be taken out at the front end, letting the system do what it was really designed for and work effectively, just by taking some of the flow away from it.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you very much.
Mr. Payne, the clock on the wall is what I'm going by. It shows that you have about a minute or a minute and a half, if you want to make a comment or two.
April 25th, 2013 / 10:45 a.m.
Conservative
LaVar Payne Conservative Medicine Hat, AB
I will. Thank you, Chair.
I add my thanks to the witnesses for coming.
I have a couple of really quick questions for Tammy.
One is, how are the parents involved in this process? Also, regarding the confidentiality issues among the agencies, I'm not sure whether there are signed agreements concerning them or just how they work.
10:45 a.m.
Program Coordinator, START Program
We have a consent form, which is signed by the parents, to participate in the program, and it allows the sharing of information among all of the agencies that are at the table. This may mean that other agencies have to come to the table, which we determine after the fact, as participants in the concerns for youth. But they're all covered by the consent.
The parents are at the table, just like any other team member. I think that's one of the best things about the program. Sometimes it's a little scary for a parent who has only had bad interactions with Child and Family services or the RCMP—they tend to be the big two that everyone is scared of—to come to the table and understand that they're not there to be blamed, not there to have a finger pointed at their nose, not there to be told what to do, and that we're actually there to help. It's led by them, and they tell us.... They're much more open, and we learn way more this way.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
I think you'll have to wait for another day for that.
I want to thank all of our presenters today. It's always good to hear from Mr. McFee and Minister Tell. Keep up the good work in Saskatchewan, and also here.
Thank you very much for coming and instructing the committee on the START program and on your successes and perhaps your disappointments. Certainly we appreciate your input to our committee today.
Thank you, committee. Our time is up, so we are adjourned.