PARCA Minutes

PARCA Meeting

Minutes

Feb 22, 2012

In attendance: Ann Alexander, Tim Agg, Paul Barnett, Marla Chandler-Soanes, Bob Ens, Gord Irving, Dave Johnson, Wendy Richardson

Regrets:Shawn Bayes, Shelley Cook, George Curran, Daryl Goll, Dawn Hyrcun,InderMadhok, Yvonne Rigby-Jones, Dave Trepanier,Tim Veresh

Chair: Paul Barnett

Minutes: Wendy Richardson

Guests:Alan Markwart

Agenda Item

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Discussion and information

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Mover/Seconder

Agenda / Accepted / Marla Chandler-Soames/Ann Alexander
Minutes / Accepted / Tim Agg/Dave Johnson
Alan Markwart / Alan Markwartwill be staying until the end of January next year. New title and function: Provincial Director of Youth Justice: Forensic, Custody, Policy, Residential Review, Quality Control. After that, he will go to half time as a transition for four months. Role will continue with new person. Alan currentlyreports to Deputy Minister.
Federal reform of YCJA – not much happening; is before the Senate now. Expects 10 – 25% increase in youth in custody in BC as a result of proposed changes. This year, average of 103 kids in custody in BC. This morning down to 86. Proposed changes include mandatory hearing for every violent offence (including common assaults) to determine whether to release identity of youth.
Youth Justice cost sharing is under review as are all federal programs. Expects a cut of some kind after federal budget comes out. Anticipating 5 – 15% cut. No changes to provincial youth justice budget for the next couple of years.
Ministry coming out with strategic and operational plan – approx. 150 pages – organized across the six service lines:
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Children and Youth with Special Needs
  • Child and Youth Mental Health
  • Child Safety, Family Support, Children in Care
  • Adoption
  • Youth Justice
The document will go out for focused conversations. Alan wrote Youth Justice section. Will try to share with us for comment. Document should be out by April.
Youth Custody changes: redesign and downsizing. Were staffed in three centres for up to 163 kids. Prince George going from 30 boys, 6 girls, to 24 boys only; Victoria going from 36 boys, 6 girls, to 24 boys only. Girls all moving to Burnaby. Some mitigating measures include changing travel arrangements to reduce overnights in prison cells. Special escorts by sheriffs and flying to Burnaby instead of multiple days in transit. Girls from PG and Vic may need to have an overnight before getting to Burnaby. Setting up video visiting arrangement. Some subsidized family visiting when custody order is longer. Saving $2.5 million but reinvesting $900 thousand. Aboriginal community in PG pushing back. Implementation delayed until mid-March to allow for more public consultation.
Alan will forward stats showing comparison between BC and other provinces for both custody centres and youth on probation.
Report from Residential Review has been endorsed by Minister. There are a lot of recommendations but it is not known whether anything will come from them. / 
Financial Report / Tim Agg summarized the financial reports. Additional funds from Travel Agent fees from National Conference on Girls in the Justice System.Individual fee is $25. Minimum agency fee is $50. Agencies are encouraged to pay maximum fees of $200. / Tim Agg/Gord Irving
Regional Reports / Victoria:SITI Conference at UVic – Bending But Not Broken on resiliency, trauma etc. May 1st and 2nd.
Gord Irving described new programming at Boys and Girls Club – Outward Bound stuff in a therapeutic environment. Women of Courage, boys and girls. Outdoor Centre. Gord will send out links.
Employment contracts – Dave Johnson described the changes. One major supplier in each community although they are subcontracting with smaller agencies. Had a significant impact on some small agencies – not necessarily positive.
Okanagan: CORCAN no longer operating as of April 1. Services moving over to Community Corrections.
Discussion about increase in custodial sentences as a result of Bill C10. Concern expressed about gang affiliation and control by gangs within institutions.
Lower Mainland: Marla Chandler-Soanes reported on a new Social Enterprise by E Fry– asphalt shingle recycling, cedar recycling. Work Releases for women are on the increase. Am’ut Aboriginal Youth Program will be changing to girls only– all girls in June. Former hotel in Abbotsford being converted to independent living units. E Fry is still working on plans to build new facility.
PLEA just successfully completed their reaccreditation. McCreary Centre about to release the three year study on PLEA’s youth justice programs.
New programming for gang-related issues. New grant info came out very late; was not on BC Bid, need follow up with Solicitor General to learn whether they released the info really late or was it on internalSolGen network and didn’t get out to the rest of us.
Vancouver Island North:Challenges with local youth probation officers. New contract manager for Campbell River and Port Hardy – limited experience in role – was promoted from Team leader position. / 
Affiliations / BC Halfway House Association: Looking at bed rate – 95% occupancy is not sustainable. More training coming up. Looking at funding for double staffing some of the time. Two Parole Officers will show up together to meet with category 1 individuals, whereas Halfway Houses are expected to have nine residents with only one staff person. Salvation Army is a huge player.
CSSEA: Tragic loss of Bill Nelson. Current staff lack experience and knowledge.Wages are left behind compared to the non-unionized sector.
BCCJA (BC Criminal Justice Association): Dave Johnson reported on VICJA – described a few recent forums.
Co-op:New CEO – John Kay. Very active in the Fair Trade industry.
BC Corrections: Paul Barnett and Dave Johnson plan to meet with Brent Merchant. Discussion about Bill C10 and C30. Discussion around prohibition of marijuana and video by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) as well as statement by four AGs on Stopping the Violence – stopping prohibition.
Adult Forensic:Nothing of importance to report.
Federation of Social Services of BC: Fed meeting happening currently in same hotel as PARCA. / 
Old Business / Board Voice:77 members province wide. Several meetings with key government officials about topics that are important to this sector. Dedicated group of volunteer Board members. Support coming in from Federation including time from Doug Hayman.
Future Directions for PARCA: Discussion about reduced attendance. Should anything change? PARCA has been in existence for about 18 years. Dave Johnson proposed a smaller Board to deal with legal component and then larger meetings to encourage more membership.Gord Irving talked about how to engage the academic community. Discussed ideas for the meeting in Prince George.
Awards: Paul Barnett discussed this topic with Alan Markwart. Suggestion is to approach the MLAs to get some interest. / 
New Business / Stό:lō Nation:Developing more Youth Justice programming. May partner with PLEA to start a KidStart program. PARCA would benefit by holding meeting in Chilliwack and taking an opportunity to meet with Stό:lō Nation.
Green Paper: Dave Johnson circulated the report. / 
Next meeting / June 6 - 7: Prince George or Chilliwack / 

Next PARCA meetings:

1)Prince George or Chilliwack, June 6 – 7, 2012

2)Prince George or Chilliwack, September 2012

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