WHEREAS communities across the Island, province and country struggle daily with the serious issues of crime, drugalcohol abuse, public safety, poverty and homelessness; AND WHEREAS the Safe Streets Act, at best, represents a short-term method of addressing these difficult issues; AND WHEREAS a proven model exists to effectively and sustainably tackle these issues - the Safer CitiesSafer Communities approach - which focuses on the causes behind these problems and suggests short, medium and long-term measures such as investing in affordable housing and child care, addictions and mental health programming and other harm reduction and prevention initiatives: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities ask the BC government to develop and adequately fund over the long-term a Safer CitiesSafer Communities strategy, with a focus on harm reduction and prevention programs; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this strategy include a well-developed, intelligent series of public education seminars to be delivered by the Province across BC to build the knowledge base and community capacity to implement these programs.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Government is aware of the serious issues of crime, drugalcohol abuse, public safety, poverty and homelessness and the need to address these issues in a sustainable way that addresses both the impacts and the root causes of crime and criminal behaviour. The Province works with all levels of government, the police and community partners on a long-term approach to address the personal, social and economic factors that result in crime, violence and victimization. The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General enhances safe communities through policies and programs, training and funding relating to support for victims and their families, restorative justice and local crime prevention efforts. The Ministry provides funding to non-government organizations to work at the local community level and to provide input on emerging community safety issues. In addition, under the federal National Crime Prevention Strategy, communities can apply for funding for neighbourhood-based initiatives relating to crime prevention and community safety. This approach is seen to have the greatest potential to prevent crime, victimization and fear in a sustainable manner. Government will continue to work with other governments, UBCM and community partners to identify best practices and evidence of what works in crime prevention, and to disseminate this information, tools and resources to make British Columbia communities safer.