A stakeholder meeting is set for this week to build on the existing community safety plan for the city of North Battleford.
The meeting is set for Thursday and was mentioned at council Monday by City Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton.
About 50 people are coming to meet at the Chapel Gallery and it is a “wide cross-section of people from across the city,” he said. Represented will be various agencies from around the community.
There will also be people coming from Public Safety Canada and the provincial Ministry of Justice.
The idea is to build on the existing plan with the help of the federal and provincial governments. According to Sutton’s report it includes a three-step process: a community leadership commitment, community mobilization and a community safety plan.
This was a process by Public Safety Canada in co-ordination with the Building Partnerships to Reduce Crime. According to Sutton, Public Safety Canada approached BPRC to try the process out in a community in the province, and North Battleford was recommended by the province “because they felt our community was well-poised to do this work.”
That was one portion of Sutton’s monthly monitoring report to council. Sutton also reported he met with Concern for Youth on their youth survey report and their recommendations on the teen centre.
The report is almost done, said Sutton, but “understandably they don’t want to release it until it’s done in a way that they’re happy that it’s going to get out to the public.” He said he encouraged them to keep working at it.
Some of the other highlights:
Early work goes on with respect to developing a community cadet program in the community, which would be aimed at developing skills for young people;
All eight units with the Transitional Housing project on 103rd Street are full with a waiting list, indicating the need for the facility, according to Sutton’s report;
The new Lighthouse homeless shelter is officially open and Sutton reports it is busy for meals and for overnight stays, with as many as 60 people being served;
A March 27 date is set for an informational and organizational meeting to see what interest there is in creating an Addictions Treatment Court;
Work continues on a bylaw that would go along with a strategy developed for a graffiti program in the city;
A facilitator — Aubrie Boyer — has been hired for the Community Safety Audit to be completed by June 30; and
An informational meeting is set for March 4 for the Crime-Free Multi Housing Initiative.
Also, Sutton reports he is working with City Communications Manager James Risdon more closely on what is being done about crime reduction and highlighting the good things happening.
