REFORMED DEALER GOES FROM HURTING TO HELPING

Public Safety Minister Praises Ex-Heroin Pusher Tom Allen For His
Volunteer Work

VANCOUVER - Twenty-seven years ago, Tom Allen was a violent drug
dealer, selling heroin to support his drug habit.

"I was a dangerous guy. I hurt people," Allen said Friday after he was
presented with an award by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to
recognize the former federal prisoner turning his life around and
being an inspiration for others.

Allen, now 62, has been teaching criminology for the last seven years
at Kwantlen University College after obtaining his masters degree in
criminology at Simon Fraser University.

"It's quite a journey, Tom," Day said during a ceremony at Kwantlen,
which was attended by Keith Coulter, commissioner of the Correctional
Service of Canada.

"Inside every one of us there is a God-given spark," Day said. "But
it's a very fragile spark that can be extinguished so easily. When the
candle goes out, the darkness rushes in. But the candle can be relit."

Day praised Allen for his past volunteer work with the Vancouver
Crisis Line, the Kitsilano Community Garden Project, the John Howard
Society, and his current volunteer work with federal prisoners in the
Alternatives to Violence Project.

Allen now is the candle casting light in the darkness and giving hope
to people behind bars, Day said.

"It is so easy to forget that every life has value," Day said before
presenting Allen with the first Pierre Allard award, named after a
former Quebec prison chaplain.

Allard, who attended the ceremony, recalled he began working with
prisoners in 1972 at Archambault maximum-security prison north of Montreal.

"I had a baptism by fire," he explained in an interview. "It was one
of the toughest prisons in Canada."

He recalled one day calling twin brothers into his prison office to
tell them their father had passed away.

"They stood up and gave each other high fives and said the bastard is
finally gone," said Allard, who wondered what kind of hell the
brothers' family life must have been.

In 1980, Allard's brother was murdered, causing him to wonder whether
he could continue working with offenders. But he stayed, learning over
the years that prisoners, like everyone else, need support.

"The most basic human need is the need to belong," Allard said. "It
can be just one person who can make the whole difference. It's a
question of courage, willing to become involved."

He hopes that every year the award is handed out, it will be a call
for deeper understanding and hope for the future.

Allan thanked everyone who had supported him over the years, including
his mother, who attended the ceremony.

"All those years she never gave up on me," he said.

Allen was in and out of prison in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1980, he was
busted by an undercover officer for trafficking an ounce of heroin on
Vancouver's west side, where he grew up. He was sentenced to 18 months.

"I'm almost thankful I got busted," he said of his final arrest. "It
stopped me. I might be dead by now."