MEETING IS TONIGHT ON SECURE CARE

A local justice group will be exploring the issue of secure care -
incarcerating at-risk youth - at a debate next week.

Under the Secure Care Act, authorities would be able to arrest young
people involved in prostitution or extreme drug use and place them in
a secured facility until they can be stabilized.

The Tri-Cities Joint Family Court and Youth Justice Committee is
hosting the event tonight (Wednesday) to gauge public opinion on the
matter before endorsing the efforts of the South Fraser committee to
get it back on the provincial government's radar.

"It started with the Secure Care Act back when the NDP was just
leaving office" in 2000, said Alexander Bell, a member and former
chair of the Tri-Cities Youth Justice Committee. "When the [BC]
Liberals came in, they said they would review the more contentious
issues and bring it forward again but that never happened."

Secure care legislation is in place across the prairie provinces and
Ontario, and Bell said the Youth Justice Committee wants to hear what
people have to say on both sides of the controversial issue. "There
are pros and cons to the idea of arresting people and incarcerating
them without a trial for their own good," he said.

The public forum at Douglas College's David Lam Campus will include
Diane Sowden of the Children of the Street Society speaking for the
legislation and Jerome Bouvier of PoCoMo Youth Services speaking
against it. Rob Gordon, director of SFU's School of Criminology, will
discuss the historical background of the Secure Care Act while Colin
Campbell of Douglas College's criminology department will moderate the
discussion. A question-and-answer session will follow the debate.