Newsletter of the St. Leonard’s Society of CanadaSpecial Edition / Édition spéciale

Summer / Été 2014

InsideSociety News .......................... 2

AGM 2014 in Hamilton

SLSC Board of Directors

Affiliate News

SLSC’s 2014 Libby Award .... 3

St. Leonard’s Home TrentonChris Little ........................................ 3

Research and Policy Update Anita Desai ....................................... 4

News and Views

La surveillance électronique Michel Gagnon. ............................................5

The Last Word ....................... 6

Crowdfunding

Campaign 2014

About Us

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Bulletin de la Société St-Léonard du Canada

SLSC Summer e-News UpdateThe Nuts and Bolts of Social EnterpriseOn May 24, SLSC and the S t .   L eonard ’s S oc i e t y o f Hamilton co-hosted a fruitful daylong workshop on social enterprise. Clockwise from top: SLSH E.D. John Clinton, Rhea Wootten of Rideau Social Enterprises, Maison Cross Roads E.D. Michel Gagnon, Heather Crosbie of Innovaction.

Photos: David Whiteley

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada, Community Connections, Special Edition, Summer 2014 Page 2

Move beyond bars. Create second chances.

AGM 2014 in HamiltonBy Rebecca Hawthorn

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada would like to extend thanks to all the individuals, speakers, and organizations who made our 2014 Annual General Meeting and The Nuts of Bolts of Social Enterprise Conference an outstanding success. A special thanks to The St. Leonard’s Society of Hamilton for co-hosting, and to Ross & McBride LLP for their sponsorship to support the Nuts and Bolts of Social Enterprise Conference. A very special thank you to Emily Sim for her wonderful assistance at the conference registration table, and to SLSC’s volunteer Shannon White who provided invaluable assistance in getting us organized for the weekend’s events.

The conference started out with keynote speaker Terry Cooke delivering a fantastic presentation on overcoming challenges, and local stories to help inspire those in attendance.

The conference followed with panel presentations from Michel Gagnon (Maison Cross Roads), Carmine Spadafora (St. Leonard’s Place, Peel), Rhea Wootton (Rideau Social Enterprises), John Clinton (GreenBYTE), and Sonya Spencer (KLINK Coffee). After lunch, David Mifsud (Ross & McBride LLP), Ted Addie (Financial Consultant), and Heather Crosbie (Innovaction) gave presentations on legal and accounting implications and the best practices and challenges of creating a social enterprise. Mike M. also gave a heartwarming client presentation on how the GreenBYTE program has changed his life for the better.

Saturday’s Annual General Meeting was also a well-attended success. There was only one award presented at this year’s luncheon, but if there is only one, it should be the Libby Award. Our sincere congratulations to Sarah Crivea on receiving the Libby. SLSC wishes her all the best with her future endeavours.

Productive policy workshops and exciting dialogue on a number of future directions for SLSC and its affiliates will be sure to keep us focused and busy for the balance of the year!

Rebecca Hawthorn is Administrative and Research Assistance at SLSC

SLSC Board of Directors 2014–15Catherine Brooke – St. Leonard’s House Windsor

Christopher Cutler – St. Leonard’s Society of Hamilton

Oliver Doyle – St. Leonard’s Society of Peterborough

Rebecca Howse (President) – St. Leonard’s Community Services London & Region

Sandy McDonaugh – Maison Cross Roads

Jennifer Macko – St. Leonard’s Society of Toronto

Merrikay Snelgrove (Regional Vice-President, Pacific Region) – St. Leonard’s Society of North Vancouver

Tim Stuempel – House of Hope

Victor Sinclair (Regional Vice-President, Ontario and First Vice-President) – St. Leonard’s Place, Peel

Members At-LargeDoug Caldwell

Meagan Irving

Cathy Ann Kelly (Secretary)

Monica Ross (Treasurer)

Society News

SLSC President Rebecca Howse

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada, Community Connections, Special Edition, Summer 2014 Page 3

Move beyond bars. Create second chances.

St. Leonard’s Home TrentonBy Chris Little

It’s been a busy spring in the bustling suburbs of Trenton. Our Section 23 school has ended for the year and for the first time, there is school running for the summer! We have a summer teacher who will be with us for the month of July to keep clients working on their credits. In addition, any new residents who arrive will be able to continue their studies while they are in care with us. The courses available through our local school board’s “e-learning” portal are continuing to expand, which offers clients the ability to work on courses started while here on computers in the community.

Our efforts to expand our post custody Reintegration Worker programs are continuing as well. Several clients have now been involved with it and it is proving a great way to provide them with a better and smoother transition from custody back to the community. Our staff have been travelling both locally and as far away as Kingston to assist clients with employment searches, attending counselling and other case management needs. To date,

the Reintegration Worker program has been enjoying support from clients, parents, and probation services.

As we move into the summer work continues with the renovations to a good share of our basement. The old walls and the old mouse nests have been bid goodbye, the mice having left long ago. New walls, new paint, new insulation and a fresh perspective on the space down there will be a big plus for storage as well as energy conservation. Other physical improvements continue as well, the exciting details of which will be released as they occur!

After coming back from the St. Leonard’s general meeting earlier in the spring with some samples and a bag of beans, our staff wholeheartedly endorse “KLINK” coffee as thumping good indeed! We will be in touch with the folks in Toronto for more...and probably sooner than later. Finally, thanks for the invitation to the recent Canada Youth Justice Conference in Toronto. The information brought back will be of great value to us and it is hoped that there will be further events like this.

Chris Little is Supervisor at St. Leonard’s Home Trenton

LIBBY AWARD: L-R: SLSC President Rebecca Howse, Libby Award winner Sarah Crivea, and SLCS-London & Region E.D. Heather Lumley.

Sarah has been a client of SLCS over the past year. Sarah has many strengths and is an active participant in our community of London. Sarah has volunteered many hours at various community agencies in an effort to ‘give back to the community’: St. Johns Ambulance; CMHA – My Sisters Place; CMHA Coffee House; Mission Services of London.

Sarah has a keen interest in athletics and is a very skilled soccer player. Sarah maintains a busy schedule with school, volunteering and athletics. In addition to her community activities, Sarah is supported by a circle of family, mental health and justice individuals that strive to demonstrate to Sarah how successful she has been over the years.

Sarah was accepted at Trios College in Police Foundations in February 2014. Sarah’s determination and dedication to the program during her time with St. Leonard’s was clearly demonstrated in her willingness to attend school each day and learn the skills needed within the program. Sarah placed a high emphasis on her education and is planning for future goals once she graduates.

We are proud to have supported Sarah during difficult times and look forward to hearing of her future endeavours in school and our community.

SLSC’s 2014 Libby Award Presented to Sarah Crivea

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada, Community Connections, Special Edition, Summer 2014 Page 4

Move beyond bars. Create second chances.

Testing the H2H Model and Tackling “Tough on Crime” LegislationBy Anita Desai

SLSC recently received the external evaluation of the Homes for the ‘Hard to House’: Testing the H2H Model pilot project. The evaluation was completed by Nathan Innocente from the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. In addition to a summary and analysis of the data, the findings revealed several important factors related to the H2H Model and second stage housing:

• The H2H principles are empirically sound, but require available human resources to implement effectively.

• The successful reintegration of aging/elderly residents is confounded by many challenges related to age, history of incarceration, and interpersonal issues.

• The role of peer mentoring in community corrections settings should be investigated further.

The full report details the successes, challenges, and limitations of the pilot project. SLSC is pleased to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Nathan on the successful completion of this project.

While the research project wound down, the policy efforts geared up to tackle new legislation introduced to the House of Commons that has raised some concerns. With the hard work of SLSC’s summer student Rebecca Hawthorn, the following Bills were addressed by our office: Bill C-12: Drug Free Prisons Act; and Bill C-479: An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (fairness for victims).

The key concerns contained in Bill C-12 are:• If an offender has been granted parole but not

yet released and they fail/refuse to provide a urine sample and the board is informed, their parole can be cancelled if the releasing authorities believe the criteria for parole is no longer being met.

• The conditions that can be set by releasing authority now include any condition regarding the offender’s use of drugs/alcohol.

SLSC’s submission raised concerns that C-12 may result in more people in prison for longer periods of time, while reducing opportunities for successful reintegration and failing to deal with the need for access to programs and evidence-based strategies to reduce substance abuse issues. SLSC recommended that resources be focused on improving access to community-based substance abuse treatment rather than reducing access to the community.

Regarding Bill C-479, SLSC is concerned with the proposals in sections 123 and 131 to significantly increase the period of time between parole reviews for both persons convicted of a violent crime and those whose parole has been revoked. SLSC is similarly concerned with section 140.1 which proposes giving the Parole Board of Canada the power to cancel a future hearing based on past waivers and/or cancellations and denies the prisoner their right to a hearing. SLSC’s submission highlights the inherent unfairness of the proposed legislative changes, which also are not conducive to the good functioning of the institution nor the re-integrative prospects of the prisoner. While SLSC supports the need to ensure that victims are not re-victimized, we do not find that it is either necessary or desirable to remove the rights and privileges of convicted persons in order to do so.

SLSC together with Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) and Laurent Champagne, Community Chaplain and representative of Conseil des églises pour la Justice et la Criminologie du Quebec, submitted a letter to CSC regarding proposed amendments to the searching and visiting regulations of the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (CCRR). Finally but not least in importance, SLSC wrote to the Minister of Public Safety urging implementation of the Recommendations from the Inquest Touching the Death of Ashley Smith.

We continue to forge ahead as proposed legislative changes are introduced that affect the core membership of St. Leonard’s. SLSC hopes to be able to provide a status update on these issues in the next edition of the newsletter. Please feel free to contact SLSC for further information on our research and policy work, or to request the full reports/submissions.

Anita Desai is Research and Policy Advisor for SLSC

SLSC Research & Policy Update

Voir au-delà des barreaux : Donner une deuxième chance.

Société St-Leonard du Canada, Connections en cmmunauté, Édition spéciale, été 2014 Page 5

RésuméLa surveillance électronique : un enjeu critique qu’on ne peut plus repousserpar Michel Gagnon, directeur général, Maison Cross Roads (Montréal)

et Annie Morel, directrice générale, Services d’aide en Prévention de la Criminalité Sherbrooke)

Les auteurs admettent d’emblée avoir un certain préjugé défavorable par rapport à cette mesure de contrôle. Ils concentrent leurs efforts sur les aspects normatifs que cette mesure de contrôle soulève à leur esprit plutôt que sur les aspects techniques de l’implantation de cette mesure de contrôle.

Ils affirment, à la lecture de plusieurs recherches, qu’en général celles-ci n’arrivent pas à circonscrire cette question de manière très éclairante - confusion quant aux objectifs de recherche, absence de questionnement sur le volet normatif, peu d’éléments critiques sur la mise en place et l’impact qu’aurait cette mesure auprès des plus démunis vs les moins démunis), sur le fait que dans la majorité des expériences recensées, l’implantation de la surveillance électronique contribue à un élargissement du filet correctionnel.

Les auteurs émettent les opinions suivantes : º Que d’énormes problèmes techniques -

fausses alertes, inexactitude des données, sont constamment soulevés et qu’il est rare que la surveillance électronique n’entraîne pas des coûts plus élevés que ce qui était prévu,

º Que les coûts de la surveillance électronique vs l’incarcération ne semblent pas très avantageux et qu’en fait, cette mesure de contrôle ne semble qu’élargir le filet correctionnel (les études recensées parlent du fait que la surveillance électronique est toujours une mesure complémentaire aux autres mesures correctionnelles),

º Qu’il n’est pas rare qu’il soit fait mention dans ces recherches, que cette mesure n’a pas grand effet sur la prévention de la récidive, particulièrement

pour les personnes judiciarisées à bas risque de récidive (la surveillance électronique pourrait même rendre la réintégration plus difficile).

º Que la surveillance électronique, telle que décrite dans la littérature, ne satisfait pas deux critères qui leur apparaissent importants de respecter :• Aucune des recherches consultées n’arrive à

faire la preuve que des mesures alternatives existantes à cette nouvelle mesure de contrôle n’auraient pu être utilisées plutôt que la surveillance électronique.

• Tout comme il n’est pas démontré que la surveillance électronique ne soit pas moins préjudiciable pour la personne devant être contrôlé, à la mesure qu’elle est censée remplacée.

Les auteurs concluent qu’il est plus qu’évident que la question de la pertinence de cette mesure demeure toute entière.

Michel Gagnon est directeur général de la Maison Cross Roads (Montréal)Annie Morel est directrice générale

des Services d’aide en Prévention de la Criminalité (Sherbrooke)

« Ce texte a été écrit pour le bulletin Ressources et vous (septembre 2014) de la Société de criminologie du Québec. Il

est reproduit en ces pages avec leur autorisation ».

News and Views

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada, Community Connections, Special Edition, Summer 2014 Page 6

Move beyond bars. Create second chances.ABOUT US . . .

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada is a membership-based, charitable organization dedicated to community safety. The mission of SLSC is to promote a humane and informed justice policy and responsible leadership to foster safe communities.

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Society or its members. Submissions, inquiries and comments are welcomed. Please contact us at:

208 – 211 Bronson Ave.Ottawa ON K1R 6H5Tel: (613) 233-5170Fax: (613) 233-5122slsc@on.aibn.comwww.stleonards.cawww.facebook.com/SLSCanadaTwitter: @StLeonards_Can

The SLSC Team

Executive Director: Elizabeth White

Director of Operations: David Whiteley

Research & Policy Advisor: Anita Desai

Financial Administrator: Glenn Provick

Research & Administrative Assistant: Rebecca Hawthorn

Peer Mentoring Volunteer: Daryl Clark

Office Volunteer: Shannon White

Your support helps us to do more. All donations will receive a tax receipt. Thank you.

Registered Charitable Organization # 12894 6829 RR0001

Online donations may be made via www.CanadaHelps.org.

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada respects your privacy. In compliance with the law, SLSC protects any personal information that we have for our members and donors. We do not rent, sell or trade our mailing lists. Any information we have is used to deliver services and keep you informed of our activities, programs, services, special events and opportunities to volunteer or donate. If at any time you wish to be removed from our contact listing, please contact us toll-free at 1-888-560-9760 or by e-mail at slsc@on.aibn.com, and we will accommodate your request.

Crowdfunding Campaign 2014

SLSC continues to find creative ways to tackle fundraising in order to support projects and research initiatives. SLSC has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding page in order to gather donations to support peer mentoring in Edmonton. Those who donate through the crowdfunding page help to ensure that this important program will continue in the coming year and will give others the chance to successfully reintegrate back into the community. Thanks to SLSC board members Victor Sinclair and Jennifer Macko for coming up with the idea, and kudos to Jennifer for developing such a fantastic campaign page! Click the following link to donate to the campaign or learn more:

www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-create-second-chances-and-safer-communities/x/8253651

I am enclosing a tax-creditable donation of: $25 $50 $100 Other: $________

Please use my donation to support: Peer Mentoring in Alberta The Libby Fund Wherever it is most needed

YES! I support St. Leonard’s contributions to social justice. YES! I want to be a part of SLSC. Please sign me up as a member (with my donation of $50

or more).Name: _________________________________Address: ________________________________ ___________________________________Phone (optional): __________________________Email (optional): _____________________________

Please complete this form and return, along with your donation, to: St. Leonard’s Society of Canada

208 – 211 Bronson Avenue Ottawa, ON K1R 6H5Registered Charitable Organization#12894 6829 RR0001