Invitation to Calgary forum 

Location:  Holiday Inn Calgary, 4206 Macleod Trail South, Calgary :Theme: Pathway towards Partnership between Correctional Service Canada and Ethnocultural communities

 

Crime prevention and public safety of our communities are among our priorities. That's why, for more than ten years, AJFAS has advocated for increased support of ethno-cultural initiatives in both prevention, delivery of services to inmates and reintegration of offenders. Ethno-cultural communities can play a vital role at these three levels. Crime in our communities is the concern of everyone. The tendency is often to leave this responsibility to the three levels of government (Municipal, Provincial and Federal). Moreover, people involved in crime can be our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues or our own family members. As members of the community, we need to be involved in the process of crime prevention, inmates’ education and support, and of course in the rehabilitation of offenders within our community. It is our belief that this is the pathway the Parliament of Canada intended when it unanimously adopted the following motion as recommended by the committee on Justice and Human Rights:


That this House take note of the importance of the contribution that the ethno-cultural communities make to the prevention of crime, social reintegration of offenders and rapid growth of safer communities and that it recognize the need to ensure every means and resource to allow police departments, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Parole Board and the ethno-cultural communities to respond better to the new needs of the increasingly diversified offender and prison population. (House of Commons Debates, VOLUME 14, NUMBER 147,1st SESSION, 39th PARLIAMENT)

This community forum is an opportunity to build bridges between ethnic communities of Calgary and Correctional Service Canada, and other stakeholders to develop strategic approaches in services and programs for a better social reintegration of ethno-cultural offenders into the community. It will also be an opportunity to share best practices and promising models for the ethno-cultural offenders who are in the process of conditional release and also to inform the community about the achievements of the Regional Ethno-cultural Advisory Committee (REAC Prairies).

 

Luketa M’Pindou
Executive Director

 
Forum schedule
________________________________________________________________________________
 Moderator: Mrs. Mathy Mulumba

 

8:15 - 8:20:  Introduction: MC: Mrs. Mathy Mulumba 
8:20 - 8:30:  Opening Remarks: M. Emmanuel Mulumba, President of AJFAS
8:30 - 8:40:  Introduction for Special Guests by the DG of  AJFAS: M. Luketa M’Pindou
8:40 - 8:50:  Formal Welcoming: Mayor Naheed Nenshi

8:50 - 9:20:  Transformation of the Correctional Service Canada:  Mrs. Brenda LePage, Deputy Commissioner CSC,
and Prairies Region;

9:20 - 9:50:  Role and Responsibilities of National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee and Regional Ethnocultural Advisory            Committee to the Prairie Correctional Service of Canada, by M. Luketa M’Pindou, Executive Director of AJFAS & Chair of the

Prairies REAC & Member of NEAC:

  1. Objectives of the Community Forum Program
  2. Role and responsibilities of REAC (Regional Ethno-cultural Advisory Committees)

Role and Responsibilities of NEAC (National Ethno-cultural Advisory Committee)
 
9:50 - 10:00: Coffee-Break

10:00 - 11:00: First Panel of Discussions: Experiences of second immigrant youth generation:  

  1.   Dr. Paulin Mulatris, University of Alberta
  2.   Victor Moke Ngala, Consultant
  3. Dr. Kamara Mamady, Calgary                    

                                                                               
11:00 - 11: 20: Discussion and questions  
11:20 - 12:20: Second Panel of Discussions

 

_____________________________________________________________________________
  Innovative approaches to facilitate the best reintegration into the community

 

  1. Pastor Bukasa Kabongo, Calgary, AB
  2. Deborah Tanasiecuk, Chaplaincy from CSC
  3. Laura Magnusson,Parole Board of Canada
  4. Jacqueline Watt, Institutional Parole Officer, Bowden Institution

 

12:20 -12:30 : Discussion and questions

12:30-1:30:   LUNCH

 

1:30-2:30 :  Third Panel of Discussion: Moderator: Simin Hadidi 
 Models of successful partnerships in the community:  

             

  1. Simin Hadidi, Regional Manager, Ethnocultural Services;
  2. Anoush Newman, Executive Director, Calgary Multicultural Centre;
  3. Arthemon Rurangwa, Public Relations Officer, AJFAS;
  4. Jidiri Ndagije, African Community Liaison Committee with the Edmonton Police Service, AJFAS.

 

2:30 - 2: 50:  Discussion and questions
2:50 - 3:00:   Coffee-Break

3:00 - 4:00:    Recruitment and selection of members of ethnocultural communities and  visible minorities within Correctional Service of Canada: Mrs. Hafsa Goma and Mrs. Mackenzie Lambe, Prairie Regional Visible Minority Program: What are effective practices of recruitment and selection of members from ethnocultural communities and visible minorities? What are the main challenges?

 

4:00 - 4:20: Discussion and questions
4:20 - 4:30:  Closing Remarks:    Where to go from now - by M. Luketa M’Pindou