Pubdate: Wed, 27 Nov 2002
Source: Vankleek Hill Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 The Vankleek Hill Review
Contact:  http://www.thereview.on.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2419
Author: Richard Mahoney

DRUGS, POVERTY, CONFLICT AND ALIENATION

"A Community That Cares"  Tackles Big Issues

HAWKESBURY - Drug abuse, severe poverty, alienation, rebellion -- those are 
just some of the factors that can cause a young person to develop 
behaviourial problems.

The task may appear daunting, however, a year-old initiative in Hawkesbury 
is trying to help decrease the impact that these risk factors have on the 
town's children, and the town in general.

The "Une communaute qui se prend en main" project aims to reduce drop-out 
rates, violence, crime, teenage pregnancies and drug and alcohol use among 
adolescents.

A key to coping with any problem is information, observes project 
coordinator Jean-Clet Gosselin. "There are no quick or easy solutions to 
problems such as poverty, for example. Our project does not have money to 
give out to people, but there are existing resources, such as food banks, 
to assist the poor. If people have access to information, if they know that 
help is available, they can begin to help themselves," says Gosselin. With 
a high illiteracy rate, Gosselin notes, "One of the challenges we face is 
finding new ways of reaching the people in need."

Action Plan

"We want to include everyone in the process," adds Gosselin.

Founded at the beginning of the year, the project, based on the "Community 
That Cares" concept, has arrived at the third phase, the formulation of an 
action plan.

Gosselin, who works for the Services aux enfants et adultes de 
Prescott-Russell, which initiated the project, explains that members of the 
community are now being recruited.

In the previous phases, the project's committee, using 25 different data 
sources, identified four main risk factors: access to alcohol and drugs, 
family conflicts, extreme poverty and youth rebellion and alienation. "Now 
that we have identified the risk factors, we need to reduce them," points 
out Gosselin.

Many problems have been underlined in the past. For example, a 1996 
Addiction Research Foundation concluded that illicit drug use was 
abnormally high in Hawkesbury. A survey found that 13 per cent of 
francophones in town have used cocaine. On a provincial scale, three per 
cent of francophones have consumed cocaine.

The ARF also discovered that one out of ten francophones here has 
considered committing suicided; that rate is three times higher the average 
rate among Ontario francophones.

The Hawkesbury Ontario Provincial Police detachment reports that half of 
the offences it investigates in Hawkesbury involve domestic violence and 
illegal drugs.

Hawkesbury residents tend to smoke more, have lower levels of education and 
earn less money than the Ontario average. There are more teen-aged mothers 
in town than in other parts of Prescott County.

"We can do a lot of things with statistics," Gosselin points out. "While 
the average income here is lower than it is in Toronto, the cost of living 
is also lower here."

But, he stresses, "There is a link between income, education, poverty and 
the other factors that lead to behaviourial problems."

"We have to change our approach. If a high percentage of people cannot 
read, distributing a pamphlet is not going to reach these people," Gosselin 
says.

The project is funded by the Trillium Foundation and the Canadian Crime 
Prevention Centre.

For more information, call Jean-Clet Gosselin at 632-1101.
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MAP posted-by: Beth