By Kathy Gallant

Youth participate in RCMP leadership workshop

Feb 16, 2018 | 4:00 PM

Teens can have a big impact on one another, and a recent RCMP workshop celebrated the passion and resourcefulness of youth who want to give back to their community.

Last week, a group of 15 youth from Grades 9 to 12 from across Canada took part in an annual initiative hosted by the RCMP depot in Regina. Participants identified youth crime and victimization issues, participated in skills training and then developed a youth-led, police supported action plan to address matters in their home communities.

Each youth was matched up with RCMP officers from their region, and the strategies were then implemented into local programs.

Two Onion Lake students took part in the program. Darren Visser, who is a second-timer in the program developed a plan last year to encourage youth to stay away from drugs and gangs through positive games and activities and theatre. His program included local Indigenous elders as speakers. This year, he expanded on the original idea to engage entire families.

“In my first program I targeted the youth,” he said. “This year’s project is a target for the parents.”

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Civilian RCMP member Laili Yazdani was the mentor of the two Onion Lake youth and said Visser had a unique opportunity this time as a repeat participant.

“They come up with the action plan on what they’d like to do to help their community, then on the last day, they share with the group, to share their ideas, inspire each other, motivate each other. What was different about Darren is that he was invited to come back to share information about how his project idea was going and how it was implemented so that the youth had an example to go by,” Yazdani said.

She said she enjoys her role as it gives a chance for officers to build relationships with youth in a supportive manner.

“It’s a wonderful experience to be able to help the youth with their ideas,” she said. “They know what’s works best, as they’re still young and I think it’s really important to listen to what they have to say.”

Akeva Checkosis focused her project on decreasing suicide rates locally and in the surrounding areas. She said it’s been an issue for a while, and something that has impacted many community members.

“I presented on a lot of youth who suffer with depression and feel they usually don’t have anyone to talk to,” she said. “I wanted to do outdoor activities, trips, and talks about how serious suicide can turn out to be, not just for themselves, but their family and friends.”

She has not yet implemented her program locally, but said she looks forward to getting it going and interacting with her peers.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath