The ICPC took an active part in the second edition of the Colloque Urbanité et jeunes marginalisés : de la confrontation à la bienveillance, held on May 24, 2023 in Montréal-Nord and attended by nearly 200 people. The event, jointly organized by Café-Jeunesse Multiculturel and the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Research on Community and Educational Services, aimed to bring together social, institutional and academic players to debate and exchange views on the challenges and opportunities of caring for marginalized youth.
The day kicked off with a series of conferences addressing issues such as the “non-recourse” to rights and services, the representation of deviance and delinquency among girls, as well as armed violence and political perspectives among young people. The second part of the event focused on initiatives and solutions put in place to meet the needs of young people in difficulty. Various presentations were given, including on citizen initiative incubators, community mental health clinics and understanding the causes and forms of youth violence.
The day ended with a plenary session, where ICPC members had the opportunity to network with other participants. The meeting established valuable links with other organizations and strengthened collaborations to better care for marginalized youth and promote their well-being within the community.
ICPC is proud to have participated in the event “Mieux prévenir l’exploitation sexuelle: Parole aux Jeunes!”, organized by the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR) on May 11 at the Centre PHI in Montreal.
The event gave a voice to young people and discussed the important issue of sexual exploitation of young people, particularly in the context of the current pandemic.
The event represented the culmination of two years of hard work by five groups of young teens from the Greater Montreal area who had participated in the “Parole aux jeunes!” project. Over 70 teenagers (aged 14 to 17) took a close look at the complex issue of sexual exploitation of young people, particularly in the context of the current pandemic. The teens shared their perspectives, exchanged ideas, and reacted to recent prevention campaigns in the province, in order to better understand the problem and make recommendations to combat this scourge.
Some recommendations suggested by the teens:
Partnership with a well-known Instagrammer or celebrity to raise awareness and make the subject less taboo
Training for parents
Explain to young people how to recognize toxic signs.
In conclusion, the ICPC is proud to have taken part in the event “Preventing sexual exploitation: Young People Speak Out” organized by the IBCR, and is committed to an ongoing exploration of mutual collaboration on similar themes, with a common concern for prevention.
On Wednesday, February 15, about a hundred people participated of the Réseau d’échange et de soutien aux actions locales (RÉSAL), of which the ICPC is a coordinating member. The colloquium, which took place at the Centre St-Pierre, in Montreal, focused on the prevention of cyber-violence. The day was filled with engaging meetings, discussions, workshops and “braindates”.
The event began with opening remarks from Roselyne Mavungu, Director General of the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV), who highlighted the critical need for organizations and institutions to collaborate and work together in preventing cyber-violence, particularly among young people. Pier Alexandre Lemaire, Urban Safety Advisor for the City of Montreal’s Diversity and Social Inclusion Department, followed with an overview of RÉSAL’s past activities, emphasizing the importance of networking and the value of face-to-face interactions after three years of primarily online engagement.
Khaoula El Kahlil, Research Advisor at the CPRLV, moderated the first panel of the day, on ”Crossed views on cyber-violence”, and featured experts from various fields. Detective Sergeant, Maya Alieh, of the Montreal Police Department (SPVM) gave a presentation on key considerations to keep in mind regarding cyber investigations and how to intervene when faced with incidents of cyber violence on social networks. Stéphane Villeneuve, professor and director of the program in digital integration in the school environment at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), presented research on cyberbullying in the school environment as well as a means to better understand and prevent these situations, i.e. a training program offered to Quebec teachers. Dominique Gagné and Dave Poitras, scientific advisors from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), concluded the panel with a presentation on findings and proposed solutions to prevent cyber-violence in relationships
After the first panel, both panelists and participants were divided into different groups to delve deeper into current issues and best practices for preventing cyber-violence. These discussions were organized by the event’s partner, Braindate, allowing participants to share their experiences and insights with each other.
The afternoon was divided into four workshops: The first workshop, facilitated by Jeanne Plisson, Community Support Coordinator, and Sarah Grenier, Community Support Advisor, at the CPRLV, addressed ”online hate speech”. In this workshop, participants learned about definitions of hate speech, the different possible forms that hate can take and the prevailing motives for it to occur. They also presented different tools used to prevent and respond to hate speech incidents, primarily in schools.
The second workshop offered, led by Akim Laniel-Lanani, co-founder of the Clinique de cyber-criminologie at the School of Criminology at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), focused on “cyber-hygiene”. Akim presented an overview of the use of social networks by youth before discussing useful tools and resources available to promote healthy online habits.
UdeM criminology professor Isabelle Ouellet-Morin led a third workshop that provided participants with an opportunity to learn more about the research that led to the creation of the “+Fort” mobile application. This app, a collaboration of several Quebec researchers created by the Axel Centre, aims to help youth and school professionals combat and overcome harassment and cyberstalking.
The fourth workshop of the day, “Getting Connected to Equality”, was led by Léna Gauthier-Paquette, support officer for the sexuality education program of L’Anonyme. The workshop focused on a project that aims to equip youth aged 12 to 25 to develop egalitarian, safe and consensual relationships by initiating a reflection on the sharing of real and virtual public space between genders. This activity allowed participants to understand the manifestations of stereotypes, power dynamics and sexism online through an overview based on the organization’s research. The day concluded with exchanges between participants and closing remarks from the CPRLV.
Please note that proceedings of the conference will soon be published online.
On October 11th and 12th, a seminar on improving communication between police and the public took place in Paris. The event was organized through a partnership between ICPC and the Parisian organization Espoir 18. The objective of this seminar was to present successful initiatives undertaken internationally on constructive dialogue between law enforcement and community members, through round tables, an audience of academics, police officers, and civil society stakeholders.
Since 2019, ICPC and Espoir 18 have been collaborating on a project on improving police-population dialogue, with a particular emphasis on the young public and minority groups in their relationship with the police institution. This partnership is therefore part of a research on ways to improve this type of dialogue, to document innovative experiences and practices at the international level and to promote knowledge transfer. This year, several activities were carried out as part of this collaboration: a review of international good practices was co-authored, ICPC hosted the Espoir 18 team in Montreal as part of its North American theatre tour, and this seminar which took place in October.
The seminar included :
The presentation of the practice review “Improving Police-Population Dialogue: An Introduction to International Issues and Practices” produced by ICPC and Espoir 18, with the support of the Open Society Foundations;
The presentation of successful national (in France) and international initiatives along with round table discussions;
The screening and debate of a documentary made by the young of Espoir 18 on racial profiling;
Stories of young people, families, and police officers on the relationship between the police and the population;
An evening debate on possible solutions to improve the police-population dialogue and a future action plan to be put in place.
The development of an action plan for the period 2023 to 2025 based on the exchanges and lessons learned from the seminar will be produced for the next phase of this collaboration.
The ICPC was invited to participate in a science segment on the France 24 channel which focused on the knowledge of Canadian ways to detect and prevent the risks of delinquency among young children.
In this interview, Anne Vandelle, analyst and coordinator of activities and projects at ICPC, focuses on the work that can be done around a set of protective factors in young children. These can have a positive impact on children, specifically on their safety and sense of security. Through a few examples of programs, we highlight the importance of offsetting risk factors with protective factors, such as physical and mental health, and the feeling of of safety, in order to prevent the risk of delinquency from childhood.
To watch the interview “Crime prevention: Scientific methods help protect minors and their families”: https://bit.ly/3h9Gy5f
The borough of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension (VSP) mandated the ICPC to develop an analysis of the causes identified and the existing protective factors surrounding the violence committed and suffered by young users of François-Perrault Park in Montreal. It is on the basis of the causes identified and the recommendations of the ICPC experts in violence prevention that the Borough developed its Youth Crime Prevention Strategy.
In addition, VSP has granted hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund numerous projects by partner organizations that support young people aged 12 to 25 on its territory. All of the projects suggested by VSP are directly linked to the strategy, particularly in terms of the following objectives:
To further promote social inclusion and participation of young people
Promote positive role models and pathways to success
Equip young people to manage their emotions and develop social and interpersonal skills
Strengthen parenting skills and competencies
For more information, download the Action Plan here (available in French).
The ICPC remains actively involved in the process of developing a community of practice with the Réseau d’échange et de soutien aux actions locales (Network for exchange and local action support, RÉSAL) on the prevention of violence committed and suffered by youth aged 12 to 25 in Montreal. To follow up on the training sessions offered in the fall of 2021, a series of six clinical activities were organized in November and December to continue the conversation started between community workers in prevention.
These clinical supervision activities aimed to promote cooperation and horizontal knowledge transfer allowing organizations with important practice needs to find support and adapted methodological guidance. The activities were organized around the following themes:
Violence prevention in street gangs | November 25th and December 2nd, 2021
Sexual violence prevention | November 26th and December 14th, 2021
Street work and youth intervention | November 25th and December 9th, 2021
These sessions created a safe space to exchange on ethical dilemmas and/or professional isolation. The significance of these clinical activities was extensively appreciated by the participants. First, they offered a reflective dimension that furthered their practice allowing them to question their reflexes and to share their worries and their difficulties. Second, these activities created knowledge and recognition connections between workers from different backgrounds and areas of work, an aspect essential to the improvement of common work and to the better mutual understanding of each other’s challenges.
Overall, these training sessions and clinical activities of the RÉSAL’s community of practice reached 95 participants mostly from community organizations in and around Montreal.
The ICPC recently published several reports tackling violence committed and suffered by the youth of Montreal. Specifically, three reports are now available:
1) Problem-Services Arrangement Analysis Report on the Prevention of Violence Committed and Suffered by Young Users of François-Perrault Park in the Saint-Michel Neighbourhood
The Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough of Montreal mandated the ICPC to analyze the identified causes and existing protective factors around violence committed and suffered by the young users of the François-Perrault park. The objective of this report is to present and analyze issues relating to this type of violence and how to prevent it.
2) Report on Violence Committed and Suffered by the Youth of Montreal
This ICPC report, mandated by the city of Montreal as part of the Urban Safety Laboratory’s activities, presents an overview of urban safety with respect to violence committed and suffered by youth throughout the island of Montreal.
3) Report on Violence Committed and Suffered by Youth in the Montreal-North Borrough
The Montreal-North borough mandated the ICPC and a team of sociology experts, Mariam Hassaoui from Université TÉLUQ and Victor Armony from UQAM, to do an urban safety audit of violence committed and suffered by youth of 12 to 25 years of age in Montreal-North including a detailed portrait (ADS+ and place-based approach) of the environment (physical, socio-economic, and social-health) in which they evolve, of the crime and violence committed and suffered by this youth, and of the available resources in the area.
On December 7th, the ICPC took part in the first day of the forum Montréal sécuritaire pour les jeunes : dialogue sur l’intervention en prévention de la violence(Montreal Safe for Youth: Dialogue on violence prevention and intervention) to present an overview of the chapters and highlights of the “Rapport sur la violence commise et subie chez les jeunes de Montréal” (Report on Violence Committed and Suffered by the Youth of Montreal), a recent publication by the ICPC. This meeting of community and institutional partners involved in prevention aimed to:
Create a common understanding of the violence phenomenon;
Discuss youth resilience in a context in which the feeling of safety is important;
Take stock of the most recent data on risk factors of violence in Montreal;
Highlight the best prevention initiatives;
Foster collaboration and the development of an integrated vision among stake holders in violence prevention in youth;
Work together around specific issues in violence prevention and fuel the municipal conversation on urban safety;
Counter the phenomenon of committed and suffered violence.
The meeting was organized by the Montreal Service de la diversité et de l’inclusion sociale (Service for Social Diversity and Inclusion – SDIS) in collaboration with the Réseau d’échange et de soutien aux actions locales (Network for exchange and local action support – RESAL), of which the ICPC is a coordinating member, and the Institut du nouveau nonde (New World Institute – INM).
The other presentations of the forum included panelists from the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (Montreal Police Department – SPVM), L’Anonyme, and the Institut universitaire Jeunes en difficulté (At Risk Youth University Institute – IUJD) of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (Integrated University Center for Social Services of the South Center of the Island of Montreal – CIUSSS), ICPC partners.
On November 30th, the ICPC had the pleasure of attending a presentation of the strategic plan for fighting gun violence and of the Équipe de concertation communautaire et de rapprochement (Team for Community Dialogue and the Development of Closer Ties – ECCR) given by the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (City of Montreal Police Department – SPVM), an ICPC partner, in collaboration with the neighbourhood station #30 of the Saint-Michel neighbourhood.
Concerning gun violence, the SPVM presented the current situation in Montreal and the main directions taken by the strategic plan for fighting gun violence. In particular, the SPVM highlighted the importance of collaborating with the community when it comes to the prevention of gun violence.
This meeting with the community was also an opportunity to meet the new ECCR that has been deployed since April 2021 in many areas of Montreal. This unit aims to connect with citizens and community organizations to find common and sustainable solutions to current or emerging issues around social cohabitation and urban safety.
The event was also an opportunity to introduce several local initiatives in which the neighbourhood station #30 is involved, in particular, those aiming to develop closer ties with the community, especially with youth.
