Crime Prevention, Quebec

First Forum on Urban Safety 
Montreal
January 2005

In collaboration with the Center for Community Leisure La jeunesse, the city of Montreal held its first Forum on Urban Safety for the island of Montreal from January 25-26 2005. It aims to serve as:

« An interactive and unifying Forum that will enable the sharing of knowledge among different individuals active in the fields of urban safety and crime prevention on the Island of Montreal!».

Over two days, the Forum gathered and engaged various urban safety and crime prevention actors in conferences, workshops, discussion groups and a coffee shop, where they discussed, exchanged, and debated issues related to urban safety. In particular, the Forum initiated a debate on the following theme « Issues and challenges in urban safety.

Mr. Daniel SANSFAÇON, Acting Director General, of ICPC participated in this event, and gave a presentation on« Municipal leadership: here and elsewhere». In his presentation, Mr. SANSFAÇON first highlighted some of the general roles that municipalities can play in crime prevention, including:

• Demonstrating strong political leadership
• Mobilizing institutional and community partners and citizens
• Contributing the expertise of municipal services
• Allocating the necessary resources

He then discussed the important and necessary roled played by high-ranked municipal officials by providing:

• Essential Tools
• Support
• Orientation
 
Other speakers included Mrs. Hélène SIMON, Director of Crime  Prevention in Quebec’s Ministry of Public Safety who discussed the crime prevention areas currently being reviewed by the Ministry, and the development of Quebec’s Departmental Policy on Crime Prevention, launched in 2001, and Mr. Patrice ALLARD, Advisor from Montreal’s Ministry of Community and Social Development, who described Montreal’s funding program for citizen participation in urban safety, and the process of how to conduct a diagnosis in various neighbourhoods in Montreal.

Finally, a variety of workshops were presented at the forum, including:

• The place of neighbourhoods in urban security.
• Sensitization and mobilization of the citizens (eg. Social Marketing).
• Innovative projects in the fields of prevention, urban safety
   and social development.
• Action Plan: from elaboration to evaluation.
• Business partnerships and new financing sources.

Forum on Interministerial Consultation on Crime Prevention,
Quebec
February 2005
 
On February 8, 2005, Mr. Luc CRÉPEAULT, Deputy Minister, Ministère de la Sécurité publique du Québec (Ministry of Public Safety) invited colleagues from other Ministries with common concerns about crime prevention and community safety issues, to the 'First Interministerial Consultative Forum on Crime Prevention in Quebec'.

The meeting was an opportunity for the Minister of Public Safety to review the concerns which led to the adoption of the Departmental Crime Prevention Policy in 2001, to consider the current state of crime prevention in the province, and to present an overview of the crime prevention tools currently being developed.

ICPC's Project Director, Mr. Serges Bruneau provided an update at the meeting on progress with the pilot Quebec Observatory on Community Safety, Victimisation, and Prevention (Click here for more info on this project).