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Peacebuilding Resources The following is an article that ran in the Ottawa Citizen on Friday April 10, 1998 on page D4 as a City Editorial: Neighbourhood co-operation and mediation can create a "peace virus" that will reduce violence even in the most troubled communities in a city...As the editorial below states, the coalition's experiment in a west-end neighbourhood has already paid a remarkable peace dividend. Spreading the 'peace virus'They call it a 'peace virus' and hope that if it is introduced to communities such as Bellevue Manor, a tense neighbourhood of low-income housing in Ottawa's west end, it will be contagious. So far, the virus is not only catching, but is spreading to other parts of the city.
One way the
coalition has tried to change violent patterns in Bellevue Manor is by training
members of some of the community's 36 cultural groups in conflict resolution
techniques. Those volunteers, who are given regular refresher courses, are sent
back to their communities infected with what Mr. Abdulle calls the "peace
virus." There are
numerous signs that the virus has begun to take hold and spread since the
coalition was founded in 1994 after Mr. Abdulle, a sociology student at Carleton
University, decided he wanted to do something about violence in the
neighbourhood housing projects. The most notable effect is a reduction in police
calls to the neighbourhood. The community
of 33,000 people located near Caldwell Avenue - Ottawa's largest public housing
development - had been notorious for the number of calls its members made to
police. Those calls have dropped since the coalition moved into the
neighbourhood, and many complaints are now passed back to the coalition for
mediation and resolution. How does it
work? Cases range from disputes between neighbours to more serious matters,
including assaults and break-ins. In a case that was documented for a program on
Vision TV, five teenagers from the community were the subject of a mediation
effort after they were charging with breaking in and stealing chocolate milk and
other food from a west-end dairy, After hearing
of the harm done to the company - a total loss of nearly $10,000 in stolen and
spoiled food - the youths offered an apology and a promise to make restitution
for the damage. Some of the five volunteered to work at the company. Others
offered to work in the community. Since the mediation meeting with police,
company officials, parents and volunteers, two of those youth have made the
honour roll at their school for the first time. The coalition
has been so successful in its own community that it has been asked to help
mediate disputes throughout the region. It has the wholehearted support of
police. Staff-Sgt. Gary Nelson of Ottawa-Carleton police, vice-president of the
coalition's board of directors, volunteers more than 20 hours a month to the
organization. Other board members, including Cheryl Picard and Rena Ramkay of
the mediation centre at Carleton University and Elizabeth Chin of
Ottawa-Carleton Housing, also volunteer their time. In all, more than 64 volunteers, most from the neighbourhood, help the organization handle up to 15 cases every month and demand is growing. Pretty impressive for an annual public investment of $240,000. A little peace virus, it seems, goes a long way
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