Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award

National Youth Justice Policing Award Winner for 2018

The Surrey Wrap Program

The recipients of the 2018 Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award are Acting Sergeant Ivan Lee, Corporal Jacob Cheung, Constable John Wilson and Constable Dylan Horgan of the Surrey RCMP for the Surrey Wrap Program. This award acknowledges the important work of these officers in creating innovative services for youth who are in conflict with the law or are gang-associated.

The program works to identify and reduce the risk factors in a youth's life that influenced their participation in criminal activity in the first place. Once these risk factors have been addressed, the youth are supported with re-integration to school and school-based programs, work experience and courses outside of school that greatly increase their chances of success.

Providing these young people access to rewarding and hands-on activities is a proven approach to intervention, offering the opportunity to develop confidence, interpersonal skills, trust, and positive self-image. These activities can be skill-based or based on life experience. Through work experience, art classes, sports activities, canoe trips and outdoor survival camping, The Surrey Wrap Program partners with organizations such as the City of Surrey and the Surrey School District to make a lasting, positive impact on individuals and communities.

More recently, the Surrey Wrap Program partnered with Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver's "Game On!" program to engage participants in the pursuit of life-long healthy lifestyles. Over the course of 10 weeks, participants were introduced to non-traditional physical activities, healthy eating information, life skills and discussions on emotional well-being. This partnership increased programing and overall capacity, addressing a growing waitlist of Wrap Program participants.

The Surrey RCMP formed another successful partnership through the Pulling Together Canoe Journey, a 10-day canoe journey to enhance understanding between public service agencies and Indigenous peoples. The journey is an annual event involving hundreds of participants, including other public service agencies and youth to inspire fun, unity, respect, cultural diversity, empathy and elimination of prejudice. The RCMP took youth from the Surrey School District and Wrap Program to participate in and learn more about the cultural practices of the local First Nations whose territories they paddled through. On their journey, the youth paddled and camped with Surrey RCMP police officers, providing a significant opportunity to build positive relationships with law enforcement personnel. Crucially, the program provided youth in conflict with the law with opportunities to take initiative, work as a team and disengage from high-risk lifestyle choices.

Previous Winners

The Minister of Justice National Youth Justice Policing Award was established in 2000. Here are the previous award recipients: