12,000 Jackpot
$
SUPER BINGO
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH Saturday Evening Bingo at 6pm
($7,500 cash plus $4,500 Slot Free Play)
0
58307
00200
5
ON THE TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE LHEIDLI T’ENNEH
Since 1916
THURSDAY, November 23, 2023
PGCITIZEN.CA
PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN
Uncertain future for youth jail
Support group hosting opening at downtown location
PAGE 15
Keep youth focus: mayor TED CLARKE Citizen staff
TED CLARKE Citizen staff
The province has yet to decide what it will do with the Prince George Youth Custody Centre once it closes. Last Thursday, the province announced in a meeting with PGYCC staff that it plans to close the youth custody centre on Gunn Road on March 31, 2024, due to steady decreases in the number of young offenders being jailed as a result of changes to the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act in 2019. “For a number of years we’ve actually seen a really significant trend, not only in
MENS’S SHED
CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO
The Prince George Youth Custody Centre will close on March 31, 2024.
our province but across the whole of the country, with fewer young people being held in custody ,” said Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development. “We’re down to single figures (in Prince George) and we’ve seen that decline be sustained over many years, and we went through the pandemic as well.
Built to house 60 inmates aged 12-17 when it opened in 1989, the PGYCC now has an operational capacity that allows for up to 24 youth. Combined with the 84-inmate capacity at the other facility in Burnaby, the province has a total capacity of 108.
See FIFTY STAFF AFFECTED on page 4
Snow Owls Are Wise: They secure the Best Travel Insurance Coverage Get a FREE QUOTE now!
Prince George Mayor Simon Yu said he’d like to see the Prince George Youth Custody Centre retain its focus to help youth in some way once the jail for young offenders closes in the spring. “Any public facility to be underutilized to that extent – it required a different program,” said Yu. “This facility can be easily converted to address mental health or drug addiction. On that note, I am proud of the premier and I thank him for the decision. Burnaby Youth Custody Services Centre is adequate perhaps for the province as a whole under the current legal system. To better utilize public money is a good thing.”
See ‘HELPING THE YOUTH’ on page 4
Contact Gary Clarke
Go to snowowls.ca
250.564.2001 whoo@snowowls.ca