The Premier's Dinner

Last night we attended The Premier's Dinner. It was an amazing evening and our Premier Gary Does told me that once again, he would support our gala!

Karen & Floyd Wiebe meet with Stephen Harper...

(This picture was taken with my cell phone, in the round table and Karen's arm is at the left. She was directly across Mr. Harper, and I took a back seat behind my "First Lady!")



We were very honoured to be invited by the Prime Minister to join in a round table discussion about drugs in Canada. Federal Ministers Vic Toews, Tony Clement, Stockwell Day and Stephen Fletcher attended as well. There were RCMP, Winnipeg's Chief of Police, Police Associations, addiction agenices etc that were also involved. Carole Johnson, mother of a daughter that was killed a couple of years ago, a Winnipeg Police officer's teenaged daughter (her father was shot by a man on Jubilee during a drug raid), and Karen and I were the only "victims" in the room, and I must say the majority of the conversation was from this group.

The round table was held an hour before the media announcement.


Floyd Wiebe - TJ's Gift Foundation - www.tjsgift.com

Floyd Wiebe's comment on Drug Strategy is captured in the Free Press...

By Joe Paraskevas

Tory drug plan earns applause, little criticism
Focus on both prevention and enforcement welcomed

The father of a young man murdered in a drug-related crime, who has set up a foundation that supports youth drug awareness and education, also applauded the government's emphasis on both prevention of drug use and law enforcement.

"What makes us excited about today is that two-thirds of this funding is based on exactly what we stand for and one-third is based on putting (people) away very strongly for bringing the drugs into the public," said Floyd Wiebe, director of the Winnipeg-based T.J.'s Gift Foundation, named for his son.

"I've never heard of anything this vast or this comprehensive," added Wiebe, who was among a group that met with Harper before his announcement. "I love the two-step approach, two step meaning education and enforcement. ...You can come down with all kinds of laws to put drug dealers away, that's not going to solve your issue."

Following is the entire article...

Fri Oct 5 2007

By Joe Paraskevas



EXPERTS hailed the federal government's anti-drug strategy Thursday, saying it's a balance between tough law enforcement and compassion for young drug users.
Some, however, gave the strategy little chance of succeeding, saying the strategy's attempts to change social attitudes towards drugs were misguided.

And amid the reaction to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement, there was also disbelief that this was the same politician who had built a reputation on viewing illegal drug use largely as a criminal issue.

"The first thing that struck me was I was surprised at how much was earmarked for what they call prevention and treatment," said University of Manitoba criminologist Frank Cormier.

According to Harper, $63.8 million will be divided between preventing illegal drug use, treating drug dependencies and fighting drug production and trafficking.

"Given... the approach to crime and justice from this government, I expected, just based on past behaviour, more of an enforcement approach than a treatment approach," Cormier added.
Still, he gave the strategy a thumbs up.

"I agree with the approach, that is, putting more emphasis on treatment and tackling the problem itself rather than reacting to it and locking people up," Cormier said.

But he questioned the strategy's aim of changing social attitudes towards illegal drugs.

"If you approached the vast majority of young people in the country and said, 'What do you think about using crystal meth or smoking crack cocaine?' I think they'd say that's a bad thing to do," Cormier said. "So, I'm not sure there's a whole lot of ground to be gained there."

An addiction specialist also saw potential for concern among advocates of so-called harm-reduction programs, such as Vancouver's safe-injection facility, that create safe conditions for drug users. The government appeared to favour "just-say-no" programs that were aimed at stopping youth or addicts from using drugs, said John Borody, chief executive of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, a provincial agency that treats about 10,000 people each year for drug, alcohol and gambling addictions.

Law enforcement officials welcomed the Tory plan.

"For the last, I would say, eight years, 10 years, we've had mixed messages here, with the report on the legalization of marijuana, with the bill on decriminalization of marijuana," said Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Police Association, an advocacy organization that represents about 55,000 police personnel across Canada. "Well, what happened? It (normalized) the use of marijuana. A lot of people in Canada think that it's legal to smoke marijuana and (think) it's not worse than tobacco. Well, tobacco is very harmful for your health. Imagine marijuana.

"We're getting on a track where we're going to be targeting drug dealers but we're going to help people struggling with a drug addiction," Cannavino said. "Police officers are happy to see that there's prevention, there's treatment and there's also education for kids." The father of a young man murdered in a drug-related crime, who has set up a foundation that supports youth drug awareness and education, also applauded the government's emphasis on both prevention of drug use and law enforcement.

"What makes us excited about today is that two-thirds of this funding is based on exactly what we stand for and one-third is based on putting (people) away very strongly for bringing the drugs into the public," said Floyd Wiebe, director of the Winnipeg-based T.J.'s Gift Foundation, named for his son.

"I've never heard of anything this vast or this comprehensive," added Wiebe, who was among a group that met with Harper before his announcement. "I love the two-step approach, two step meaning education and enforcement. ...You can come down with all kinds of laws to put drug dealers away, that's not going to solve your issue."


joe.paraskevas@freepress.mb.ca

Floyd Wiebe - TJ's Gift Foundation - www.tjsgift.com

Prime Minister pledges crackdown on drug criminals, compassion for their victims

From the Prime Minister's Office website:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, joined by Minister of Health, Tony Clement and Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, today unveiled Canada’s new National Anti-Drug Strategy. The National Anti-Drug Strategy will provide $63.8 million over two years to prevent illegal drug use in young people, treat people who have drug addictions and fight illegal drug crime.

“Our two-track approach will be tough on drug crime and compassionate for victims,” said the Prime Minister. “We’re simply not going to throw in the towel when the health and safety of our communities is at risk.”

The new strategy, which builds on and refocuses current programs, includes a focused public awareness campaign aimed at educating youth on the negative effects of illicit drug use. Studies have shown that a growing number of Canadian youth are becoming involved with drugs at younger and younger ages. Combating their exposure to highly addictive drugs is increasingly a challenge for many communities.

“Tackling the problem of drug use is going to take all of us,” said the Prime Minister. “Breaking Canada’s drug habit will require a huge effort. But as of today our country is on the road to recovery.”

The National Anti-Drug Strategy is a collaborative effort involving the Department of Justice, Public Safety Canada and Health Canada and includes three action plans: preventing illicit drug use; treating those with illicit drug dependencies; and combating the production and distribution of illicit drugs.

Floyd Wiebe - TJ's Gift Foundation - www.tjsgift.com

Meeting with Stephen Harper

Karen and I have been invited to attend a round table discussion on Thursday, Oct. 4th in Winnipeg. I am very honoured to be asked to participate in this event. There is supposed to be a major anti drug announcement made, and I will discuss the details as they become public.

The Winnipeg Free Press

Floyd Wiebe - TJ's Gift Foundation - www.tjsgift.com