Written by PAUL STRICKLAND
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 13 November 2008 |
Legal Eagle award winner Tiare Jung and The Honourable Steven Point, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. The awards are given out by Law Courts Education Society of BC and the Northern Native Public Legal Education Program . The award recognizes Aboriginal youth for working towards social justice. (Citizen photo by Brent Braaten)
The youth received their awards from B.C. Lt.-Gov. Steven L. Point during ceremonies in the Prince George courthouse.
"This award recognizes aboriginal youth showing outstanding work in legal and social justice issues," the lieutenant-governor said.
The recipients were: Tiare Jung, 17, of Duchess Park secondary school; Kayla Cardinal, 19, of Prince George, a recent high school graduate; Willie Cooper, 22, of Williams Lake; Andrew Tom, 23, of Moricetown; and Philippe Lacerte, 26, of the Lake Babine First Nation.
-- Among other things Jung co-founded the Charity Crew at Duchess Park and has organized such events as the 30-Hour Famine and Pocket Change for Global Change. Jung said she helped organize an initiative called Trick or Eats to collect food for the poor instead of candy on Halloween night. She also described promoting a drive to raise funds for development in Uganda.
--Cardinal was involved in the Street Spirits theatre program three years ago and in 2006 took part in creating Shadow of a Scream, a hard-hitting play about sexual abuse that Street Spirits has toured.
---Cooper, a member of the Tsilhqot'in Nation, has shown outstanding leadership and heart in his role as a public speaker. At 14 his first official engagement was at a National Crime Prevention Conference with 500 delegates. He attends his nation's functions as a delegate whenever possible.
-- Tom is the youngest elected council member of the Moricetown band. He sits on various committees to ensure youth voices are listened to. "Since his employment with the Wet'suwet'en Unlocking Aboriginal Justice program, his leadership has allowed him to connect with youth, and it has proven to be successful with lesser crime rates in Moricetwon since his involvement," said Sandy Staats, Aboriginal Programs Steering Committee Representative for the Law Courts Education Society.
--Lacerte, a member of the Caribou Clan, has taken some risk in engaging youth to challenge drug traffickers in the Lake Babine area. "It has served notice to those who prey on our young people that he does not stand alone in this initiative," Staats said. "He stands side by side with youth when there is a tragedy and another life is lost within the community."
Lacerte works to build reconciliation between the mainstream community and the First Nation community, she added. "He has set up sports events where the two groups work together, which has brought about a change not seen in many years in the town of Burns Lake."
"I want to help make our communities better," Lacerte said in his acceptance remarks. "In this world, a winner has a program; the loser has an excuse.
"A winner says of a challenge, 'It's difficult but it may be possible,'" he said. "A loser says, 'It may be possible, but it's too difficult.'"
The award is sponsored by the Law Courts Education Society of B.C. and the Northern Native Public Legal Education Program.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 November 2008 )
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