A local roundtable discussion on crime is set to take place this week, using a dialogue technique especially designed to bring community together for action.
The technique is called "deliberative dialogue" and will be featured in this event hosted by the B.C. Council for International Co-operation (BCCIC), the Prince George Community Assessment and Action Network (PG-CAAN), and the Justice Education Society. Funding for the event was provided by the Canadian International Development Agency, earmarked for community discussions focused on important local issues.
There is no hotter topic than crime, in this city, said organizer Carla Moffat, Prince George liaison for the BCCIC.
"We wanted to put it into a global context," she said. "We know that crime in Prince George is local, but it is part of a global concern. There are ties between the crime in our place and international organized crime, and there are also trends internationally that we are part of here.
"This discussion, using deliberative dialogue, will provide people with the chance to open up the floor for all kinds of opinions and points of view, even divergent ones, and brings that to common ground instead of combative debate."
There will be two facilitators, Moffat and Catharine Kendall of PG-CAAN, but no speaker or presenter will be given any more platform than another. All, layman to expert, are considered equal for the purposes of the conversation.
The event has limited space and preregistration is close to full, but information on the process and the future plans for the discussion on crime can be obtained by calling Kendall at 250-563-2222.
The discussion takes place Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m. at a conference room in the Prince George Courthouse.
