Winnipeg, MB - At an event this morning, Mayor Brian Bowman announced the implementation of a new City of Winnipeg initiative with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) designed to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation in City of Winnipeg aquatic, recreation and library facilities.
“Ensuring the safety of our children is critically important at all City of Winnipeg facilities,” said Mayor Brian Bowman. “I am very grateful the Canadian Centre for Child Protection agreed to a first-of-its-kind partnership to assist us in enhancing child safety across all civic facilities.”
“Environments that cater to children are vulnerable to attract individuals who seek to exploit and harm children. Technology has changed the way this issue presents and includes risks with phones and cameras in public pool facilities which is why this initiative is so important.” said Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of C3P. “We want to commend the City of Winnipeg for leading the way in Canada in addressing these new realities.”
At its June 29, 2015 meeting, the Standing Policy Committee on Protection and Community Services recommended “-.that the Winnipeg Public Service meet with C3P to look at opportunities to implement programs to identify exploitation of children in all city recreation facilities.” The Committee noted that no major jurisdiction in Canada had a program that focuses explicitly on this public safety issue, and that a program of this type in Winnipeg would be a first for Canada.
Since the fall of 2015, the City of Winnipeg Public Service has been working with C3P to develop the multi-phased child sexual abuse and exploitation prevention program framework, based on C3P’s Commit to Kids program, including:
- Conducting an organizational risk assessment of recreation facilities.
- Developing a staff awareness training program to better understand child sexual abuse.
- Updating administrative supervising protocols and reporting protocols
- Developing a public awareness campaign.
Phase one of programming will begin with the City of Winnipeg’s aquatics division, and will include new staff training procedures, risk assessments of aquatics facilities, updated staff supervising and reporting protocols, and posters and information available at aquatics facilities. Phases two and three will continue with recreation and libraries facilities later this year.