April 7, 1998 NEWS Over The Edge Page 3 Hey, Look What | Found...A Landmine By Nicole Larson Mines Action Canada, a Coalition of non-gov- ernmental develop- ment, peace, health and disarmament orga- nizations, has issued a challenge to students and professors across Canada: Come up with new or improved tech- nologies to detect and remove landmines. This program is the brainchild of Robin Collins, one of the co- chairs of Mines Action Canada. He devel- oped the idea of a chal- lenge open to profes- sors and_ students across Canada through his work with the United Nations and offi- cially kicked off the pro- gram during the Ottawa Treaty banning anti- personnel landmines on December 3, 1997. The Ottawa Treaty saw Canada and many other countries announce their commit- tal of funds to landmine removal and landmine victim assistance. However, it is feared that some of the funds pledged for “mine action” by the govern- ments involved will be diverted by big corpora- tions into costly © research and | development of © technologies which may not. be appropriate to deal with the needs of some ~ of the communi- he cae ties affected by mines. There are thou- sands of acres of land and several thousand _ kilo- meters of road- : way made unus- able because of the presence of landmines... Removal of landmines is essential to the processes of peace building and recon- struction in post-conflict areas. It is estimated that 2000 people, who have no choice but to live or work in mined areas, are killed or maimed by landmines each month. Mines Action Canada wants their contestants to develop plans with the needs and priorities of the affected communi- ties in mind. To facili- tate this Mines Action Canada is currently setting up an email- based process to get contestants in touch with Canadians who have worked in de-min- ing centers around the world. There will also be background papers Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders Teleconference at UNBC By Nicole Larson In September of 1997 there was a_ serious tragedy in Prince George, 16 year old Tyrel Regan was killed. Many including Prince George, believe that there has been an increase in the inci- dence and severity of youth violence in the past few years. This view persists despite studies done in both Canada and the United States that profess the opposite has occurred - in the last couple of years. The current rates are still more than dou- ble what they. were -ten years ago, and some. groups, such as the female youth popula- tion, are showing an increase. Even though communities,. the current crime rates do not support the per- ceived increase in vio- lence, especially youth violence, there is no reason to become com- placent, especially when you consider the drastic increase that has occurred in youth violence in the past ten yo ares es & Following Regan’s death in 1997, a Community Action Group was formed in Prince George to look at the issue of violent youth. Concurrently, four graduate students in Psychology from UNBC pooled _ their. experience, knowledge. “and resources and set out on a research plan to develop a “Comprehensive Youth Strategy” for Prince George. The team’s goal is to provide useful suggestions to schools, social services, parents and communities ‘on how best to deal with the issue of violent Vo vor Ur: stheeh The “Comprehensive Youth Strategy” research team, com- posed of Johnny Stork, Maureen Hewlett, Bob Cochrane and Mike Hoff, are going to pre- sent some of their find- ings in a two hour teleconference _ titled “Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Sr ti.c cre’ ses felt Interventions”. The report discusses which is known about this pop- ulation of young offend- ers and how people can best help them and intervene in their lives. Its authors provide empirical evidence that the key to reducing seri- ous and violent offend- ing lies with early pre- vention efforts aimed at high-risk youth and interventions with seri- ous and violent juvenile (SVJ) offenders. The teleconference will be broadcast to UNBC in rooms 5-155 and 5- 183 from 4:30pm _ to 6:30pm on September 17, 1998. To register for this teleconference please phone or Email Maureen Hewlett: 960- —-6355..""" or hewlettm@unbc.ca John Stork: 960-5747 or stork@unbc.ca posted to the web and included in the registra- tion packages that are meant to sensitize con- testants to the issues involved in areas of the world, such as Nicaragua and Mozambique, — which need to be de-mined. Mines Action Canada feels that the current landmine detection practices, most of which involve poking around every square meter of land with a hand-held prod, need to be improved or replaced with practices which are less danger- ous and less time con- suming. They are cur- rently looking for sys- tems that would deal with the administrative side of the business of de-mining areas, and protective equipment for the de-miners as well as actual de-min- ing procedures and practices. “We are try- ing to educate engi- neers and other scien- tists about the need to consider broader goals while they work on new technology,” explained Mary Foster, a spokesperson from Mines Action Canada. Prizes of $7000, $2000 and $750 will be awarded in four differ- ent categories. To receive a Competition Package with more information and a regis- tration form prospective contestants can visit the competition website a t http://www.nerb.unac.o rg/andmines/competi- tion.html or send their: name, the name of their university or col- lege, email and mailing addresses to Mines Action Canada Tre chi nto long y Competition #208 - 145 Spruce Street Ottawa, ON K1R 6P1 The —Mongolie Guill 15th & Victoria - 614-0111 (beside Fanny’s Fabrics) A huge variety of fresh meats, seafoods, vegetables, asian pacific noodles, nuts and a full range of sauces. Plus complementary rice, soup and mon- golian wraps. No MSG used _ Vegetarians receive 20% off! Tons of Parking! Please join us at our 15 other s{ _ locations in Vancouver, ~ Whistler, Richmond, Calgary, - Langley, Mentreal, Ottawa-and Mexico — City eas PG’s New Trendy Restaurant!