(Kenneth Cheung/ meadowlakeNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

CYCLE OF HOPE

‘A second chance’: Meadow Lake shelter to launch program helping ex-offenders

Nov 28, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Meadow Lake Homeplate Shelter Coalition Corp. plans to become a hub for helping people with criminal records get a second chance in society.

“It’s pointless to go to rehab; it’s pointless to try to be better because all the doors are closed at the end of the day,” said shelter manager Delton Sylvain, discussing how past mistakes can continue to haunt people, particularly those with minor criminal charges.

He named the project ‘Cycle of Hope’, meaning to help people with a criminal past navigate back to society and become productive. Sylvain explained that the initiative was sparked by a man who, after spending nine years struggling with drug addiction, found his way to the shelter.

“He came into the facility and said, ‘I’m done with this lifestyle. I want to get a job and be with my grandkids,’” he recalled.

After helping him transfer to a rehab center, he returned clean and sober, filled with eagerness to find a job and start fresh. Yet, despite the glimmers of hope in his life, the shadows of his past clung to him like a tattoo.

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“They [businesses] asked that person for a criminal record check. Unfortunately, he had done some crime in the past, like I think he broke into someone’s vehicle when he was high,” Sylvan noted.

“Now he cannot even rent a house because he has a bad history.”

A survey by the John Howard Society of Ontario found that 3.8 million Canadians have a criminal record, making them 50 per cent less likely to find employment due to stigma. Additionally, 15 per cent of employers would automatically reject candidates with a criminal record.

Citing the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan (JHSS)’s Criminal Record Suspension program, which allows people who have been convicted of a crime to have their records separated from others and made private as long as they have completed their sentence and demonstrated law-abiding behavior for several years.

As concerns arise about the criminal records becoming private, Blair Roberts, director of external relations at JHSS, believes everyone deserves a fresh start.

“We think that everybody deserves a second chance to make a life for themselves, and we believe that our past mistakes don’t always define who we become in the future, and so it’s not something that would be known to the employers,” said Roberts.

He noted that the process involves extensive paperwork, fingerprinting, and court visits and can take six to 12 months to approve an application.

Eligibility for the record suspension program varies depending on the type of offence, meaning not all individuals may qualify, Roberts added, including sexual offences involving a child and multiple indictable offences.

“So, people need to understand that these, while they were serious offences at times, we would point to the work that the client has put into getting healthy many years later down the road, that it just shouldn’t be a concern for them[employers] anymore,” Roberts pointed out.

As the Cycle of Hope is still in the early planning stage, Sylvain hopes community members will contribute their ideas and knowledge to make it possible. Meanwhile, he is now reaching out to various local businesses , assuring them that the shelter will help guarantee clients’ positive behavior and demonstrate that they deserve a second chance.

He is also in contact with the local RCMP to explore the possibility of collaborating on an initiative similar to the JHSS’s suspension program, aiming to support individuals in Meadow Lake and the surrounding area in their efforts.

“Things will continue the same if we don’t try to help our people to be reinserted into society.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com