Paralympians to speak at event aimed at keeping teens from crime, gangs

Canadian Paralympians will be speaking at a free event next month that aims to raise awareness about gangs and organized crime while keeping Kamloops teens on the straight and narrow.

The Pathways Through Play: Connecting to your Community event will feature a presentation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit BC and Paralympians Greg Stewart and Jennifer McCreesh.

The event is being held in partnership with the City of Kamloops, Kamloops RCMP and Pacific Interior BC.

“It's really about youth and coming together to see perhaps what the power of sport really is in our community, and really the vulnerable youth, as well, that can be really pulled aside on the negative landscape of gangs,” said Carolynn Boomer, executive director of PacificSport Interior BC.

“We really see the power of a sport that can enhance that community, find your connection. Maybe it's not sport, maybe it's art, maybe it's band, whatever that might be.”

She said RCMP members in a specialized gang unit will discuss tactics it uses to connect youth to positive influences, such as sports.

The event hopes to give parents and caregivers tools to navigate challenges, build support networks and to make positive choices.

Stewart said he hopes the event will empower youth to understand and reflect on their emotions, potentially altering their direction in life.

He said he thinks his own journey will resonate with the youth.

“We don’t have to experience certain things in our lives to experience vulnerability, we just have to be in a place of discomfort,” Stewart said.

“It’s what we do in that discomfort, it’s what we do in that vulnerable time that really will impact us the most.”

The event will be held at the Kia Lounge at Sandman Centre on March 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and is part of the city’s Guns and Gangs Intervention and Prevention Program.