Premier Roy Romanow's books:
balancing the budget by incarcerating young offenders

Nipawin - August 3, 2000 - By: Mario deSantis
   

delinquents of the future

After taking away the educational rights of our children because they are too poor to be
able to learn in our schools(1), our government has taken steps to make our children the
delinquents of the future and in so doing perpetuating the law and order vision of
Premier Roy Romanow(2).
   

6,683 children

The books of the province are balanced, while the huge liability towards our children(3)
is being written off by incarcerating our children and dumping them away from the cities
in the winter when they become adults(4). This dire situation of our children is being
pictured by the recent release by Statistics Canada of the number of young offenders
into custody(5). For the fiscal year 1998-99, Saskatchewan convicted 6,683 children,
that is 50% more than Manitoba, and only 25% less than Quebec, a province with seven
times the population of Saskatchewan.
   

criminalize the adolescent

Commenting on the problem of our children, Sanjeeve Anand, a professor at the University
of Saskatchewan, has stated
"The problem is Saskatchewan tends to incarcerate people who
shouldn't be incarcerated. Kids vandalized stuff, they steal stuff.
They do these sorts of things and grow out of it. We tend to
criminalize the adolescent who blows off steam."
   

economic growth

With the release of the last budget, our government has been boasting the 6th consecutive
year of economic growth at the expense of the weakest and most important segment of
our society: our children. This is certainly not the way to 'keep building'
Mr. Premier Romanow!
   
------------Endnotes:
   

1.
-

Saskatchewan Troubled Children: 40% of our school children, by Mario deSantis, January 14, 2000
   

2.

The system is not more worth than one person's rights, by Mario deSantis, July 27, 2000
   

3.
-

Honourable Eric Cline has not balanced the budget yet, he forgot our school-children, by Mario deSantis, April 2, 2000
   

4.
-

Mayor Dayday's GNP Accounting: writing off our children, dumping people outside city limits, and building the Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis, March 1, 2000
   

5.
-

Sask. takes tough love approach to youth crime: more young criminals dragged into court than in any other province, by Leslie Perreaux, The StarPhoenix, August 2, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
   
  This morning's picture "the future" was taken at 5:50 AM this morning and shows the fog
obsuring what is to be.