vol 6/#4

March/Aprll 1994

Funding approved for firefighter training facility
The JI recently received
facility will provide prea BC 21 grant of$1.5
employment training for
million to help expand
prospective fire fighters
the BC Safety Training
and help experienced fire
Centre in Maple Ridge
fighters improve their
skills." BC's fire fighters
to include a land-based
fire fighter training
~re currently trained in
each municipality accordfacility. The Centre is
currently equipped to
ing to local resources.
The Justice Institute's
accommodate only
Fire Academy will admarine and industrial
fire fighting and inciminister the new facility,
JI Chair Bob Stewart, Mission-Kent MLA Dennis Streifel, and
which will include a condents involving hazardous
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows MLA Biii Hartley at the ceremonies
announcing the grant.
trolled environment using
materials.
propane burners. Propane
In 1991, the Fire Safety
Advisory Council recommended the creation of a
reduces the risk of hydrocarbon pollutants - byprovincial facility responsible for land-based fire
products that endanger fire fighters and contaminate
the environment.
fighting. This grant follows that recommendation.
In announcing the grant, Municipal Affairs
Minister Darlene Marzari noted that, ''The new
Photos: John Lynn Marketing 0
. Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari with JI Board Chair,
Bob Stewart (left), and Paul Smith, £)/rector of the Fire Academy.

Fire Academy • Police Academy • Corrections Academy • Finance and Administration • Courts Academy
Educational Services • Interdisciplinary Studies • Paramedic Academy • Provincial Emergency Program Academy

Courts Academy produces
defensive tactics video
by Irwin De Vries

• A client in a court registry is
intoxicated and becomes loud
and abusive to a registry clerk.
His shouting draws the attention of a nearby Deputy
Sheriff, who defuses the situation with his uniformed
presence and a few calm words.
• An accused is led into a holding cell to await his trial. He
stubbornly refuses to enter the
cell and tries to pull away from
the Deputy Sheriff. With a
simple wrist lock, she overcomes his resistance and escorts him into the cell.
• A prisoner attacks a cellmate
in a holding cell, and an extrication team is required to
remove the assailant from the
cell.
These are a few examples of
scenarios that appear in a new
videotape by the Courts
Academy. The videotape is part
of the Defensive Tactics program,
which trains Deputy Sheriffs in
the timely and appropriate use of
force.
The purpose of the video is to
introduce the general concepts of
the program to Deputies, as well
as provide general information
for all Court Services Branch
staff on the nature of the program.
In the scenarios that are
portrayed, Deputy Sheriffs are required to use various techniques
and levels of force to ensure their
own safety and that of the public.
The videotape emphasizes the
need to respond immediately and
appropriately to the many situations that could be encountered
on the job.
A large portion of the
videotape was shot on site at the
Justice Institute, during actual
training sessions conducted by
Deputy Sheriffs in the gym and
on the JI grounds. Another sub-

2

stantial part was shot in the Surrey Provincial Courts. Due to the
locations required, most of the
location shoot in Surrey was conducted after hours and on Saturdays.
All Deputy Sheriffs portrayed
in the video are the "genuine article." Professional actors and an
occasional staff member were
used to portray other characters.

All after-hours work by the
Deputies was performed on a
volunteer basis, evidence of the
commitment of Deputy Sheriffs
to the defensive tactics program.
The video is in final review
stages and is scheduled for
release by the end of June.
Irwin DeVries is Program
Director in Courts Academy. 0

Margaret Owens helps to educate
JI educators
,,
With professional experience as
an instructional designer, teacher,
and trainer, spanning audiences
from graduate-level university students to grassroots community
workers, Margaret Owens is well
qualified for her new part-time
role providing faculty development services to Justice Institute
instructional staff.
Margaret's association with the
JI began in December 1993. Over
the term of her contract, her
responsibilities for new instructors may include conducting needs
assessments, designing and
delivering instructional skills
workshops, and providing followup consultation. With experienced
staff, she may be involved in assessing professional development
needs, and in designing and
delivering workshops or other
educational programs to address
those needs.
Margaret's background includes formal, graduate-level
training in adult education theory
and practice, and experience in
the design, instruction, and
evaluation of courses, workshops,
seminars, and conferences. She
has designed and taught shortand long-term courses for both
face-to-face instruction and dis-

I.,
,
.
,
i~
,,

'

~ ·i

.-

.

L"

j

I

I

Margaret OWens

tance education, and has conducted educational research.
Margaret has a special interest
in international education and distance education. Her work abroad
includes co-ordinating a training
project which linked a Canadian
university with a distance education institution in Northeastern
Brazil, and conducting research
on distance education in several
Southeast Asian countries.
For the future, Margaret has
expressed a particular interest in
the growing need for continuous
learning as a response to the
rapid rate of change in both the
workplace and the world in
general. Through her involvement with the JI, Margaret will
be working with an organization
that has recognized and is
responding to that need. 0

TheJINews Vo/61#4

•••SPOTLIGHT•••
On staff
Changes ...
On April 18, Lynda Stecyk
joined IDS as a program assistant. She works with Patricia McNeill on a part-time basis. Lynda
has most reeently worked in the
Human Resources Department of
the engineering firm of Fluor
Daniel Wright Ltd. Prior to that
she worked in various departments at the Red Cross. Lynda is
a resident of New Westminster.
Barbara Hunter, Supervisor,
Administrative Services,
Paramedic Academy, and
Marika Morissette, from the
Fire Academy were the successful
candidates for two new Program
Planner positions in Paramedic
Academy. (See story, page 5.)
Sally McMurray, who worked

as a program assistant with IDS,
has moved to Victoria. Susan
Burks has transferred to the position from Paramedic Academy.
Finance and Administration
Division has made a number of
staff changes. Effective June 7,
Kirsti Renwall will assume the
accounts receivable function in addition to her duties as part-time
receptionist in Blake Hall. In her
accounts receivable function,
Kirsti will process all invoice requests and deposits. Also effective
June 7, Debbie Watts will work
three days a week (Tuesday
through Thursday) in data entry,
and Lisa Gigliotti will split her
day between reception duties and
data entry.

Recognition ...
During National Volunteer
Week, April 17-23, North Shore

Community Services honoured
six volunteers from various organizations in North and West
Vancouver. Sally Pollock, a PEP
Academy Emergency Social Services Instructor who works with
volunteer organizations and
municipal staff, was one of the
six. She was recognized for her
long-standing volunteer efforts
for her community.

On visitors
Jo Hand, a librarian from
Coventry, England, visited the JI
Library in early May. She came
to Canada on a group study exchange sponsored by Rotary International. This program promotes
international understanding and
good will by providing grants for
vocational exchanges of professionals. CJ

Excellence Committee presents four awards
by Phil Crosby-Jones

The Excellence Committee,
hours of course preparation
and one-on-one coaching of
represented by Barbara
those students in need of her
Hunter, April Haddad, and
Phil Crosby- Jones, took adspecial talent and caring navantage of the Social
~ ture. Bobbie received the
Committee's Pub Night on
a> Award of Excellence.
-5'
Cynthia Teo, responsible
April 28th to present the following awards before a large,
·. ,, a:~ for Accounts Payable, Finance
enthusiastic, and appreciative
I. B and Administration Division
audience:
! j ~ - for her meticulous attenJim Bond, former Deputy
Left to right: A/Jril Haddad, Jim Bond,
·
ti on to detail and accuracy
Phil Crosby-Jones, Cynthia Teo, Barbara Hunter,
within her designated assignDirector, Fire Academy and
Bobbie Walkley, and Brian Woods,
ment. Cynthia is universally
now Surrey's Assistant Fire
of training manuals and cross sysrespected and appreciated for her
Chief-""'" for his outstanding
terns training initiatives with
friendly and accommodating nacontribution to the development
Police and Corrections in the area
ture, and the equitable manner in
of fire training programs and
of self-defense and control tactics,
which she processes accounts and
material, but especially for his
much of which was over and
is able to respond to emergency recross-systems initiatives in stagabove that required by his job
quests. For her ongoing commiting a number of simulated emerassignment. Brian received the
ment to excellence, Cynthia was
gency exercises involving Fire,
Award of Excellence.
awarded a Certificate of AppreciaPolice, and Paramedics. .Jim
Bobbie Walkley, Paramedic Intion.
received the Award of Excellence.
structor -for her commitment to
Awards recipients also received
Brian Woods, Deputy Sheriff,
her students and dedication to
the coveted JI Quality Service pin.
who recently completed his
perfecting her art, craft, and skill
secondment to the Courts
as an instructor. She is especially
Academy - for his initiative in
Phil Crosby-Jones is Director of
recognized for the many extra
the development and production
the Police Academy. LI

The JI News Vol 61#4

3

Justice Institute hosts a major
earthquake response exercise
by Peter Pershick

When you looked around the JI
campus in early May, did you
wonder about all of the radio
antennas on the roofs of Macdonald Hall and the Cafeteria?
The satellite dish up on the Macdonald Hall roof! Delivery
trucks? The federal and provincial government vehicles storming the grounds? What happened
here from May 3 to 5 was an
earthquake exercise called
"CANATEX 2" - short for
Canadian National Exercise 2.
The exercise was aimed at testing the provincial emergency
response plan and the federal support plan in the event a
catastrophic earthquake were to
hit BC. The exercise - which
was played out by ministries of
the federal government, provincial government, various B.C.
municipalities, Crown corporations, utilities, and agencies was very revealing in terms of
how prepared the province is in
being able to co-ordinate among

==-- - - -4

its various ministries, as well as
the federal government and
municipalities. At any given time
during the three days, there were
approximately 150 - 200 people
on the JI site working in the exercise. Over 2,000 people were actively involved throughout the
country.
When we say that the Justice
Institute hosted the exercise, you
can be assured that it did. Some
examples of assistance given to
support the Academy and the exercise were:
• Sally McMurray and the staff
ofIDS, who handled all of the
PEP Academy phone calls for
three days;
• the library staff, who took calls
and requests in Macdonald
Hall for people they never
heard of;
• the media centre, which filmed
the exercise;
• the Corrections Academy,
which gave up its main class-

room for two weeks in spite of
having a course in full swing;
• Alice's Restaurant, which
provided superb service over
the three days;
• the Police Academy, which
loaned their equipment;
• Norm Bickle of the Paramedic
Academy, who patiently
allowed radio operators to use
his office to access the roof of
Macdonald Hall;
• all Academies, which gave up
classroom space on the second
floor of Macdonald Hall and
the South Room of the
cafeteria for two weeks; and
• many more.
The PEP Academy acknowledges the JI community for its
help and understanding. But
then again, isn't that what this
place is about: simulations, exercises, learning, teaching, and
co-operating?
Peter Pershick is Program
Director in PEP Academy . 0

What's up ... DOCLINE?
Carol MacFarlane (centre right)
teaches Janet Mensah, Christine
Babec, and Lucie Etienne how to
use DOCLINE, the National Library
of Medicine's automated interlibrary loan request system.
Library staff input requested journal articles onto DOCLINE and
they are rapidly routed to medical
~ libraries across North America.
-g The Library also receives requests
::c tor articles from other medical
~ libraries. (Carol MacFarlane
c:c (Breeden), who now works at the
~ Registered Nurses' Library, used
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------'a; to be theJl's Assistant Librarian.)

TheJINews Vo/61#4

Paramedic Academy's fills two new
progr~m planner positions
by Ian Dailly

The Paramedic Academy is
pleased to announce that Barbara
Hunter and Marika Morissette
are the successful candidates for
the Academy's two new Program
Planner positions.
Barbara Hunter, Supervisor,
Administrative Services for the
Paramedic Academy, and Marika
Morissette from the Fire
Academy, will be starting their
new positions shortly.
Barbara Hunter is excited at
the prospects that the Program
Planner position holds. Her seven
years on staff in the Paramedic
Academy have given her an excellent insight into the position. Her
strong administrative and interBarbara Hunter

personal skills will be challenged
in this new and demanding posi-.
ti on.
The Paramedic Academy anticipates that by placing planners
in the basic and advanced technical program areas, efficiencies
will be created both upwards and
downwards in the organization.
For Barbara, who has mastered
the administrative skill sets, it
presents an opportunity for professional growth and development.
For Marika, who will be missed at
the Fire Academy, it is an opportunity to use more of her formal
education and training.
We wish both program planners success in their new positions.
Ian Dailly is Deputy Director of
the Paramedic Academy. D

MOVING ON:
Making Sense of
Change and Its
Impact on Me
During April and May, Educational Services and Interdisciplinary Studies staff participated in
workshops focusing on the upcoming move to the new facility. The
workshops explored the impact of
change on individuals and the
workplace and provided specific
skills to handle these changes.
Participants worked in small
groups to identify and plan
strategies for a smooth personal
and professional transition to the
relocation of the JI.
Workshop facilitator Marie
MacDonald has conducted
workshops within the college
system and for government
ministries where organizational
changes are occurring or staff are
being.relocated. Her sessions
focus on managing change, transition, and stress; enhancing
creativity; and workplace wellness.
Comments from staff included:
"I'm pleased to see the JI taking a
pro-active approach to this
change. The workshop helps the
process and allows staff to feel involved and more prepared" ... "gav.e
me insight to the move" ..."put a
number of important concepts in
the context of the move and this
helped me to work a little better
with my resistance." D

Save the environment and money too...
by Ann Grant

Here are some small ideas for
saving the environment and
saving money too - it all
adds up:
Is anyone else at the JI using
plastic name card holders for students as we do in the PEP
Academy? If so, you might like to
know how we are cutting down
on cost and waste by reusing
these holders. First, we request

The JI News Vol 61#4

that students return their name
tags at the end of each course.
Then, we remove the name cards
and reuse the holders, inserting
names printed on forms designed,
in-house, by Ross MCintyre. Our
easy-to-use, professional-looking
card features the JI logo and is
printed on ordinary paper with
cutting guidelines. The original
plastic holders and sticky labels
cost 51¢ each; our current system

using a recycled holder and ordinary paper cards costs only a fraction of that.
We not only save money, we
also save the environment by
eliminating the use of sticky
labels with their throw-away
backing paper, and by reusing
the plastic holders with their
metal pins instead of putting
them straight into the landfills.
continued on page 7

5

Corrections Academy training focuses on working
with mentally disordered offenders
by Robert Chong

The following article is
reprinted, with permission, from
Corr Tech Quarterly, the Corrections Branch Technical
Newsletter.
Over the years, we have witnessed a substantial rise in the
number of mentally disordered offenders entering the provincial
correctional system. To assist BC
Corrections personnel, the Corrections Academy has developed
training to respond to the unique
challenges of this offender group.
The first Mentally Disordered
Offender (MDO) course was held
in October of 1990. Since then,
28 courses have been delivered
and approximately 560 staff (both
institutional and community)
have been trained. Courses have

been held both at the JI and in
the regions.
Though institutional and community courses have different
focuses, the MDO training has
been generally aimed at providing
staff with the necessary
knowledge and skills to aid them
in managing disordered offenders.
The institutional courses have
either an adult or youth focus and
comprise three days of training
which looks at a working definition of the MDO, prevalent disorders and identification criteria.
This is followed by sessions on
supervision skills and strategies,
and current interdisciplinary initiatives and programs.
The community course is
aimed at training probation officers to more effectively super-

vise mentally disordered persons
on their caseloads. The three-day
course covers a number of areas:
clinical information, supervision
and case management skills,
relevant legislation, inter-ministerial protocols, and community
resources.
The Academy is actively involved in a partnership with
Forensic Services and the Corrections Branch with the goal of enhancing staff training in the area
of mentally disordered offenders.
The Forensic-Corrections working group is in the process of
reviewing the current training
and will look at ways to improve
the courses.

Robert Chong is an Instructor
in the Corrections Academy. D

• • • Notes & Notices • • •
Summer calendar available
The Interdisciplinary Studies
calendar covering the period
June, July, and August 1994, is
now available. The next calendar,
listing fee-for-service courses offered from September through
December, will be available in
mid-July. For copies ofIDS calendars call 222-7224.

Two universities to jointly
sponsor courses with IDS
As a result of a series of meetings
that started last February, Simon
Fraser University and the University of Victoria will jointly spon.sor courses with Interdisciplinary
Studies this fall. Simon Fraser
University's Harbour Front campus will co-sponsor courses
directed toward the downtown
business community. The three offerings for this fall will focus on
negotiation skills. The University
of Victoria will

6

co-sponsor courses from the IDS
residential care certificate program.

JI "informal advisors" trained
in harassment policy
Staff identified as informal advisors under the Jl's new harassment policy recently received
training on the investigation of

harassment complaints. Course
presenter Marian Exmann
·covered what to expect from an
investigator in a harassment
complaint, the nature of the investigation, and ranges of findings
and remedies. In the event of a
formal complaint at the JI,
Marian Exmann has been identified as a possible external investigator. D

IDS plans two summer institutes
IDS has planned two special
institutes for the summer of
'94. Each consists of a series
of courses.
The Summer Institute for
Youth Studies will include
courses on working with anger and aggression in youth,
assertion skills for youth,
breaking up fights, and preventing peer youth violence.

The Summer Institute
for Educators on Conflict
Resolution will include
courses on managing anger
in educational settings,
enhancing school safety,
implementing a conflict
management program, and
mediating and negotiating
conflict in educational settings. D

TheJINews Vo/6/#4

Fire Commission and Fire Academy
relationship "arm's length"
by Rick Dumala, P. Eng.

People frequently are confused
about the relationship between the
Office of the Fire Commission and
the Fire Academy. In a recent
issue of"lnFireMation," Fire Commissioner Rick Dumala explained
their separate roles. The following article is reprinted, with permission, from "InFireMation."
In my discussions with fire service personnel, I am reminded
that not all people fully understand the relationship between
the Office of the Fire Commissioner and the Fire Academy.
Firstly, the Fire Academy is
not a part of the Office of the Fire
Commissioner. The Fire
Academy is one of several
academies within the Justice Institute of British Columbia which
reports to the.Ministry of Skills,
Training and Labour. The Office
of the Fire Commissioner reports
to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and as such there is an
arm's length relationship between the Fire Academy and my
office. However, our common
goals create a strong bond between the two organizations.
There is also a division of funding responsibilities. The Ministry
of Skills, Training and Labour assumes responsibility for the capital and administrative
expenditures of the Justice Institute (i.e., building construction
and maintenance, library services, media {!entre, etc.). The
clients and students are responsible for covering the operating
costs of the various academies
within the Justice Institute.
The Office of the Fire· Commissioner is a major client of the Fire
Academy. Individual fire departments are also clients. My office,
through an annual contract with
the Justice Institute, funds those
salaries of Fire Academy staff
and associated expenses which
are necessary to deliver the
programs identified in the con-

The JI News Vol 61#4

tract. There also are certain performance expectations set out in
this contract.
The contract identifies the
training needs which have been
communicated to me by the fire
service. The OFC budget is not
sufficient to satisfy all the fire service training needs, therefore it is
incumbent upon me to assign a
priority to the needs, which are
set out in the contract.
For example, in the past fiscal
year I place a high priority on the
development of fire fighter standards and the initiation of field
training programs. In addition, I
instructed the Fire Academy to
maintain its volunteer Certification and Distance Education
programs. These specific assignments were regrettably at the expenses of other programs.
There will never be enough
funds in my office's budget to
satisfy the training needs of the
fire service in this province. Most
fire chiefs recognize this and
either develop their own in-house
training programs using training
materials developed by the Fire
Academy or contract directly with
the Fire Academy or other agencies for speciality programs.
The Fire Academy, as an independent institution, has the
capability to market their services to other clients. They are
free to do so as long as these
other activities do not 1,1ffect the
delivery of the programs that are
identified in the OFC contract.
The Fire Academy's prime roles
is to satisfy the contractual requirements of the Fire Commissioner. The second is to be
entrepreneurial and market their
services to other clients. This
subtle separation of Fire
Academy roles, I believe, is what
causes the confusion with some
people.
There is, however, an understanding between the Fire
continued on page 8

Save the environment. ..
cont'd. from page 5
Students appreciate that we are
environmentally conscious!
Here is another idea which
saves both money and trees. Instead of using address labels
which come ten to a page with a
substantial border of waste around
the edges, how about switching to
Grand & Toy's A45-99086 labels
which have 21 address labels per
sheet. These labels are for plain
bond copiers but work just fine in
laser printers. With a much narrower border, the A-45 labels have
much less waste, and they're far
less expensive.
For even greater savings, if you
are just printing one or two envelopes you could consider using
WP 6.0's very convenient envelope
feature and doing away with using
a label altogether-!
If you have questions about
these money and environment
saving ideas, call Ann Grant at
222-7275.
Ann Grant is the PEP Academy's Green Team Representatiue.
Note: Some of Ann's interest in
office "greening" came from an article she read about a zero waste
pilot project undertaken by Bell
Canada. In just two short years,
Bell reduced the number of bags of
garbage it generated from 75 - 80
to 3 - 3 1/2 per day. For a copy of
the article, call Ann at local 275. LI

Next deadline
for
submissions
to the
JI News
•
IS

June 15,
1994
7

Move Update
by Barry Hawkins

· As Spring has sprung, so has the
new campus which is now rising
before our very eyes. The improving weather conditions have
resulted in good progress since
the last report.

Classroom complex The second floor slab of the
north wing of the classroom complex has been poured and forming
is underway for the second floor
slab of the south wing.
GymnasiumThe concrete walls of the
perimeter of the gym are nearing
completion.
Office blockHalf ofthe ground floor slab of
the office block has been poured.

Other-.
The 8th Avenue entrance area
has been relocated; site services

for water, storm, and sanitary
water are underway; and ducting,
plumbing, and electrical installation have been started in the gym
and classroom basement.
A second project bulletin was·
completed for distribution to the
neighbours to update them on
site progress and what is upcoming.
New Westminster City Council
members, including a number of
newly-elected Councillors, were

given a presentation on the JI
and the new campus.
A Move Committee has been
established and an initial meeting has been held. The Pre-Operations Committee continues with
its work and a monthly staff
bulletin is issued to keep staff informed of progress o:ri developments relating to the new campus.

Campus Point of Interest
All the trees which were
transplanted prior to and during
the initial construction phase
have survived and are in leaf.
Special attention was being paid
to a large maple next to the
North classroom wing which was
relocated in order to clear the
structure.
Barry Hawkins is Project
Manager for the JI's new
facility. LI

Arm's Length. •• cont'd. from page 7
Academy and myself that the
monies that they generate from
other contract work be redirected
into additional fire service training programs.
The Justice Institute does not
enjoy the funding options available to other colleges or institutes
who receive funding from the Ministry of Skills, Training and
Labour through a formula where
only a small portion of the operating expenses are charged to the
client/student. Unlike the other
colleges and institutes, whether it
is OFC contract work or other
client work, the Fire Academy

8

must recover all of its expenses.
There is no other source of government funding to the Fire
Academy.
With respect to next year's
contract with the Fire Academy,
I believe I have a good understanding of our training needs.
However, these needs must be
matched with the funds designated in my budget for the Fire
Academy. The question is, how
can we get the most value from
these limited funds? Every year
the same question is asked.
The answers do not get any
easier. LI

The JI News Vol 61#4