Local youth in 亚洲天堂 Lake will now have the option of going to work with the Young Rainbow Warriors Society if they find themselves in trouble with local police.

Youth in 亚洲天堂 Lake that are caught stealing, vandalizing or caught doing any other small crimes will be sent to work with the Young Rainbow Warriors Society, where the hope is they can be taught skills and responsibilities that will help them turn their lives around.

The society has a number of different programs under its umbrella, the giving back to the community program and the permaculture program, amongst them, that it hopes will help youth, that are in trouble with the law, learn responsibility.

There are a number of programs within the society including the giving back to the community program and the permaculture project, which will begin later this month, and archery program, which will begin later this summer, and will help troubled youth with their focus and an aboriginal art program, which will begin later this fall.

The giving back to the community program will work directly with youth, their parents or guardians and the RCMP to help young offenders avoid incarceration.

The goal is to reduce the number of youth, especially aboriginal youth, that are going through the justice system by focusing on the prevention of crime.

The program involves all youth, though, and beginning in late May, the society will meet each Saturday, where youths in the program will spend their time on community clean up projects, helping the elderly with yard maintenance, building furniture from reclaimed wood and helping with the permaculture project.

As well, the archery and wilderness programs, and the aboriginal arts program will be geared towards bring elders and youth together.

The program is not just for troubled youth.

Any person wishing to help out and volunteer with the society is welcomed to join and help the 亚洲天堂 Lake youth, along with learning about permaculture and cordwood building designs techniques.

One of the directors of the Young Rainbow Warriors Society, Dawn Belcourt says that, right now, the system is not helping young people learn from their actions.

"Young offenders that get in trouble with the law, what is happening now is absolutely nothing," Belcourt said, "if they keep stealing and getting into trouble they might get a probation officer. We want to give every young person that gets into trouble with the law, the chance to give back to the community, whether it's because they stole a chocolate bar or a cd, or they spray paint or vandalize, we want to give them the opportunity to learn responsibility and accountability."

Belcourt believes this program will work from first hand experience.

One of her sons when he was younger was frequently in trouble with the law, and it wasn't until he went out and helped in the community did he turn his life around and become a very productive member in the community.

"My son and his friends were allowed to keep going on with bad behaviour and there was no accountability they're getting a message that it's okay to continue on with bad behaviour as kid," Belcourt said, "what we want to do is to help kids be accountable and responsible at a young age because when they turn 18, they're going to have to be, whether they want to or not, or they'll go to jail."

By not only having the young offenders, help with a community service style of giving back, with the yard clean up and community maintenance, the hope is that through the other projects within the society, like the permaculture project or the aboriginal arts program, that young people can get excited and build an interest that will help to keep them focused.

There are many different aspects to the society's permaculture project, including the building of greenhouses and gardens, the planting and upkeep of the plants, the harvesting of the garden and learning to cook the food that is harvested.

Other directors of the Young Rainbow Warriors Society include, Eugene Brown, Robert Charlie, Jennifer Wickham and Howard Vincent.

Donations of the reused timber came from Lake Babine Forest Products, and the society received donations of culvert for the permaculture project from the Regional District, as well as grant money from Comfor, along with countless others.