Release of Adolescent Peer Education Manual by the Provincial Strategy Against Violence

Julie Bettney, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, today released a Peer Education Manual for Adolescents. The manual, entitled What Do You Think?, was developed by the Provincial Strategy Against Violence to help young people educate themselves and their peers about violence. The information package provides basic information, raises questions, and promotes discussion among adolescents on the issues around violence.

"The manual will help young people examine the values, beliefs and attitudes that affect violence in our society," said Minister Bettney. quot;It will also encourage young people to work together in examining their own attitudes and behaviours regarding violence." The manual may be used in many ways. It can be read individually, discussed among friends, or explored by members of a youth organization.

The What Do You Think? Peer Education Manual will be distributed to schools and youth groups throughout the province to help adolescents share information and explore ideas concerning violence in our society.

Minister Bettney noted that the timing of the release of the manual is appropriate in that it acknowledges November 25 as the first day of the "16 days of activism against gender violence." November 25, the International Day to End Violence Against Women, was declared by women in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1981. The day commemorates the death of the Mirabel sisters who were brutally murdered in the Dominican Republic in 1960.

Media contact: Beth Lacey, Provincial Coordinator, Provincial Strategy Against Violence, (709) 729-2987

1998 11 25   10:50 a.m.