CoSA Defunding

[Erin Green]

Hi, All,

I'm helping support a call against the abrupt defunding of Circles of Support and Accountability by Correctional Services Canada. CoSA is a very inexpensive and highly effective volunteer driven program that drastically reduces sexual reoffending and other reoffending among released sex offenders.

I'd appreciate your support of this initiative through individual action and distribution through your networks as you see fit.

peace,
Erin

www.facebook.com/cosasolidarity
@CoSASolidarity

#CoSASolidarity

The Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) recently informed all 18 Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) projects in Canada that their contracts will be terminated at the end of March 2014. The Correctional Service of Canada says it does not have the $2.2-million budget to support CoSA. We believe the government must provide CSC with the means to support CoSA to offset the threats to public safety and promote restorative justice. Studies repeatedly show the CoSA model to dramatically reduce rates of sexual and other reoffending among participants. It is largely driven by volunteer commitments and costs very little, especially compared to other recent government measures to promote public safety.

We hope you agree that this is an issue of great concern for all Canadians. We need your immediate assistance in bringing public, media, and government attention to the abrupt defunding of CoSA. Please help us through this social media campaign to bring this to the attention of your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Steven Blaney.
Here’s how to help:

1) Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cosasolidarity for links to news items, background information, and connect with other CoSA supporters. Invite your friends. Spread the word.

2) Tweet. Call for a reversal of CoSA’s defunding. Be sure to add a link to our letter
(http://www.ptbochaplaincy.org/cosa-funding) and send your #CoSASolidarity tweet to the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness @MinStevenBlaney. Consider copying your Member of Parliament as well.

3) Tweet again! Think of friends, local agencies, community groups, bloggers, and others who need to know about this drastic defunding of an effective, important, and affordable initiative.

4) Follow @CoSASolidarity on Twitter for latest news and ways you can support CoSA.

5) Email or write your MP and let them know that CoSA matters to you. Use our letter as a template (http://www.ptbochaplaincy.org/cosa-funding). Click here for a list of MP email and mail addresses.

6) Email or write to the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness calling for a reversal of the defunding and renewed commitment to CoSA.

The Honourable Steven Blaney
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0A6
steven...@parl.gc.ca

7) Speak up! Have a pen? A computer? Translate thoughts to words in a well-crafted blog post, letter to the editor, or sermon. Sexual offenders and their re-entry into society affects all our communities. CoSA is a critical part of public safety across Canada and won’t survive past March 2014 without your support.