Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 09/99) - With school out and kids enjoying extra-long days, this is the time many parents start worrying about their children's safety.

In some communities, such as Hay River or Yellowknife, there is the Block Parent program.

"I think teenagers need a program like Block Parents as well as younger kids," said Hay River Block Parent organizer Pat Helmer.

"It's also for seniors."

Helmer said prospective Block Parents go through an RCMP screening test and then are encouraged to put a sign in the window whenever they are available if anyone needs help.

"You don't even need to open your door," Helmer said of a situation where an adult comes in for help at night, for example.

"You don't have to solve people's problems. You just have to phone."

Helmer did not know exactly how many Block Parents were in the community, but NWT Block Parent organizer, Rosalie Power, said in Yellowknife the number is close to 200.

"The organization may not even be national anymore since I don't think there's an active program in Nunavut," Power said in Yellowknife.

Iqaluit's Staff Sgt. Jim MacDougall said he has seen signs and brochures around the office, waiting for people in the community to pick up the proverbial ball and run with it.

MacDougall, who has been in the community about five months after working in Cambridge Bay, said in smaller settlements the program is less needed because people know each other more.

"In really small communities, people know who lives where and what's a safe house to go to or where there's an uncle or an aunt," he said.

"But I can see the program coming here (Iqaluit) in the future for sure. As they build the new subdivisions, we have a lot of new people and families who are not from the community."

MacDougall said the schools do have Operation Identification programs that work well to get children to mark measurements.

He said some teachers ask to have all kids fingerprinted which acts as much as a "show them how it's done type thing" as anything else.

Back in Hay River, Helmer suggests that parents take video clips of their children because a videotape showing how the child walks, talks and gestures could be a better help than a still photograph in case the child goes missing.