Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 14/00) - Arlene Hache, executive director of the Yellowknife Women's Centre, announced that she is taking on the position of president of the John Howard Society in February but said many people don't understand why.

She said her position at the society will not hinder her commitment or involvement at the women's centre. As president of the society she is a volunteer whereas at the women's centre her position has been a paid one for the past six years.

"I think people were worried I was leaving," Hache said.

"Being elected to other non-profit organizations is normal, but it did cause some concerns."

Hache has been running the women's centre for 10 years and was one of it's founding members. She has dealt with victims of abuse, sexual crime and people on the receiving end of criminal activities.

Her move to John Howard, which aids in the rehabilitation of criminals, causes people some confusion she says.

"I firmly believe people end up in jail for a variety of reasons," she explained. "My biggest strength is that I know there is hope for everyone. I don't lose hope in people."

Hache is considered an expert in this area. Well before a long and esteemed period with the women's centre she was an experienced survivor of social injustice.

"We were raised in a violent family in which there was sexual abuse and incest," she said.

"So our family was impacted and all of us reacted differently. Some of them have ended up in jail but fortunately have gone on to do incredible things."

Hache has spent most of her life involved in social issues and intends to use her next position to make some very big changes in the area of correction.

She hopes to have the society's annual general meeting held at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre in June so that the inmate population has a voice.

Focus on community

She intends to put some support back into a community restorative justice program, which fell apart in 1998.

"John Howard Society is hiring another person to focus on community justice and an alternative to the courts," she said, adding the courts have "missed the boat" in the area of community protection, punishment and rehabilitation.

"I think society is very quick to blame people without looking at the real things that create their situations," she said.

"Some things they have no control over. If a child is raped at six they have no control over that. As an adult they have control and can't use (their past) as an excuse but it's not as simple as saying you have a choice.

"There's a gap between when they don't have a choice and when they do.

"There's an unconscious belief that people get to choose life," she added.

"In some ways they do and in some ways they don't."