History and Description of VACPC Community and Catchment Area

The Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre (VACPC) was incorporated in 2006 as a non-profit society designed to address safety issues within the surrounding Aboriginal community.

Although we are a city wide service delivery CPC we do specifically focus on the East and DTES of Vancouver. The VACPC is strategically located in the high-density area of Aboriginal people on the east side of Vancouver. This means that we directly serve upwards of 14,000 people in our direct catchment area. More than 50% of the urban Aboriginal population is under the age of 30 years which is why our CPC has a strong youth-component to our programming.

The VACPC offers a safe place in which community members can gather to identify, discuss, learn about and address justice and safety issues in their area of residence.  With a member of the VPD recently assigned to our Centre, it serves as a positive link between the Vancouver Aboriginal community and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), one which engages and supports Aboriginal people to better understand and utilize the services of the VPD, at the same time enhancing the relationship between them.

To ensure the development of an effective range of safety services for Aboriginal residents within the area, VACPC consults with the Vancouver Aboriginal community in all program development. VACPC maintains a wide range of partnerships with Aboriginal community members, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organizations, all levels of government, and others who work in the area of community safety.

The VACPC is located on the main floor of 875 East Hastings Street. Just as VACPC relies on volunteers to act as Board members, it also relies on volunteers to help operate the Centre as well as to carry out programming and related initiatives.  The VACPC Board and staff recognize that:

Volunteering is not new to Aboriginal communities.  Without volunteers our communities could not function.  Our community events, cultural activities, and organizations could not thrive without people volunteering their time and energy to ensure that these important  activities are available to community members.

The VACPC constantly strives to establish and maintain positive communications and cooperation to promote the Centre and the opportunities it can offer within the community.  We welcome the participation of all community members.

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