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International Student Safety Project

Vancouver hosts over 50,000 international students annually. In Canada, international education is a $4 Billion industry! Many international students are young, speak little English, are away from home for the first time, and are particularly vulnerable as potential targets of crime. The International Student Safety Project, or ISSP, was launched to develop tools to improve student safety.

The SVCPC Executive Director, Ms. Adrien Balazs, is a member of the ISSP Steering Committee, and strongly believes in the benefits and effectiveness of the project. The SVCPC worked collaboratively with the ISSP to produce a set of Student Safety Videos. These videos are the first of their kind! Ms. Balazs wrote the scripts, hired Zeeworks Productions to produce the video, and along with their actors many of our volunteers also enjoyed their acting debuts in the vignettes.

Upon completion of the films the SVCPC granted the ISSP permission to incorporate the videos into the ISSP Orientation Program, which gave the ISSP another powerful tool to present safety tips to students. The SVCPC will be producing an additional Student Safety video in April 2006.

For more information on the International Student Safety Project please click here!

ISSP wins Community Safety and Crime Prevention Award

The International Student Safety Project (ISSP) was recently recognized at the Solicitor General's Community Safety and Crime Prevention Awards Ceremony. The event took place at the 28th Annual conference of the BC Crime Prevention Association held in Richmond BC in September, 2006.

ISSP was honoured to receive this prestigious award. Adrien Balasz and Linda Auzins, representing the Steering Committee were present to accept the award from Solicitor General, John Les. The project received recognition in the Community Group / Organizations category for its commitment and accomplishment in improving safety awareness of the over 50,000 international students in Vancouver. The materials developed by ISSP in its first year include a safety video, user-friendly safety passport, safety wallet card and an informational website. The next phase of the project will see an additional video and an interactive website for students to access resource materials.


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