Chaos Project

Quote from: Toronto NewsFollowing his death in 2005 at the relatively young age of 42, Jonathan Enchin's family created a foundation in his memory: the Jonathan Enchin Community Fund (JECF). As Jonathan was an active and giving member in his community, particularly towards the elderly, the funds are directed at low-income Jewish seniors. Since July 2008, the Kehilla Residential Programme (a non-profit housing agency in Toronto and the GTA) has been overseeing a JECF program to assist Jewish seniors by giving them financial relief and by helping to foster their self-worth. The generous donation of JECF is matched with funds from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, providing a monthly stipend to over two dozen seniors for three years. 

Quote from: Toronto NewsFor Kids' Sake:

Ex-Police Officer Heads Alliance to
Combat Child Exploitation

The internet's dark side holds a lot of young victims. But the criminals who abuse them in that shadowy online world now face the force of KINSA. The Kids' Internet Safety Alliance is a proactive and aggressive response of technology, training, and education to the problem of child exploitation worldwide.

Paul Gillespie, a former police officer who founded KINSA with IT-industry giant Bill Hutchinson in 2004, says, "Our job is to identify and rescue kids, and help them heal. The good side of technology is that it now allows us to quantify the problem and to look at crime scene photos online."

In 2003, when Paul was working frontline on the Toronto Police Service's Child Exploitation Section, he contacted Microsoft founder Bill Gates: "Can you help?" The result, with $15 million worth of Microsoft technology and experts and help from 100 law enforcement officials from around the world, was the Child Exploitation Tracking System, CETS.

This intelligence database allows law enforcement agencies to globally work together on child exploitation issues. It's considered the most advanced investigative tool available.

CETS is used by over 40 different agencies in Canada and in Indonesia, Italy, The United Kingdom, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Poland, Romania, and Australia. KINSA also partners with the RCMP to coordinate and deliver cyber training to officers from developing nations.

CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) techniques can help identify a photograph scene from flowers, a light socket, a couch covering, the badge on a child's school uniform. As of just over a month ago, 943 children had been identified out of approximately 50,000 on the internet.

"Helping even with a tiny piece of a major investigation can bring great satisfaction," says Paul. "And we all share in each other's success."

A team in Germany uses technology to "unswirl" a picture of a child abuse scene. Brazilian police are instrumental in the arrest of a New Brunswick man with up to 30 charges of child victims. "It would not have been solved had that officer in Brazil not come here for KINSA training, and to be given some of these new tools. That's very satisfying."

Paul has spoken about CETS in 24 countries. He has unlimited access to tech help worldwide, and to responsive leaders within Microsoft. "I hope more big business will see the success of the system, and how they can make a difference to help kids."

KINSA works with facilities like The Hospital for Sick Children in research and care for child exploitation and abuse. An offshoot association, MOM, Mothers Online Movement, helps raise funds and awareness.

Teaching how to use the internet in good and productive ways also is important. Paul does hundreds of community presentations, and KINSA offers Virtually Safe videos and "Surf Smart" principles. A cyber-safety comic book developed with Nelvana/Corus Entertainment Inc. using characters from animated YTV show Grossology has gone to almost 400,000 students.

"Trying to scare kids or tell them horror stories never works. They just need to be aware that if they're putting that much info out there in a public space, they might have a problem. Internet safety needs to be built into the curriculum."
Paul says it can be difficult to leave behind his child-exploitation investigative work at the end of the day. "But I'm very lucky to be able to continue in the area of work I'm passionate about. The need will always be there, and I'll be doing this for a long time."

Quote from: Toronto NewsBorn and raised in Northern Ontario, the lives and well-being of the communities in the remote towns of Northern Ontario have always been close to Micheal Hardy's heart. Having seen the struggles and poverty that many First Nations' communities have endured, it is with great desire and will that Hardy strives to change the future of the children living in these communities.


Micheal has been active in associations that focus on the well-being of the poverty-stricken children in Northern Ontario for a number of years. Micheal's roots began as Executive Director for the Children's Aid in Northern Ontario; it was here that he began looking at the issues of child poverty in the North, and the shockingly high numbers of child deaths. Micheal knew that the North needed help, and even more, Micheal knew that the rest of the province understood very little of the harsh realities of the North, and thus did not help to the extent needed.

In an attempt to draw awareness to these areas, Micheal, along with participants from the North and the South, developed what is today known as the North-South Partnership. This association, which began as Friends of Tikinagan, originated five years ago, and provided charitable work to the communities of Northern Ontario. The main goal of this project was to expose the harsh realities of the North to those in Southern Ontario. "This was finally a connection with person to person," Hardy describes. "Until then, the South didn't know about the conditions of the First Nations in the North."

As Friends of Tikinagan began to grow, Micheal and a group of other individuals began to discuss a new vision. "We needed to create something to help the kids who are struggling," Micheal explains. "There was never a vehicle for people in the South (as a charity) to deal with First Nations issues in the North." The North-South Partnership creates a new vision in Ontario by focusing on giving a future to all children in Ontario.

Thus far, the North-South Partnership has helped over 30 communities in the North by heading up housing projects and overseeing food and clothing drives, ensuring that they are collected and delivered to the appropriate places. "You see, it is difficult to deliver to places with no roads," explains Micheal. In addition to this, the North-South Partnership has been hosted by schools and universities in the South, creating community independence summer camps, all in an attempt to change the public opinion of First Nations. "There may be lots of obstacles and barriers to overcome, but we will try to make the change," Micheal says. "There is always the possibility for change."

In fact, Micheal believes so much in this project that he relocated his home from Northern Ontario to establish himself in Toronto, because, as he explains, "In order to make an impact, operations needed to be out of the South." Micheal is passionate about making a difference in the lives of First Nations children, and the way Ontarians view the province as a whole. By acting as a core contributor to the association, Micheal is creating a difference in the lives of people who otherwise would have no voice. His vision is to give all First Nations children of the North a future; with his hard work and strong will, this vision will one day become a reality.