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LOVE is the acronym for the group Leave Out Violence, started in Montreal 27 years ago when the husband of Twinkle Rudberg was killed by a 14-year-old boy. Rudberg founded the group as a way of channelling her grief, and now the organization of young people touched by violence--either as victims, witnesses or perpetrators--has a presence in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax.

This spring, the group--which uses writing and photojournalism as therapy--started a pilot project of establishing a permanent presence in Montreal schools.

"Wagar High School and Westmount Park Elementary are where we have our first in-school committees, composed of students," says national program director Brenda Zowsky-Proulx. "People have no idea how much children are exposed to violence, even at the grade 6 level." Proulx quotes figures from Statistics Canada which state that charges against male youth for violent crimes have risen 107 per cent, and against female youth by 187 per cent, in the last decade. "And teachers in Montreal have noticed a major increase in bullying at the elementary level--even up to the level of assault," Zowsky-Proulx says. : --John Edmonds

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