In November 2007, provincial and territorial governments, stakeholders, partners and interested Canadians were invited to help identify areas of concern and improvements regarding the provisions and principles of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, in order to guide any future legislative changes.  The findings of this consultative process were tabled before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on Thursday, December 9, 2010. The consultation noted that “the perceived flaws are not in the legislation; the flaws are in the system”.  In many ways what the Report stated was that the YCJA was not fully implemented in most Provinces.

 Why then is the Federal Government embarking on a mission, soon to be completed, to alter the YCJA and fundamentally change the intent of the Act?   Pure and simple; ideology.

 I believe in public safety.  The current legislation allows for custodial sentences when crimes of violence are committed and even the possibility of having young people sentenced as adults.  No change is needed unless of course the goal is to “punish” those young people who commit crimes of any sort rather than hold them accountable for their action.  Soundly, the YCJA has been a tool through which young people can change the course of their lives.  To as one youth put it, “turn their troubles into a blessing”.  We should make greater use of this tool rather than blunt it.

 It needs to be said that Bill C-10 runs the risk of increasing the rate of a different kind of victim; vulnerable minority youth who prematurely receive punitive sentences rather than benefiting from the opportunity to change their lives in a positive way – “rehabilitative measures”. It further stands to fuel an increase in the incarceration of racial minorities who are already over-represented in custodial facilities.

 Aboriginal youth are disproportionately involved with the youth criminal justice system, including incarceration. Greater emphasis on deterrence and denunciation will likely impact Aboriginal youth more than any other group in Canadian society.6

I am not convinced we are doing as much as we can be doing to provide programming either inside custody facilities or out in the communities that affords young people a chance to hope and dream, change the directions of their lives if they are astray. When young people are placed in custody, we need to do something with them.  It is foolish and short sighted to simply warehouse youth in “jails”.  

The police have said that there are not enough resources in Ontario to allow them to adequately fulfill their obligations under the Youth Criminal Justice Act that requires them to consider alternatives to charging young people and bringing them into the system. 

Although I believe the YCJA is a good piece of legislation that appropriately deals with youth crime in the majority of cases, it is not something that can prevent crime. No legislation can.  We need to start looking at our other institutions and what we can do as a society to support the healthy development of our young people.  In Ontario we have a framework for action written by the Honourable Roy McMurtry and Honourable Alvin Curling, The Roots of Violence Report, which sits on the shelf but which we can begin implementing today.

We require a framework through which our Province states the outcomes we wish and expect for all our children and a strategy that tells us how to achieve these outcomes. We must think critically about what we can do to ensure that every young person is able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities they need in order to be successful.  In doing so we will need to make choices, not difficult choices at that.  Should we spend our scarce public funds on a new jail or on children’s mental health services?  Which makes our communities stronger, yes, and safer, in the end?  The answer is obvious.

I know I am not the only person in the province who advocates for children and youth.  There are many other people, in many different professions who advocate and try to make things better for children and young people.  Although there may be areas in which we disagree, I think there are many more in which we can work together.  The Federal and Provincial government can be leading the way.  This would be a far better use of the nation’s resources and energy particularly in these times of economic uncertainty.