“Pack up. You are leaving” I can imagine , says the man from the government to the First Nation youth. Shackled and put on a plane or seated in a van by 5pm they were gone. It sounds familiar because it is.
On The Closing Of Youth Custody Facilities In Ontarios North
Thank you for all you taught me.
I will never forget you.
I love you
That’s what the note said, written by a 14 year old First Nation girl, found by a staff at one of the youth custody facilities in Ontario’s North shuttered by the Ontario government in a decision and implementation strategy akin to some sort of clandestine attack. The letter found on her empty bed as she was flying to parts unknown never having the chance to say farewell.
On March 2, 2021 the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services pulled the trigger on a decision to close 26 Youth Justice Custody facilities across Ontario. The Ministry made the decision due to “chronic” numbers of empty beds in the youth custody system.
With a nod to the Auditor General of Ontario, the government in lock step, saw the empty beds as a financial opportunity. I can hear the Cabinet considering the issue. “What are we going to do?” states the Minister. “Lets just close the places we can. How much will that save?” asks the Premier. “Get er done” he states when he hears the answer. On they go to a discussion considering beer sales at the 7 Eleven. I know its almost as if I were there.
I did not have to be at the meeting to know that the 14 year old child who wrote the letter was never considered. In fact ,First Nation children taken away into the child protection system and “placed” far from home in our North living in group homes in Southern Ontario were never considered. First Nation children from Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Treaty 3 Territory battling mental health challenges, battling the demons of suicide, seeking “treatment” in secure and open settings across the Golden Horseshoe were never considered. Adults and seniors struggling to cope with the scourge of the legacy of residential schools were not given nary a thought.
Imagine if they were. The opportunity to save dollars might have been seen then as an opportunity to support people – children. It might have been seen as an opportunity to do the right thing. Perhaps with some creativity, in partnership with First Nations people themselves, we could have used the opportunity to find ways to repurpose the facilities and “beds” to support First Nation children in care, in treatment centres, in secure treatment to live so much closer to their communities and families in a manner that is culturally appropriate and healing. We could have worked with our First Nation partners to support and house those children requiring custody in the North. Imagine that.
To further the outrage of the callous shortsightedness of the decision the government had to assert its power over. Ministry “people” were sent to the facilities to tell the affected organizations about the decision. They arrived in the morning. !0:30am or so across the Province. They informed management and cautioned them not to tell the staff or young people what was about to take place. At 4pm that day staff and youth were told. “Pack up. You are leaving” I can imagine , says the man from the government to the First Nation youth. Shackled and put on a plane or seated in a van by 5pm they were gone. It sounds familiar because it is.
The Ministry has said in the past “… we have process in place for transfers that tracks and strengthens collaboration for decisions about placing and transferring young persons… and we followed our processes…”. I would hazard a guess that Purolator has a similar policy. Children are not packages.
The Ministry operates all its youth justice services under a “relationship custody framework”. I checked the Ministry web site to be sure nothing has changed. Its there,
“the Ministry is committed to the use of a relationship custody approach, directed at fostering respectful, caring relationships between staff and young people and enabling staff to provide effective, evidence based interventions to benefit youth”
I have been to the youth custody facilities now closed in the North. I witnessed their efforts to put relationship custody into practice. They worked hard to build trust, to respect and understand the young people who came to them. They used the relationships that were built to support the young person with them to work towards overcoming the struggles they faced. The provided the young person with the space to use the moment of custody as a chance to turn help turn their lives around.
In 60 minutes the Ministry put those relationships to rest.
What is that 14 year old girl once more ripped from a home supposed to think.? On that plane ride as she silently wipes away her tears of frustration, anger, fear, loneliness, pain, seriously what is she to think? Treated like a piece of furniture. Treated like an object not a person.
Damn, It does not have to be this way. Over and over this government simply hammers away in its decisions and in the way it carries them out.
I often use a thought gifted to me by a young person. “We can not legislate love its true. But we can legislate the conditions in which love can flourish”. I am asked just as often what does that mean. This is an example. Things need to change.