Youths With Little To Do Turn To Crime

Too many inner city youth have nothing to do, and don’t have available opportunities for activities – there needs to be more opportunities for kids to stay busy. Adolescents start to look for entertainment in their neighborhoods, and bored teens are conscious of the state of their surroundings. Often adolescents vandalize already broken windows and spray painted walls. These petty deviant acts can escalate into more serious crimes, and even result in street gang activity.

The youth crime rate has been increasing across Canada: in 2006 the national crime rate increased 3% to 6885 per 100,000 youth changes between the ages of 12-17. Saskatchewan’s crime rate increased 7% to 19,939 per 100,000, which is significant because Saskatchewan has the highest crime rate followed by Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Fact sheet, Crime Statistics in Canada 2006 (1).

There are many reasons why inner city youth become bored and it has a lot to do with the lack of options in their neighborhoods. They resort to deviant acts, substance use and gang activity because it surrounds them in their neighborhoods. There needs to be action to identify more off-the-street activities for inner city neighborhood youth. The number of sports and recreational centers in the inner city neighborhoods is lower then the overall number throughout the city.

The centres which do exist do not offer enough programs and many of these facilities are isolated, disconnecting youths from facilities Final Report Public Use Facilities Study Executive Summary (2). Many families can’t afford to pay for sports team enrollment fees or even basic sports equipment because they live in poverty. The number of family households who live in poverty in inner city neighborhoods is approximately half Institute of Urban studies; Winnipeg’s Inner City in 2001 (3), which doesn’t allow many parents the opportunity to register their children in sports teams.

Community centres with drop-in programs would help adolescents who do not have proper funds for sports team enrollment. A non-profit organization called the Urban Native Youth Association, (UNAY), has been offering programs for Native youth in Eastside Vancouver since 1989. There is a growing number of youth leaving the reserves for the city. A large number of First Nations youth end up on the streets with little to no knowledge of where to go. One of the programs offered at the drop-in centre is the Aboriginal Youth First Sports & Recreation Program for youth between 15-24 years old. The goal of the sports program is to create leadership training, skills training and basic life skills Urban Native Aboriginal Centre (4).

There is a special focus on encouraging youth who are not currently involved in sports or recreational activities. The Aboriginal Youth First Sports & Recreation Program is a three-year pilot project partnerships with The department of Canadian Heritage, ministry of Small business and Economic development, Western Economic Diversification, Aboriginal Community Career & Employment Services Society, Community Mobilization Program, Heath Canada and working with the Provincial and Federal governments. This project has helped many Native Youth in Vancouver’s Eastside by giving them opportunities to build leadership and basic life skills.
UNYA News: 15 year Anniversary Edition (5).

There are similar demographic similarities between Eastside Vancouver and the North End district of Winnipeg. Nadinawe, a community centre on Selkirk Avenue in Winnipeg’s North End district offers local youth an opportunity to engage in off-the-streets activities. The Winnipeg Community Centre offers many programs similar with UNYA in Vancouver, but does not offer many sports and recreational programs. The community could benefit if Nadinawe offered more sports youth programs for local kids in the community, which could give local youth leadership and basic life skills. If youth had better access to facilities like the Urban Native Youth Association and more programs which did not require enrollment fees, fewer youth would be bored in inner-city neighborhoods and resort to crime.
By Matt K

Sources:
(1) “Fact sheet, Crime Statistics in Canada 2006”, http://www.justice.gov.sk.ca.crimestats2006factsheet.pdf Accessed February 19, 2008

(2) “Final Report Public Use Facilities Study Executive Summary” 2004,
http://winnipeg.ca/interhom/pdfs/PUFS/PUFSEXECSUMMARY.pdf Accessed January 28, 2008

(3) Carter, Tom. “Winnipeg’s Inner City in 2001; Research Highlight No 1”, 2003, http://ius.uwinnipeg.ca/CRC/RH-01.pdf Accessed January 27, 2008

(4) “Urban Native Aboriginal Centre” 2008, http://www.unya.bc.ca/index.htm
Accessed February 19, 2008

(5) “UNYA News: 15 year Anniversary Edition” 2008 http://www.unya.ca/15th_Anniversary_Edition_July_2004.pdf Accessed February 19, 2008