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Working Document
YOUTH LAW-RELATED EDUCATION SURVEY
Legal Services Society of British Columbia
Sadie Kuehn, Ruth Yates, France Mainville, Genevieve Fortin
Report #3
The Youth Justice Education Partnership
Research Series
August, 1995
UNEDITED
The present study was funded by the Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice Canada. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Justice Canada.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This national inventory of law-related educational resources with its description and evaluation
of programs and services designed to help young people understand their legal rights and
responsibilities was contracted by the Department of Justice to the Legal Services Society of
British Columbia. It was conducted from August, 1994 to March 1995.
Objectives
The goal of the project was to conduct a national survey to determine how young Canadians are
being informed about their legal rights and responsibilities; which provincial governmental
ministries assumed responsibility for law-related education (LRE); and, how this mandate is
carried out in each province and territory.
Methodology
It was determined that there were three ministries or departments in each province or territory
that would have some responsibility for providing information about the law and legal system to
young Canadians. Departments of education, social services and justice were contacted, and
referrals to individuals within each of the departments whose responsibilities included the
production and dissemination of legal information were made. These individuals provided
references to organizations or agencies within their jurisdiction that delivered legal and law-related
educational services. Contacts were asked to describe the services provided by their
organization, indicating their target group and overall objectives. They were asked for samples
of materials and resources which they produced or used in fulfilling their mandates. Resources
and materials were included in an inventory with other available documents, published works,
videos and supplementary resources. The inventory is limited to publications developed since
1988 and the program descriptions to those that are currently in operation.
For the purposes of this study, young Canadians were divided into three categories determined by
the kind of legal information that seems most appropriate to their needs. They are: youth in
school; youth at risk; and, youth in custody. The first group are primarily served by provincial
and territorial ministries of education, school district boards and administrators, and classroom
teachers. The second group are most often youth in foster care or young people whose actions
have brought them to the attention of social service agents or the police. The needs of this group
are primarily served by provincial and territorial ministries of social service and their agencies.
A number of private service agencies also intervene on behalf of high need youth. The third
group includes those who have been charged or convicted under the Young Offenders Act, are in
custody, diversion or transition programs. In most provinces, this group comes under the
jurisdiction of ministries of justice and their agents. Throughout Canada legal information and
service providers have also addressed the need to inform and assist young people with regard to
the law. An effort has been made to present the information collected about current resources
and programs according to these groupings. Because there are great differences in the way each
province and territory deals with law-related education and the production of law-related resources for youth, a comparative evaluation of the most effective programs is included. Each
section of the evaluation concludes with some suggestions as to what might be done to improve
the production and dissemination of information about legal rights and responsibilities to young
people.
Organization
The first section includes a brief look at the history of law-related education and some of the
literature that has influenced its development in Canada. The second section is a description of
the programs offered in each Province and Territory, beginning in Eastern Canada and moving
west. Divided into ministries of education, social services and justice for each jurisdiction, this
section lists the name, position and telephone number of each person contacted and briefly
describes the program or services with which they are associated and the group their program is
designed to serve.
The third section is an inventory of the materials published by each ministry or agency which
inform or instruct young people directly or are designed for educators and service providers who
work with youth. Within each province, the documents are categorized according to the
governmental ministry, department and agencies which produced the resource. The inventory
provides the title and author, when written by a specific individual, the date of publication, and
the kind of material. This is followed by a brief description of its content and for whom it is
intended. Key symbols indicate when more information about the agency or resource is included
in Sections 2.0 and/or 4.0. The Province of Quebec is treated separately in the document. Data
was collected and prepared by France Mainville and are incorporated at the end of the third
section. Resource documents produced in Quebec describe specific programs and so each
reference to a document also includes a description of the program it supports as well as a list of
the people contacted.
The final section of the report is a comparative evaluation of the most effective programs in
place, and is organized according to the areas and categories set out in Sections 2.0 and 3.0.
There are great variations in the organization and approach to law-related education in each
province and the evaluation highlights the best programs in each of the three categories.
Following descriptions of exemplary programs and resources, recommendations are offered
which are based on comments from contacts, responses from the Youth Justice Education
Partnership (YJEP) Committee and findings of the present researchers which people working in
the field may want to consider.
The appendix includes samples of survey questionnaires, a list of people contacted along with
their addresses and telephone numbers and a list of reference literature.
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