Youth Marginalization in Context

Political trends since the mid-1990s have contributed to conditions of economic vulnerability through a reduction of overall funding for social services, restructuring of social programs, and a downloading process from federal to provincial and municipal governments who are left to pay an increasing portion of the cost of providing social services while having limited means to raise revenue for their growing demand (McKeen and Porter 2003). An erosion of the social safety net, such as highly restrictive qualifications for employment insurance, the shift from welfare to workfare, and a lack of affordable housing and daycare, has thus had disproportionate economic, social and psychological effects on low-income adults and children (Browne 2003). These effects are exacerbated by the interplay of poverty with other social processes, such as racism, to compound problems of exclusion and marginalization.

The retrenchment of funding for social services and the shift toward marketization and privatization in the delivery of remaining services has also severely damaged both the amount and types of arts and recreation programming available. Arts and recreation programs are now often subject to user fees, making them inaccessible to many. A lack of funding has left community recreation infrastructures in serious disrepair, so even when barriers to participation such as user fees or transportation costs are removed, suitable facilities to house the programming are difficult to find (Browne 2003).