Latest Updates

About Youth Justice

Youth Criminal Justice Act

Research and Analysis

Funding Youth Justice

Partnership, Innovation and Awards

Information for the Public

For the media

Youth Justice Home

Partnership, Innovation and Awards > Roundtable Discussions > Arts and Recreation Sector Round Table On Youth Justice Renewal

Arts and Recreation Sector
Round Table On Youth Justice Renewal
13 December 1999

Summary of Discussion

Introduction

The Youth Justice Renewal Initiative stresses the importance of developing partnerships to deal effectively with offending youth and youth at-risk in their communities. The Arts and Recreation Sector Round Table held December 13^th, 1999, was the third in a series of round table discussions being held over the course of the fall 1999 and winter 2000. The aim of the round tables is to provide a forum for experts in the fields of education, social services, arts and recreation, child advocacy and mental health, to explore their role in preventing youth crime, dealing with youth who have committed offences and facilitating the reintegration and rehabilitation of young offenders.

Note: The following summary reflects the views expressed by participants at the Round Table, and will be considered by the Department of Justice in the implementation of the Youth Justice Renewal Initiative.

Note: For a list of the Round Table participants, see attached table.

1.  The Role of Arts and Recreation in Crime Prevention

The principal benefits of arts and recreation programs on young people include:

1. Better use of free time;
2. Acquisition of skills and raising of self-esteem;
3. Contact with positive role models (these programs afford children a full social contact with pro-social peers); and
4. Opening of pathways for kids to make a contribution (they can teach, coach, make pocket money...).

Youth engaging in arts and recreation programs often produce amazing results. But more than that, arts and recreation programs provide nurturing and connections with the community; they engage kids in positive activities, and get them out in the community doing creative and positive things. In many instances, good results can only be achieved through a collaborative process, and kids learn to work together. The arts / sports / recreation groups allow youth-at-risk to re-connect and hang out with other kids, allow them to make different choices about their lives. Being in an activity that they are passionate about takes them beyond family, outside of the peer group where people are making questionable choices, and outside the school where the experience is often negative. The arts and recreation group is usually non-labelling and provides a low-key approach to integration.

For programs to work, they must be established right from the start as community-based programs, bringing to a single table everyone in the community who has an interest in youth and wants an opportunity to contribute. Programs work best if they remain in the community, with leaders from the community. Programs must not be top-down. Even when the objectives of a program are national, the outcomes must be established or designed to enable communities to take leadership. And within the activity itself, youth must be allowed to have a say, to influence decisions about how the program will work, assume part of the leadership when they can.

Another element that contributes to the success of many arts and recreation programs is that these activities are not led by ‘social workers’. Often, artists, musicians or athletes are involved as coaches/mentors/teachers, providing kids with concrete and successful learning experiences. These experiences allow the kids to express themselves, to feel better about themselves and their own skills, to work in a team in order to accomplish something special, to recognize that they can learn. The artists and athletes often have a greater impact on youth because of their knowledge of, and passion for, the activity and because they are not there to ‘rehabilitate’ but to share their passion. This connection is often what heals as it encourages kids to be the ‘best they can be’.

2.  Dealing with Offending Behaviour in the Community

The 90s have been a period of downsizing and rationalizing at all government levels. Financial support to public arts and recreation programs has decreased during that period. The effect has been an increase in costs for almost all arts and recreation services. Recreation associations spend a lot of their time fund-raising, and still have to raise their fees to deliver programs. High fees reduce the number of kids that can take part in those programs and, ultimately, benefit from them..

At the same time, volunteerism is on the way down in Canada. Volunteers have also been affected by downsizing, by changes in the economy, and have to do more with less both at home and at work. Consequently, they have less time and energy to volunteer for sports or the arts. In addition, in the arts community, for example, people will put their heart and soul into a project, perhaps even burn out, but still not get great results because funding is simply insufficient.

One way to help the situation is to explore how more money could be made available to these programs. It is important to be explicit about the long-term advantages of arts and recreation programs. The challenge is to find a way to capture the attention of the public and the politicians, and to situate sports and the arts in a way that everybody can understand and value.

Another way is to establish partnerships. While a co-ordinated approach is required among federal departments, it is provincial and territorial governments that are critical to the delivery of health and education and who are the masters of municipal governments. It is also important to have non-government people at the table, especially from the voluntary sector. Participants advocated a partnership involving the corporate sector, government and volunteer sectors and individual citizens to ensure programs that are inclusive and equitable.

A third way is to return to the roots of public recreation. Originally these programs were not intended to target middle and upper income kids; they were aimed at providing opportunities for poorer kids. There are very successful models in place such as the Kids Sports Fund in Nova Scotia and the Pro-Kids Program in Ontario. The active involvement of the municipalities is critical to the success of all such programs.

Underfunding of arts, sports and recreation programs is a critical issue across the country. Funding must be made available, and must be sustained over a period of time. Associations would rather work freely, constructively and pro-actively with a larger grant for 5 or 8 years instead of reactively, with smaller annual grants that are not assured year to year.

Universality is a belief and value that must be adhered to. Universality involves:

• Equal access;
• Equal participation; and
• Equitable outcomes, whether the participant rich or poor, boy or girl, immigrant or non-immigrant, young offender or not.
• Universality limits labelling or stigmatization, allows all kids to become involved and lays the groundwork for more targetted programs, which may be implemented later.

The major disadvantage to universal programs is that they appear to work best for kids that have everything going for them. Middle and upper-middle class kids get the arts and sports programs, but high-risk kids don’t. That means that once you get the universal programs in place, it is very important to find ways of involving the high-risk kids. One way is to actively pursue the high-risk kids – go where they are.

Among the points made by participants about successful arts and recreation program for at-risk youth included the importance of:

• reaching kids when they are as young as 3, 4, 5 years old;
• consulting youth on the kinds of programs they want, involving youth in the decisions about programs and trusting them to lead, direct, be responsible for some of the activities;
• identifying the interests of the child and matching them with an appropriate activity;
• timelines; it takes time to reach youth, have an impact on them and create good mentoring situations. We have to see things in a long-term perspective;
• reaching some at-risk kids through their peers;
• providing an avenue for expression and a safe space for kids who have had bad experiences in their family, schools, and social milieu;
• collaboration among different sectors of the community;
• gaining commitment for programs, not only from governments and the community but also from the youth;
• leadership in programs for youth. Without the proper kind of leadership, the quality of the programs becomes doubtful and the programs in turn become a hit-and-miss experience, where some kids may benefit and some may not;
• looking at crime prevention as a community responsibility, not a policing issue, and at arts, sports and recreation program as excellent avenues for encouraging kids away from other less desirable activities; and, finally,
• the fragility of the relationship between adults and at-risk kids. We have to talk to them in a way they understand and can relate to, so that they are receptive. We have to hear them, not pretend to hear them.

Arts and recreation programs in aboriginal communities pose a particular challenge. Many aboriginal communities have no recreation programs, no facilities, no trained staff, no budget, no critical mass in terms of population, and, in the case of many sports, no venues for competition. It is also often difficult to find people who are able to offer the programs in a culturally relevant way. Role models are often not there for aboriginal young people. There is only now the beginning of a process of recognizing and developing leaders and role models. There is a need to develop coaches within communities who can offer the programs in an aboriginal culturally-specific way. There is a need to develop sports forums where aboriginal athletes can meet with others in tournaments which can involve the aboriginal communities, such as the recently developed North American Indigenous Games, or the Arctic Games.

The importance of play, sports and arts on the growth of the imagination is often perceived as a soft issue by governments as opposed to rights and Justice issues for example, which are more likely to be seen as hard issues. In sports, arts, culture and leisure activities, the issue is the growth of a child’s imagination and freedom. Universality is part of an obligation that we all have to provide children with as many choices as possible in their life.

3. Working as Partners with the Youth Justice System

There is a real lack of an arts infrastructure on a broad scale that would allow all the kids in the community to access the arts. In many communities you will find a good sports infrastructure (skating rinks, swimming pool, ball diamonds and soccer fields, basketball courts, squash and tennis courts) but almost no facilities for arts, drama, music, pottery etc., or for creative use in general.

If we want creative arts programs to succeed:

1. There has to be a facility;
2. The facility needs to be outside the school system; and
3. The facility has to allow the kids to have some ownership, have a say about things.

The youth need to be using their hands, they need to be part of the process, of the design. There are old buildings that do not cost as much as modern new buildings, and kids love them. When funding is being discussed, it is important to keep reminding the town councils that one dollar spent in a youth program saves $7 down the road.

Although an arts and recreation infrastructure is important, one participant pointed out that we need to be careful about the idea that "if you build it, they will come". Exposing kids to new activities, changing stereotypes and attitudes and values, is a very important aspect of what we need to be concerned about. Lots of times there are things to do in most of the communities. You just have to make it possible for kids to join, and to participate to the best of their abilities.

4. Helping the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Young People into the Community.

Communities need viable tools and knowledgeable, trained people to work with youth coming out of custody. To be effective, change must come from within the community.

During custody, recreation should be viewed as a key part of the rehabilitation process. The leisure program needs to be on an equal footing with all the other programs. We also need to look at what goes on under the domain of recreation in the institutions. It cannot only be weight lifting and boxing and other similar activities. There are wonderful examples from around the world about prison theatre programs, arts programs, writing programs and sports programs that all have tremendous benefits to the incarcerated youth. We need to ensure that a broad range of program opportunities is available, with properly trained leadership and artists. One recommendation would be to set up a mechanism to help promote participation in sports, recreation and the arts during incarceration and to that end, detention centre administrators could think about using municipal facilities during the downtimes (weekday daytime hours. Obviously, there are some issues about staffing and risk management in the municipalities’ perspective, but that can be looked at as part of the process.

During the period of supervision following the release, if there is in fact a role for a community justice committee, it is very important that that group of people be part of the larger fabric of community associations and organizations. Folks that sit on boards and committees need to be from the community. Municipal recreation departments often have leadership skills development programs for youth, as well as life skills training sessions. In the period just preceding release from a custodial situation, there could be partnering between institutions and municipal recreational facilities that offer such courses.

Most participants felt that there are limits to restitution. There are obstacles to consider, such as liability, standards and responsibility for the work. What is crucial, and needs to precede any form of restitution is the education process. It is much more important for the youth to fully realize what harm has been done, to understand how he/she has wronged the community or individuals, and to really accept that this behaviour is unacceptable than actually repairing the damage caused. When it is possible to repair or restore, so much the better, but the understanding is primordial. Restitution programs often work well because of the relationships that are established between the young offenders and their supervisors in the community organizations, ensuring that the work is closely monitored, and that the young person is comfortable with the kind of work required and the expectations of the organization. In that context, community work is a good alternative to incarceration and helps the youth. However, experience has shown that the effectiveness of this approach diminishes with the number of infractions committed by the youth. The more infractions, the poorer the results and the less useful this approach.

There are two important determinants of how the kids will do once they get out of custody. The first one is whether they have acquired competence in academics or in non-schools skills. The second is whether they have one good relationship somewhere in their life. Arts and recreation programs in a rehabilitation context must create space for relationships to be established, for trust to grow, and for creativity to give a new direction to the youth. To help street kids, adults need to have the courage to hear what kids have to say and to help them do what they want to accomplish, and not necessarily what we want them to do.

Of course, arts and recreation activities are not a panacea. But they can help if the following conditions apply:

• the needs of the individuals are understood;
• the program is a good fit;
• the program has good leadership; and
• everything possible is gotten from the program.

Not all artists and coaches have the skills to adequately deal with at-risk youth and kids coming out of custody. Training is important. As well, results may be even more encouraging if other people who have an interest in the child’s life, who understand the needs of this individual (probation officer, youth worker, parent, pro-social friend etc.) accompany him and support him through the program. The reality is that we have a middle class arts and sports system out there that does not work for everybody. Mentoring is critical. In a sport club, senior athletes may work with younger athletes in a rehabilitation situation. That kind of leadership and mentoring has proven effective. It is also useful to find someone (a leader) who has been through the justice system and can relate to those kids.

One participant noted that a recent court judgement is having and adverse impact on organizations that operate with volunteers: the vicarious liability of employers now includes criminal acts, and non-profit organizations are no longer excluded from the vicarious liability provisions. From a legal standpoint, this makes it more difficult to work with young volunteers because the risk management is virtually impossible. It is important to think about the communication /education strategies that flow out of the legislative changes. Municipalities could play an important role as agents or facilitators, locally, working with others.

Specific Responses to Assist Youth and Children with Conduct Problems, and Next Steps

• Use the circus arts in a prevention context and perhaps even in a rehabilitation context.
• Adopt a more holistic approach, from prevention right through to reintegration. We must build in community capacity, make youth feel a part of the community.
• Programs must be grassroots, not only looking at community capacity, but also at community awareness.
• Arts and recreation programs and activities must be adequately funded, and the funding sustained. Collaboration among funding agencies, including governments, is critical.
• The needs of Aboriginal youth must be properly addressed. Greater awareness of the benefits of arts and recreation is an important first step; then, it is important to set up the underlying strategies to develop an arts and recreation infrastructure.
• Set out an inventory of arts and recreation alternatives that are already available and how to access these. Recognize good programs and educate people about these programs because they do work. Be in touch regularly with the expertise in the recreation and arts communities.
• Make the inventory of available resources accessible to youth so that they are able to know where to go if they want help. Most importantly, engage youth in the process. Talk to youth; listen to the voice of youth. Whatever is done, keep youth in mind and make sure that they are involved in the decision-making process.
• From a theatrical perspective, provide a broad enough and deeply funded enough structure so that enough youth leaders can be given the skills to do this work in their own communities. What is needed is sustained funding. Consider that funding should be for a minimum of 5 years to build a solid working project. Look at all the umbrella organizations, at existing networks that can help you do your work with a modicum of additional funding.
• Recognize cultural diversity and respect for differences as a part of prevention. Start at home with the very young.
• Explore further opportunities and continue the dialogue about how we can get together and truly make this work for the youth of Canada.
• Educate families, schools, and others about the benefits of participating in sports, arts, and recreation programs. Push universality.
• Remind all governments how far Canada is from UNESCO’s charter that states that every child has the right to physical education, sport and recreation.
• Encourage multi-sectoral partnerships and make that a criterion for receiving funding for activities in this area.