Why are we shipping the kids away that need us the most?

Olivia Robinson
Jul 21, 2016
5 min read

After reading the following article. I got very upset and tried to think where the solutions might be. I have been thinking about solutions to this situation for more than 10 years. My thinking has been to no avail, as no one at least, no one here on The Island, or I should say Vancouver Island, are doing anything about it.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/riot-and-fire-at-burnaby-youth-detention-centre

What are we doing?

I am disappointed and ashamed about what the government has allowed this to happen, and regardless that it is an American saying it is the truth. We the people are the government. What the heck is going on?

We have closed the Vancouver Island Youth Detention Centre in Victoria, and minimised services in Prince George.

“Turpel-Lafond said she wasn’t surprised that tension at that centre had boiled over into violence. The problem, she said, is that the province last year shut down the Victoria youth centre, and minimised support services at the youth centre in Prince George, essentially creating one provincial “super-jail” for youth in Burnaby.”

In the closing of the Victoria detention centre we have sent our island youth to the place where the Red Scorpion Gang was formed. This is not a solution, not one I deem acceptable. We are giving hand over fist right now to food banks, and homeless initiatives. I understand this is all necessary, but I ask myself, why are we forgetting about the kids? Strong families are a corner stone in our communities, I do not disagree, but families are just not enough anymore. We have generations of dysfunction eating our society alive.

These kids may not matter to you, but when they return to our communities well fed, tougher and stronger, and more skilled in the ways of gang lifestyle, you will care then. No person, at any age, or with or without skills is disposable. Prevention is the best medicine. Whitney Houston once belted out, “Children are our future.”. As corny as it may sound it is an integral truth to our communities and our world. We need to remember it is not just the children that come from the higher socio-economic groups , it is the poor children, the hungry children, and the children that are displaced within our communities. All of the children matter and they all need to be raised in away that they know they are loved by someone, so that they can believe they can be apart of the solution, leading lives they choose, lives of freedom.

For those of you that do not know my Post Secondary Education is in Recreation Administration, and I was driven to this field, because I wanted to make a difference while teaching others what sustained me through the dark days of my youth. What got me through was play, healthy play. Not drugs or alcohol, but rock climbing, kayaking, being out on the ocean, walking the beach. When I no longer had a community to connect with, I connected with nature. I had planned to work with youth at risk, years ago, but unfortunately life took another turn.

The number of small communities on this island that have mixed race Community Youth Centres for socialisation, skill building and recreation is not what it should be. I know from my research over the last few years that neither Sooke nor Port Alberni have these. I know that Campbell River, Nanaimo and Victoria have youth facilities, in their downtown cores, but what about in the rural areas. Who are drawing out the youth, allowing them to feel a part of, making them understand that just there being alive is contributing, besides the gangs? We need these centres so that we are dealing with prevention rather than trying to put bandaids on very large gushing wounds.

Three weeks ago in Sooke, BC, we had a drug related shooting. This is the community I grew up in. Nestled deep on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Now a bedroom community of Victoria, British Columbia, it was once a community that was made up of Fishermen and loggers. The community at one time had 4000 people and now has over 10,000. We have an encroachment of cultures: loggers, fisherman, office workers, in both public and private sectors. This could be an excellent thing, a blending of cultures, not an encroachment. It is obviously proving to not be. More and more youth are turning to crime, and we as communities are doing nothing to stop it, besides retroactive policing.

The youth might think it is OK. I do not. I remember when I was 14 I thought I could handle anything, I never even thought about living past 30. What youth does, that is wondering where their next meal is coming from? Where they are going to sleep? I had it easier than a lot of displaced youth, but I was displaced, and it was not easy. Those kids are looking at survival.

When they get pregnant at 18, or become fathers at 17, are they concerned about what the world is going to look like for their children in 20, 30 or 40 years? More than likely not. My guess is they are thinking about diapers, and the job they work that pays minimum wage, and how they are going to afford to just put food on their tables.

We as communities need to have stronger and better safety nets. We need to pull the mothers and fathers out of their comfort zones that want more for their children, and let them know that we are all in this together, regardless, of race, education, or socio-economic groups. No parent, I would hope, wants their child to end up in the penal system.

We as adults have a responsibility. For those of us that are “tired of adulting.” (The famous Facebook post I have seen lately.) I ask us, myself included, what the hell are we thinking?

We all need to make some serious changes in our lives, I know I do, and we need to start rolling up our sleeves dedicating our time and our energy to saving our youth, and our communities. If we let our youth, no matter what neighbourhood they come from, slip through the cracks we are only hurting ourselves.

We need to demand that the government starts making safer decisions for our troubled youth. I cannot fathom why the Victoria Detention Centre was closed, but it was. We need to know why?