Evidence of meeting #39 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was shelter.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Lethby, I want to start by saying how much I appreciated meeting you about a week and a half ago, I guess it was, and going to Raft.
For those in the committee, I'll say as a resident of Niagara that Niagara is composed of 12 municipalities. Raft is in the city of St. Catharines.
You have a youth homeless shelter. What is the typical profile of someone who would come to your facility?
Executive Director, RAFT
Typically it would be a young person between the ages of 16 and 24 who is looking for shelter. A large percentage of these young people would have a history of care at some point. Probably about 40% of the young people coming into my shelter have been in the system somehow.
The other side is that addictions and mental health would definitely be factors. Moving out on their own, not knowing how to deal with a landlord or even being able to start the process, and not understanding how to engage the system properly would all be characteristics.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
In a region like Niagara, with so many municipalities, we tend to exist in silos, and we had this discussion. How is it that people from Port Colborne, for example, or Fort Erie or Wainfleet, could actually find their way to your shelter? It's quite a distance.
Executive Director, RAFT
That was one of the things I found back in 2007, when we had those 500 youth coming. We assumed that the majority were from St. Catharines, but when I looked at who was actually coming, I saw that 60% or more were actually from all the communities around St. Catharines.
What we found most troubling at the time was that this group of youth was particularly vulnerable. They were vulnerable not only from their experiences of homelessness but also because we were forcing them to travel to St. Catharines in order to have access to shelter.
At the time, I called it the bus station challenge. Anyone could go to the bus station and watch the out-of-town bus and tell when someone coming off that bus was not from the city. What was happening was that not only did I have no outreach, but drug dealers and pimps did. They would wait at the bus station for those kids to come off a bus. Then they'd bring them in and say, “Do you need a place to stay? Do you want to smoke?” We even had examples of gangs enrolling students in high school in order to bring drugs into that school or to recruit for human trafficking.
That's what happened, and when we started Youth Reconnect, that's why the program was so successful. It's because we were able to keep kids in their community so that they never had to travel to receive service. We didn't force them to become vulnerable in order to access service.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
One of the biggest issues that I have encountered over the years has to do with the right of people to maintain their privacy. Kids who are facing difficulty or who are in a shelter have the right to say that they don't want their parents to be involved. They have the right to deny access.
In communication in your diversion program, you rely heavily on family, on friends, on school. In our situation in Niagara, if somebody is a fair distance away and they say, “I don't want my parents to know where I am,” you don't have the right to make that call. Am I correct?
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
How often have you encountered that, and what are the specific issues and challenges in dealing with that?
Executive Director, RAFT
It definitely is an issue.
One of the first things we ask through shelter diversion is, “Who is your family? Who are your people?” For about 65% of youth, we found that family conflict is largely what's driving youth homelessness. If you ask the youth why they're coming to the shelter, it somehow breaks down ultimately to a conflict with family.
What we also found is that there still is a drive to be attached to family and friends. That's still their community. Sometimes it's a matter of just giving people a bit of time and saying, “You're safe. Regardless of what happens, you're safe.” If it takes a week, maybe then we can re-engage and see if....
Family is much larger than just a couple of people. When we talk about family and friends, we're talking about your entire community. It could be a grandparent, a cousin, an older sibling. When we're asking for permission to speak to family, we're really looking beyond someone you might have an immediate conflict with to a much larger group, especially in rural communities, where families tend to be larger and physically placed.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
I know I have only about 10 seconds left, but I have one question related to access to parents and sharing of information.
Can you recommend a solution to us? What do we need to do to fix that, so that we can get more help and get more of our youth into better facilities?
Executive Director, RAFT
I don't think I have anything to offer on that. I believe in privacy. I think people have a right to privacy. I think it's how we approach the question that is important from the service side.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Davies.
We'll conclude with Mr. Saini.
Mr. Saini, you have five minutes.
Liberal
Gurbux Saini Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses.
It's very heartbreaking to hear the stories, especially living in the country that we live in. It's sad that it happens.
My question is for you, Mr. Lethby.
You said a lot of the people are coming as youth. Is it family breakdown? Is it a cultural issue? What are the issues? What is forcing these kids to be in these situations?
Executive Director, RAFT
It really is legion, the number of issues that kids are facing. As I mentioned, largely, we know that 40% have had experiences in care. If you're going to look at the single largest risk factor someone may have, it would be their history of care—it is definitely one of them.
Then, if you think about it—again, through my social lens—when you're taken into care, especially with protection being so mandated, the system tends to block you from family. Family is seen as the danger that you need to be protected against, although this is changing, definitely, for the kids who are coming through. Prevention is generational. A change made now will take 25 years before we start to see the effect. That would be the number one reason.
At the core of all of it is family.... It could be as simple as someone not following the rules. Maybe they've started not going to school and maybe they've started smoking pot in their room, or it could be all the way up to the most horrific abuses you could possibly imagine. When we talk about family conflict, then, we really do have to look at it from a nuanced perspective to see if it's something most horrific, or maybe there could be a little conversation between the two of them—the parent and the child—to say maybe there are some rules they could follow and sort of work it out.
Liberal
Gurbux Saini Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you.
My next question is for Mr. Donais.
Looking at the data, it shows that a high proportion of homeless youths are from LGB communities. In keeping with your experience, what are some of the unique challenges facing this population?
Founder and Executive Director, Tiny Tiny Homes
I don't have a lot of experience in that field, so I wouldn't be able to talk much about that. I'm sorry.
Liberal
Gurbux Saini Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Do any of the other panellists have any experience in this?
Clinical Director, La Halte du coin
At La Halte du coin, we welcome people from all walks of life. We don't have any expertise in this area, but it's clear that these people face more stigma than our regular clientele. There's a mix of people. We try to provide a space for these individuals, if they wish to use it, but we don't have any expertise in this area. We also don't have many people from that community in our organization.
Liberal
Gurbux Saini Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you.
If the committee were going to make some recommendations, what would be the three things you would want this committee to take to the Government of Canada and say, “We need to help these people, and this is how we can go forward”?
Go ahead, Mr. Lethby.
Executive Director, RAFT
Thank you.
Three things.... First, the critical piece for families in Canada is affordable housing. A housing strategy that doesn't include the largest provider of affordable housing is destined to fail.
Second, we need to start prevention programs. We have researched programs. We have a large body of knowledge now. We need to start actually implementing the programs, with time for research. It needs to continue, but we need to actually start doing it.
Finally, we need to start increasing the productivity in shelters. We need to look at how shelters operate. We need to start seeing reduced lengths of stay and more success with housing. We can no longer allow for an unproductive system.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Saini.
That concludes the first hour of this meeting. We'll suspend momentarily while we transition to the next hour.
Thank you so much to the witnesses who appeared. Your testimony was extremely informative for this study.
We'll suspend for three minutes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Committee members, we are back in session. All our witnesses are virtual for this last hour.
I would just briefly remind those participating online that you have the option to participate in today's meeting in the official language of your choice. Click on the globe icon at the bottom of your screen and choose the language you wish to participate in. If there is an issue, please get my attention. We'll suspend while it's corrected.
As well, please direct all questions through the chair and wait until I recognize you.
We'll begin with up to five-minute opening statements from each member.
We have with us Maxime Rainville, Corporation de développement communautaire de Brome-Missisquoi; Cédric Champagne, Entrée chez soi Brome-Missisquoi; and Sheldon Pollett, Raising the Roof.
We'll begin with Monsieur Rainville for five minutes.
Maxime Rainville Representative, Corporation de développement communautaire de Brome-Missisquoi
Good afternoon.
My name is Maxime Rainville. I represent the Corporation de développement communautaire de Brome‑Missisquoi, or CDCBM. Currently, the corporation is a coalition of multisectoral community organizations with 60 active members. The CDCBM ensures the active participation of the autonomous community action movement in the socio-economic development of its community. In fact, what sets us apart is that we have—