The Ministry of Children and Youth Services asked the public for their opinion on a proposed youth detention facility here at an information session Tuesday night—and got an earful from about 40 residents who don’t want it in their neighbourhood.
The 12-bed facility—dedicated to aboriginal youth aged 12-17—is slated to be built on government-owned property at Eighth Street East and Christie Avenue North, and be operational by March, 2009.
But in addition to submitting a petition against the new facility bearing 250 local residents’ signatures, those speaking at the session voiced a long list of concerns.
One of the most asked questions was “Why here?” when there are other youth facilities that could expanded elsewhere, and many of the youth that will be in custody will have to be brought in from areas north of here.
But John Goch, regional director for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services’ Youth Justice Services, noted the only government-owned site deemed suitable for this type of program was determined to be in Fort Frances—and specifically that north-end property.
This was based on the fact the property is owned by the province, is roughly five acres in size, is close to the town, airport, and hospital, is zoned for the purpose, and had site services such as water, sewer, hydro, and gas available to it.
Other residents were concerned the new facility would lower their property values, and wondered if the province compensate them for that lost value.
Goch replied he was unaware of any property values going down where other similar facilities had been built.
As well, the proposed facility will be built with a “buffer zone” between the actual building and the outer edge of the large lot it sits on. It potentially would be 200 feet back from the road, and “natural barriers” like tress would be likely.
“This is a residential area. Put it where nobody cares where it goes,” said one woman at Tuesday night’s public meeting at the Civic Centre.
Other residents had concerns about safety in their neighbourhoods, but Goch noted the “risk of escape is insubstantial” and that “there’s many layers of security” at the facility.
Youth only can get out into the community as part of a case management plan and with appropriate supervision, or when they’re released and transported back to wherever they’re from.
But Justin Kasper, who works at the Kenora Youth Justice Centre and will be one of the possibly 30 full-time staff who loses their job when that facility is closed, warned the new facility here could see several problems.
“Nowhere along the way have any of our staff been consulted,” he said. “We have no idea how this is gong to be staffed, and to tell you the truth, none of us are going to come here.
“Since the Youth Justice Act came in, these facilities hold the worst of the worst,” Kasper added. “To alleviate some security concerns, they are built secure. The problem you’re going to have is when they leave the facility and go into the community on escorts.
“It’s a huge problem because you don’t have experienced staff,” he warned.
Kasper also said “transportation costs are going to be through the roof.”
“Eighty-five or 90 percent [of the youth] come from northern communities,” he noted. “This program is supposed to keep you close to your families—a lot of family-based rehabilitation.
“Tell that to someone from Cat Lake. This is the worst place to have it, geographically.”
Bob Holmes, who maintains the Eighth Street walking/ski trails with Leon Wells, asked if the facility would interfere with them, to which he was told that would be avoided.
Yet another question was why the facility, which is meant to help aboriginal youth, is not on aboriginal land, such as Couchiching First Nation.
Richard Bruyere, executive director for the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, explained that back in 2001, there was “overwhelming support” for having a large youth facility on Couchiching, adding it was a “surprise” to only recently find out the province would be building one in Fort Frances and not there.
He added the reserve has everything the north-end site does—from sewer and water to policing—and asked why couldn’t the province just lease land to build the youth facility on.
“We still want it out there today,” said Bruyere.
But Goch reiterated that the province has several criteria when determining where to build, and one of them is whether or not Ontario owns the land.
Goch noted the ministry will take the feedback it received at last night’s meeting, as well as that from a meeting they had earlier with local chiefs, and take it all into consideration.
“We’ll take a look at it and decide on our next steps now,” he remarked.
“The good thing about the way we structured the project, and there wasn’t any talk about that today, was the program development for youth.
“That will go on because that can be done apart and separate from any location we do for this building.
“But we’ll try to get back to people about specific questions, like real estate values of their homes and on and on,” Goch pledged. “A couple of them were pretty clear in saying, ‘I don’t care what you do. We don’t want you here.’
“It would be interesting to see how the rest of Fort Frances feels.”
< *c>The benefits
While some local residents made clear their concerns about the youth detention facility, Goch noted the public should keep in mind there’s certainly benefits to having the proposed facility built here.
“All I can do is estimate at this point, but there will be somewhere 15 and 19 full-time jobs and seven to eight part-time jobs,” he remarked. “That would include the youth services officers that work with the kids, cooks, facilitators, administration, and clerical.”
He added the facility would be buying food from the community and requiring maintenance services on an ongoing basis, as well.
And while the construction budget hasn’t been determined yet, it’s possible the town will see economic spin-offs from the actual construction of the facility, whether it’s contractors, materials, or both.
The facility also will provide evidence-based rehabilitative programming to aboriginal youth as part of the Youth Justice Transformation Strategy.
These services will include risk-needs assessment, case management, and reintegration planning.
< *c>The overall plan
Design development already is underway for the facility, with construction drawings and specs to be ready by early fall.
The pre-qualification of contractors also will take place in early fall, with a request for proposals for construction to go out in November.
A contractor will be selected in December, with construction to start in January. The facility should be operational by March 31, 2009.
Running parallel to that will be the process to get a service provider. This will run through the winter, with the selection to take place in February.
Staffing and program development will follow between March, 2008 and March, 2009.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
