COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

8. Systematically investigate and eliminate police practices that profile, target, and criminalize
young people who are poor or experiencing homelessness. Actively support the reduction
and elimination of legislation and policing practices that arbitrarily remove young people
who are homeless from public spaces, issue tickets for loitering or vagrancy, or unlawfully
destroy or remove their private property.
9. Establish accessible court procedures that allow young people debt forgiveness
for ticketing charges.
10. Ensure that mechanisms to lodge complaints against police officers and other actors in the
criminal justice system are highly accessible to youth experiencing homelessness or at risk
of homelessness. Independent, impartial bodies that are sufficiently resourced must oversee
these mechanisms.
Provincial/Territorial Ministries Responsible for Health
1. Prioritize and support systems integration (where appropriate) in all efforts to address
the health and mental health needs of youth at risk of homelessness or experiencing
homelessness. To do so, Ministries must:
a) Invest in the provision of coordinated and integrated mental health and health supports
and services at the community level, as outlined in Mental Health Care for Homeless
Youth: A Proposal for Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Leadership, Coordination, and
Targeted Investment.
b) Work across departments, ministries, and sectors by establishing inter-ministerial
planning tables to coordinate activities within government and hold each ministry
accountable for the roles they play in the health and mental health outcomes of youth
experiencing homelessness. Led by provincial/territorial Ministries of Health, the mandate
of these tables should be to ensure that no young person slips through the cracks.
2. Work with communities to ensure that a harm reduction approach is embedded within
schools and all youth-serving organizations, agencies, programs, and initiatives.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 135