COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

Finally, youth homelessness prevention must go hand-in-hand with the realization of human
rights for all children across Canada, as outlined in the report Youth Rights, Right Now. All young
people have the human right to housing, education, health, food, and an adequate standard
of living as outlined in a number of international treatises Canada is signatory to, including the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Further, as ratified in the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous youth
additionally have the right to practice their cultures and customs and “freely determine their
political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.”
By almost any measure, youth
homelessness in Canada is a
violation of human rights and the
rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Recognized as such, we must be bold in our efforts to rectify
this injustice. Adopting a vision for youth homelessness
prevention, grounded in the lived realities of young people, is
a crucial step in this journey.
“I feel the programs
and strategies
should be developed
for different groups
of youth, but it
should be assessed
per community, and
the community’s
needs of those
youth. Because not
every community is
going to have the
same population of
youth who are going
to need to access
services more than
others.”
KAMLOOPS YOUTH
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 23