Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Canada.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** No Way Home A segment of The Fifth Estate -- Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation CBC News, March 10, 2004 www.covenanthousetoronto.ca/homeless-youth/facts-and-stats [accessed 5 January
2015] ON THE STREET - When youth become homeless, they don’t all automatically end up sleeping on street grates or in doorways. In fact, they end up staying in a variety of places. A 1999 survey found that: · 60% of street youth are staying in one of Toronto’s youth shelters · 25% staying in an apartment (92% were staying with friends and 'couch surfing') · 15% staying on the street of which 4% were living in squats, and 9% in parks, alleys, and doorways. Most experts agree
that homeless shelters are a band-aid solution that offer
little more than a bed and hot meal. SICKNESS AND DEATH - Street youth are
more likely to get sick and even die on the streets. A recent study that
examined the mortality rate among homeless youth was carried out in Montreal
between 1995 and 2000 and looked at 1,013 young people between the ages of 14
and 25. Originally the study was designed to examine rates of HIV and
Hepatitis infection among youth. But the researchers began to realize that
some of their subjects were disappearing. They began checking the coroner’s
records and discovered an alarming rate of deaths - mostly caused by suicide
and drug overdose. By June 2001, 26 of
the 1,013 participants - 22 boys and 4 girls had died, or a mortality rate of
.89% per 100 person years. Note: the total figure is really 29 but three were
not included in the above number because they had not been on the street for
two years or more. The homeless youth mortality rate was 11 times higher than
the rate of the general population of Quebec. Composition of the
Homeless Population Lyne Casavant,
Political and Social Affairs Division, Parliamentary Research Branch, PRB
99-1E, January 1999 www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/prbpubs/prb991-e.htm#COMPOSITION(10)txt [access date
unavailable] publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/modules/prb99-1-homelessness/composition-e.htm [accessed 26
November 2016] YOUTH - Mistreatment is often cited as a factor in youth homelessness. A number of studies have confirmed that many homeless young people have been victims of sexual, physical or psychological abuse. A 1992 study by social service agencies in the Ottawa-Carleton region indicated that 75% of the street children interviewed had left home because of sexual assaults or physical and/or psycho-emotional abuse. Living on the street is no protection, however: although street life is a violent environment for anyone, it is even more violent for homeless young people and women, and is often accompanied by multiple risks. Toronto Squeegee
Kids Dodge The Law For Change Reuters, hpn.asu.edu/archives/Jul98/0015.html [accessed 22 April
2011] Dusty has been
living on the street in downtown ***
ARCHIVES *** Runaways
- Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless Rebeccas Community www.homeless.org.au/runaways.htm [accessed 22 April
2011] Here are the best
phone numbers to call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell
anyone about your call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or
you are in danger. They are open 24
Hours - it doesn't matter what time you call
In Canada, call 1-800-668-6868
How To Get Help - Street Helpline Horizons for Youth www.horizonsforyouth.org/howToGetHelp.php [accessed 22 April 2011] horizonsforyouth.org/howwehelp [accessed 18 January
2022] If you are in
trouble, need a safe place to stay or just want help looking at your options Horizons
for Youth is committed to helping out in anyway we can. Horizons
for Youth: (416) 781-9898 Kids Help Phone: 1 800 668-6868 Kids Help Phone www.kidshelpphone.ca/teens/home/splash.aspx [accessed 22 April
2011] Providing immediate
help and hope that young people need and deserve - 24 hours a day, 365 days a
year. Every day, Kids Help Phone counsellors answer calls and online
questions from across Canada. No matter what the problem or concern, our
counsellors are there to provide immediate and caring support, information
and, if necessary, referral to a local community or social service agency. How can we help
you? Canadian Centre for
Child Protection missingkids.ca/en/how-can-we-help/ [accessed 18 January
2022] MissingKids.ca is
owned and operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. As Canada’s missing children resource centre,
MissingKids.ca offers families support in the search for their missing child
and provides educational resources to help prevent children from going missing.
Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61719.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] CHILDREN
- The
government demonstrated its commitment to children's rights and welfare
through its well-funded systems of public education and medical care.
Education is free through grade 13 and is compulsory nationwide through age
15 or 16, depending on the province. The UN Children's Fund reported that 100
percent of elementary-age children attended school; high school was the
highest level completed by most children. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 October 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/canada2003.html [accessed 27 January
2011] [52] The Committee
notes, however, concerns relating to the vulnerability of street children
and, in particular, Aboriginal children who, in disproportionate numbers, end
up in the sex trade as a means of survival.
The Committee is also concerned about the increase of foreign children
and women trafficked into [54] The Committee regrets
the lack of information on street children in the State party’s report,
although a certain number of children are living in the street. Its concern is accentuated by statistics
from major urban centers indicating that children represent a substantial
portion of [55] The Committee
recommends … Bruce Bell, The
Bulletin - Downtown www.zoominfo.com/p/George-Allan/88221118 [accessed 22 April
2011] After his death in
1901 and as a tribute to George Allan, the City of Toronto changed the name
of the Horticultural Gardens to Allan Gardens and has been known as such ever
since. But perhaps the greatest legacy
of George Allan, besides serving as Toronto’s 11th mayor in 1855, was his benevolence
shown to Toronto’s street children. In
19th-century Toronto it wasn’t uncommon to walk the streets having to step
over the sleeping bodies of abandoned children, some as young as 3 and 4. In 1870 George
Allan donated land he owned on the east side of Fredrick Street just north of
Front (where the present Parcel Bus terminal stands) and built the Newsboys’
Home, an early health care and residential facility for young street children
nicknamed “newsboys” for selling newspapers on street corners. The Newsboy Home was the beginnings of
Toronto the Good and for almost 25 years the home that stood on the northeast
corner of Frederick and Front became a model for future charitable
institutions that would eventually lead to the founding of the Children’s Aid
Society of Toronto in 1891. Mtl. police says gangs
recruiting as young as 10 CTV.ca News Staff,
Jun. 13 2007 senshido.savi.ca/viewtopic.php?p=40637&sid=70779e359b4519e7a9dacd523dd8baed [accessed 8 Aug 2013] www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/street-gangs-seek-younger-recruits-mtl-police-1.663175 [accessed 26
November 2016] Plante said police are
aware of about 20 major street gangs in the city, along with another 30 that
are trying to gain prominence. And
they are trying to expand their numbers by promising kids the same wealth as
rap stars. "They are now
recruiting starting at the age of 10 and 11 years old," said Plante. The 50
gangs are believed to have between 300 and 500 members. Ten of 17 murders
this year were connected to street gangs -- an increase of two from the same
time last year. While 97 per cent of
violent crime in Montreal last year was not associated with gangs, Plante said police are still focusing mainly on gang
members. Ex–street kids
thrive in doc Pieta Woolley,
straight.com, April 27, 2006 www.straight.com/article/ex-street-kids-thrive-in-doc-0 [accessed 22 April
2011] In an interview in Metamorphosis,
Dans La Rue - An
Organization Serving Youth on the Street – BUNKER 514-524-0029 [accessed 22 April
2011] Thousands of young
people in Construction begins
on new youth shelter Canadian Children's
Rights www.canadiancrc.com/Newspaper_Articles/CNW_New_Youth_Shelter_03JUL03.aspx [accessed 22 April
2011] Construction of
this shelter demonstrates the Government of Canada's commitment to providing
housing for at-risk and homeless youth.
This new shelter will not only provide a safe, stable Tough Kids and
Substance Abuse www.peacefactory.com/tough_kids/about.htm [accessed 22 April
2011] Heavily involved in
the street culture of Success Stories Eva's Initiatives At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 22 April
2011] [scroll down] FAMILY RECONNECT
HELPS A YOUTH RETURN HOME - A 16-year-old woman arrived at Family Reconnect with
her parents; she had been on the streets for months, having left home at 15
….. A 20-year-old female arrived at Eva’s Place in early December after
arriving in Canada as a refugee only 2 days earlier ….. When Matt first came
to Eva's Satellite he was an alcoholic and heavy substance user with medical
and mental health issues. He'd been to many of Toronto's youth shelters and
been asked to leave some of them because of violent behavior. A Web Site for and
about Street Youth The Rideau Street
Youth Enterprises (RSYE) Web site project At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 22 April
2011] The Rideau Street
Youth Enterprises (RSYE) Web site project profiles street youth in All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - |
