The Reality

Present Update

“Violent youth crime jumped by five per cent across Canada in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. Eighteen of the youth charged with violent crime that year were in Toronto — nearly a quarter of all accused and up from just three the year before.

The average age of those involved in gun violence in the city has dropped from 25 in recent years to just 20, according to Toronto police.

Youth, lately:

Experts say the COVID-19 pandemic and its cascading catastrophes affected children and teenagers at a critical stage of their emotional and physical development. During the months that schools were closed in Ontario, developing students dealing with big emotions like anxiety, grief, and isolation simultaneously lost access to the stabilizing influence of the classroom and to community programs.

Without real-life safe spaces, young people turned to their phones and social media — where conflict, intimidation, and bullying run rife.

Children and teenagers who are repeatedly exposed to intense stress experience developmental trauma, according to forensic psychologist Dr. Dilys Haner. Those who can’t access support can get stuck in a fight-or-flight state, which leads to trouble responding appropriately to threats — like the expectations, pressure, and conflict teenagers face at their age.

“Some youth … have found themselves in situations that they couldn’t handle that then escalated, and they struggled to problem-solve to get themselves out of that,” said Haner, who works with youth offenders as part of her practice. “I’ve had youth who told me they were shocked at what they had done afterwards.”

The pandemic also exposed and worsened long-standing health inequities that research has shown to disproportionately affect racialized people — particularly Black and Indigenous communities, where social services, housing, and access to amenities were already lacking.

“Youth are keenly aware and families and communities are keenly aware that that plays a significant, significant impact on the rise and flux of gun violence [and] homicides that we’re seeing throughout the GTA,” said Tanya Sharpe, founder of the Centre for Research and Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (CRIB). “If you don’t have a place to go to talk about alternative ways to deal with the grief, have space that’s held for you that’s culturally responsive.… You sort of get the message or the memo that, ‘My life doesn’t matter, as well.'” Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News · Posted: Jul 08, 2024

The Changa House aims to respond to the pressing needs of our children and youth. Stay tuned for more updates about our physical location.