Component: Indigenous Services

Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA), 2017 Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), 2003

Transfer Payment Recipients will follow the Youth Justice Services Manual (YJSM) that was first issued April 1, 2006, and all subsequent revisions. "Contents Applicable to All" and the "Transfer Payment Community Based Programs and Services" sections outline minimum requirements for the Transfer Payment Recipients.

Service objectives

  • Provide culturally relevant programming for Indigenous youth.
  • Provide diversion programming (pre-charge measures and/or post-charge sanctions), to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in the justice system by diverting them at the earliest opportunity.
  • Foster cultural connections and healing by linking Indigenous youth to holistic, wrap-around services designed and delivered by Indigenous organizations and communities.
  • Promote effective partnerships and communication between community organizations and the justice sector to enhance referral pathways.
  • Increase access to culturally grounded, strengths-based, family and community- oriented services for Indigenous youth in their communities.

Service description

People served

  • Indigenous youth (12-17 years of age at the time of the alleged offence), who accept responsibility for their participation or involvement in the offence.

Program/service features

  • Services must be delivered by Indigenous service providers to ensure culturally relevant and timely responses to offending behaviour.
  • Programming identifies each youth’s needs and risks, responding with appropriate supports and referrals to address underlying factors linked to reoffending.
  • Diversion measures and/or sanctions are determined on an individual basis, encouraging accountability, reflection, and constructive engagement in the community.
  • Where possible, programs should actively involve youth’s families/caregivers/supports persons, and communities in the design and delivery of measures and/or sanctions.

Program goals

  • Reduce reoffending behaviours and future justice involvement through targeted, culturally grounded interventions.
  • Ensure programs are trauma-informed and guided by Indigenous communities and organizations.
  • Apply a strength-based approach, by building a case management relationship with youth and their families that emphasizes youth’s strengths, needs, ambitions, knowledges, and talents.
  • Support long-term growth in community capacity, skills, and knowledge.
  • Introduce concepts that deepen understanding of intergenerational trauma, colonialism, racism, and their impacts.
  • Revitalize youth identity, self-worth, and cultural pride by strengthening ties to family, community, and culture.
  • Promote continuous learning and capacity-building through sharing new research and best practices in culturally relevant diversion programming/interventions.

Services will be (standard terms)

  • Youth-centered, responsive to the strengths and needs of youth, families, and communities.
  • Reflect and respect the social, linguistic, and cultural diversity of Indigenous families and communities.
  • Delivered by staff with appropriate skills, knowledge, abilities, and cultural competency necessary to effectively respond to the unique needs of youth and their families.
  • Aligned with the Youth Justice Division’s four outcomes for youth (as per the Youth Justice Outcomes Framework [YJOF]):
    • Improved functioning and positive social behavior
    • Increased skills and abilities
    • Increased youth engagement with supports and
    • Decreased re-offending
  • Participate in Ministry training, business process reviews, and program evaluation related to where possible.
  • Demonstrating outcome achievement using the following tools of the MCCSS Youth Justice Outcomes Framework consistent with timelines and processes specified in training modules:
    • Actively offering youth the option to complete the Non-Residential Youth Experience Survey (NRES)
  • Base supports on each youth’s unique needs, preferences and community, and Ministry resources.
  • Uphold Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppressive, Anti-Colonial and human rights principles in all aspects of service delivery.
  • Meet all Ministry reporting requirements, including program utilization, outcome achievement, evaluations and other data/reports as required.

Reporting requirements

The following service data will be reported on at an Interim and Final stage. Please refer to your final agreement for report back due dates and targets.

Service Data NameDefinition
Total # of Indigenous Youth Served: Diversion Programming for Indigenous Youth

The unique number of Indigenous youth who received this service in the reporting year (cumulative).

This number should represent a sum of the three categories; Number of Indigenous Youth Served by (1) Prevention (2) Pre-Charge (3) Post-Charge.

# of Youth Served (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of youth who received this service (Pre-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs in which they participated.
# of Indigenous Youth Served (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who received this service (Pre-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs in which they participated.
# of Indigenous Youth Served (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who received this service (Post-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs in which they participated.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Completed the Program (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who successfully completed this service (Prevention) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Completed the Program (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who successfully completed this service (Pre-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Completed the Program (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who successfully completed this service (Post-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Justice/Police (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Justice/Police in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Probation (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Probation in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Prevention). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Other Sources (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from other sources (e.g., Community Agencies, Education, Health) in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Prevention). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Justice/Police (Pre- Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Justice/Police in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Youth Referred by Probation (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Probation in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Other Sources (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from other sources (e.g., Community Agencies, Education, Health) in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Justice/Police (Post- Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Justice/Police in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (post-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Probation (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from Probation in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (post-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Referred by Other Sources (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe total number of referrals sent to the agency from other sources (e.g., Community Agencies, Education, Health) in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (post-Charge). If the same youth is referred to the agency multiple times, each referral is counted separately.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Access to Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of indigenous youth who self-reported an increased access to traditional and culturally relevant services (Prevention) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Access to Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported an increased access to traditional and culturally relevant services (Pre-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Access to Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported an increased access to traditional and culturally relevant services (post-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Involvement with Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported an increased involvement with traditional and culturally relevant services (Prevention) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Involvement with Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported an increased involvement with traditional and culturally relevant services (Pre-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Involvement with Traditional and Culturally Relevant Services (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported an increased involvement with traditional and culturally relevant services (post-Charge) in the reporting year (cumulative). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Improved Self-Confidence and Well-Being (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported improved self-confidence and well-being in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Prevention). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Improved Self-Confidence and Well-Being (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported improved self-confidence and well-being in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Improved Self-Confidence and Well-Being (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported improved self-confidence and well-being in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (post-Charge). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Life Skills and Knowledges (Prevention): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported increased life skills and knowledges in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Prevention). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Life Skills and Knowledges (Pre-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported increased life skills and knowledges in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (Pre-Charge) The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
# of Indigenous Youth Who Reported Increased Life Skills and Knowledges (Post-Charge): Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthThe unique number of Indigenous youth who self-reported increased life skills and knowledges in the reporting year (cumulative) for this service (post-Charge). The same person should only be counted once per year, regardless of the number of programs they completed.
Ministry-funded Agency Expenditures: Diversion Programming for Indigenous YouthTotal ministry-funded expenses for the Transfer Payment Recipient to administer and/or deliver this service in the reporting year (cumulative).