Preparing the Workforce

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The enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) will result in significant changes to the way Canada deals with youth crime. It is essential that all participants in the youth justice system have the knowledge and tools to work with the system created by the Act. The key to successful implementation of the Act is creating a well-informed and well-trained workforce in the youth justice system that is equipped to work with the legislation when it comes into force. This section describes the Department of Justice's activities in an effort to support the preparation of the youth justice workforce.

• Preparation Activities
• YCJA Explanatory Material

Preparation Activities

In preparation for the implementation of the YCJA, the Department of Justice is undertaking the following activities:

• Preparing core explanatory materials on the YCJA legislation that describe its rationale, goals and operation. The materials will be designed as a resource base for provincial and territorial officials and others who are developing and delivering training packages.
• Seeking the views of officials in governments and professional groups on training and keeping them informed of progress in the preparation of the explanatory materials. This will help Department of Justice officials ensure that explanatory materials are as useful as possible to those who will develop and deliver training.
• Examining how best to ensure that materials are made available in the most cost effective, timely and comprehensive manner.
  

YCJA Explanatory Materials

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The YCJA explanatory materials will be aimed at governments and groups who must train their officials or members in applying the legislation before it comes into force. These materials could also assist those responsible for developing specific training packages for delivery to their members. The materials will be designed to:

• give an overview of the YCJA,
• provide a detailed explanation of how each part of the Act is intended to work, and
• show the inter-relationships between the various parts of the Act.

The core material will be designed in layers, with each layer providing increasing levels of detail. Once complete, the material will be accessible on the Youth Justice Renewal web site.

Layer 1—Legislation

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The central legislation is the YCJA.

References will also be made to provisions in the Criminal Code and other statutes where such provisions are relevant to the youth justice regime.

Layer 2—Basic Explanatory Material

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Plain-language explanations of the provisions of the legislation, including policy objectives and the mechanisms for achieving those objectives.

This layer is likely to include a collection of diagrammatic models such as flow charts, tables, graphs and checklists designed to demonstrate in a clear and simple manner, the roles and responsibilities of all officials involved in implementation. It will also identify the points in the legislation where decisions are to be made.

Plain language explanations of each provision will complement the diagrammatic models. While lacking the visual impact and clarity of the diagrammatic approach, this textual approach will provide essential, stand-alone reference materials to elucidate individual provisions and points. It could also be combined with charts and other diagrams to enhance the explanation of particularly detailed or intricate parts of the YCJA.

Layer 3—Analytical Commentary

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Information that identifies and discusses the issues that the legislation aims to address.

This layer would provide more discussion on matters of policy and interpretation than Layer 2 (Basic Explanatory Material). Key aspects of this discussion would include:

• Identification of the issues that motivated youth justice renewal and to which legislative reform is seen as a necessary, if not exclusive, response.
• Exploration of the nature and dimensions of those issues.
• The types of responses to those issues—statutory, policy based, voluntary—provided by the renewal Initiative, and the role of the legislation in ensuring the operation of those responses, whether directly or indirectly.
• The roles of various players in working with the mechanisms for response, including how their decision making is structured by the legislation and how it can be most effectively developed within their own accountability regimes.

Layer 4—Supplementary Materials

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A wide-ranging compilation of resource materials in youth justice and related areas.

Some of this information will be provided as part of the core materials, while other information will be incorporated through references or links to other resource bases. Examples of supplementary materials include statistical studies, empirical or analytical research, literature searches, task force analyses and project reports, as well as material from sources such as discussion papers, white papers, and scholarly commentary.