Background

Conferences are gatherings involving various professionals and stakeholders, including the young person concerned and their family, wherein recommendations concerning the youth’s case (e.g., decisions on sentencing, conditions of release, a rehabilitation agenda, and extrajudicial measures) are discussed. Conferences as intended under section 19 of the YCJA are inspired in part by the concept of the "family group conference" developed in New Zealand and can incorporate restorative justice practices found in many Indigenous communities (Bala 2003). They form a support system constructed by people who know the youth (to some extent), to ascertain which measures may best assist the youth at any stage of the CJS process.

Since the establishment of the YCJA and related policies, there has been a significant reduction in the number of youth sentenced to custody. In 2018-19, there were 4 youth sentenced to custody for every per 10,000 youth population; a total of 716 youth in custody on average per day (Malakieh 2020). It remains unclear to what extent section 19 conferences have contributed to this outcome. An evaluation of the Alberta Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) Justice Support Project, which incorporates section 19 conferences, found that they resulted in crime prevention and reduced recidivism (Cooper and Guyn 2016 – see section on Evaluations and impact assessments for further details). Studies conducted in other countries that convene youth conferences have also shown that they produce positive outcomes in term of reducing the number of youth offences (in New Zealand; Bossè 2015) and reducing re-offending (in Australia; Luke and Lind 2002).

More broadly, diversionary rehabilitation methods have been shown to reduce the likelihood of recidivism, compared to traditional punitive measures (Wilson and Hoge 2013; Wong et al. 2016). For example, convicted Indigenous youth who participated in Indigenous-centered community programs reoffended less than their peers who engaged in traditional, more punitive programs (Gutierrez, Chadwick, and Wanamake 2018).

Despite these promising outcomes, the overall success of the YCJA has not extended to most Indigenous and racialized youth, who remain considerably overrepresented in the youth CJS (Malakieh 2020; Gutierrez, Chadwick, and Wanamake 2018; Clark 2019). For example, in 2020, Indigenous youth represented 49% of youth admissions to custody (Statistics Canada 2021), while only representing 8.8% of the youth population in Canada (Malakieh 2020). Findings from a recent study conducted on accused in Canadian criminal courts show that Indigenous youth are 20% more likely to be sent to custody compared to White youth (Saghbini, Bressan and Paquin-Marseille 2021). This trend is even more pronounced for Black youth who are 103% more likely to be sent to custody (Justice Canada 2021). Further exploration of possible ways to increase the use of diversionary options, including section 19 conferences, with Indigenous and racialized youth may help address this issue.