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The fourth Youth Justice Center in Ontario has officially opened in Kenora.
Its in the old Miner and News building on Main Street.
Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey was on hand for the opening and says the center will have complete wrap around services.
“There will be judiciary here, there will be court service workers, there will be victim workers, some of those pieces that are traditionally in a court house,” Downey said after the opening of the Youth Justice Center.
“But on top of that we’ll have education, we’ll have housing, we’ll have mental health supports. We’ll have all those other pieces.”
Kenora-Rainy River MPP and Indigenous Services Minister Greg Rickford says this will focus on Indigenous youth.
“It’s the only one and its one of the reasons the Attorney General and I worked very closely on, I think them of pilots if you will, and the fourth one had to be an opportunity to work with Indigenous communities. Kenora was the obvious choice.”
Grand Chief of NAN, Derek Fox says the center will have wrap around services, not just a justice presence.
“Being able to talk to a councillor, or a mental health expert, and just get whatever they are carrying off their chest for the day, may prevent a crime…may prevent that anger outburst that we see.”
The Youth Justice Center will not just service the Treaty #3 area, but the western half of the Nishinawbe Aski Nation.
The center is a partnership between the Kenora Chiefs Advisory, Grand Council Treaty #3 and the Nishinawbe Aski Nation.
(The Blake Angenconeb mural was commissioned by the Youth Justice Center)