Saskatoon Tribal Council concerned about Youth Farm closure

The Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) is concerned about the closure of the Yarrow Youth Farm.

The provincial Ministry of Justice plans on closing the Saskatoon facility, along with another youth correctional facility in Yorkton, by the end of March.

"It's disappointing," said STC Chief Felix Thomas, "In the past year, we've been doing a lot of work with Yarrow and the clients there."

Thomas says the tribal council is offering cultural programming at the centre, as well as teaching courses on re-integrating back into society. 

However, the STC is worried that its programming may come to an end with Yarrow's closure. 

The Yarrow Youth Farm is a minimum-security "open facility". That means children staying in the facility are allowed to leave the grounds to attend school and take programs.

After the closure, the inmates will be transferred to Kilburn Hall, a fenced off "closed facility" where offenders aren't allowed to leave. The provincial government has said it is building an open wing of Kilburn, but Thomas isn't sure if STC programming will work in that model.

"How do you blend open programming in a closed facility?" Thomas said. "It could work, we're just not sure how it can."

Right now, the province's youth correctional facilities are only at 50 per cent capacity. The province plans on closing the two facilities to make them more efficient.

Other concerns

Bob Pringle, Saskatchewan's Children's Advocate says he has concerns about Yarrow's closure. He says the current system works well, and worries about blending open and closed facilities together.

"The reason the numbers of young people in custody are down, is because of the community based alternatives that they are choosing, like supervision in the community," said Pringle. "To close down the community-based solutions in favour of going back to the pure institutional approach, will certainly not be the same quality of support to these young people."

Pringle said the switch from the Yarrow Youth Farm to Kilburn Hall will be jarring.

"Everything is locked, there's a high fence with barbed wire, and just a totally different atmosphere," he said. "We believe it's a backward move in terms of integration into the community."

While the Children's Advocate office has no power to order the province to make any decisions, Pringle plans on keeping a close eye on the transition.