Homeless young people are victims of crime at rates that society would consider unacceptable for any other group, according to a new report by researchers at 91亚色 and the University of Guelph.

The report, , highlights the degree to which it is street youth themselves 鈭� often perceived as delinquent and dangerous 鈭� who are vulnerable to crime and violence.

鈥淭he very people we are taught to fear are the ones who are most at risk,鈥� said Professor (right), associate dean of research and field development in 91亚色鈥檚 . 鈥滿ore than 76 per cent of the homeless youth we surveyed said they had been victims of violent crime in the past year, and almost three-quarters of them reported multiple incidents.鈥�

In comparison, about 40 per cent of young people in the general population reported that they had been victimized in the previous year, when the last asked them about it in 1999 鈭� and they experienced mostly property crime.

Gaetz and University of Guelph Professor interviewed 244 homeless youths across Toronto last year about life on the streets. Their report was commissioned by , a not-for-profit legal aid clinic that operates a Street Youth Legal Services program, providing legal advice and support to homeless youth in Toronto.

The solution to problems youth face on the streets lies in changing the way youth homelessness is addressed, according to the report. It calls for a balanced response that, instead of relying mostly on emergency services, would balance preventive measures, an emergency response, and transitional support to move young people out of homelessness quickly.

Above: A homeless youth keeps dry under a bridge in downtown Toronto. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In the interviews, conducted at agencies serving youth in downtown Toronto and the suburbs:

• female street youth were more likely than males to report being victims of crime (85.9 per cent compared to 71.8 per cent).
• 38.2 per cent of the female street youth reported being victims of sexual assault. Reports of sexual assault were higher among black females (47 per cent) than white females (33 per cent).
• 60 per cent of lesbian and bisexual females reported that they had been sexually assaulted in the past year, making them perhaps the most victimized group among street youth.
• young homeless women reported extremely high levels of violence and abuse from their intimate partners.
• youths who had become homeless at a young age (16 or 17) were much more likely to have been violently victimized than young people who became homeless later.
• only 20 per cent of all respondents said they had alerted police about their victimization.

Much has changed since Gaetz first wrote a report on homeless youth in Toronto, also for Justice for Children and Youth, seven years ago. The and non-profit agencies have improved services, and the City has expanded its Streets to Homes program to move youth into housing. Street Youth Legal Services, a program of Justice for Children and Youth, has expanded its capacity to support young people with their legal and justice issues.

However, the report concludes federal, provincial and municipal governments should be addressing youth homelessness with an integrated strategy that includes: an adequate supply of supported, affordable housing for young people; efforts by health and mental health sectors, corrections and child welfare services to ensure their practices do not contribute to homelessness; crisis intervention and family mediation to help young people remain housed; and transitional approaches with income, social and health care supports for young people.

鈥淢any people, including policy makers, believe that youth homelessness and crime are linked, and they use laws such as the Safe Streets Act to 鈥榤ove along鈥� young people,鈥� said Gaetz. 鈥淚n fact, our findings show that young homeless people are among the most victimized people in our society, and they need our protection.鈥�

Gaetz leads the (CHRN), which enhances the impact of homelessness research on homelessness and the housing crisis by increasing collaboration and discussion among researchers, policy-makers and community workers. One of Canada鈥檚 leading experts on homelessness, Gaetz also created the 鈥� the world鈥檚 first digital hub to mobilize homelessness research 鈥� to support collaboration, knowledge exchange, and public engagement among regional and clustered research networks. CHRN, , received $2.1 million through the strategic knowledge clusters program.

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator. Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Much of what informs environmental thinking springs from a view that equates nature with sexually straight and queer with unnatural. The editors of a new book , turn those notions upside down.

Co-editors Bruce Erickson (PhD 09鈥�) and 91亚色 environmental studies Professor Catriona Sandilands, Canada Research Chair in Sustainability & Culture, wanted to challenge the current thinking about what is considered sexually 鈥渘ormal鈥� in nature and how nature is used to create normative sexualities. To do so, they gathered a group of mainly senior scholars who鈥檇 done work close to the intersection of sexuality studies and environmental studies in research areas such as queer geography, eco-feminism, environmental justice and gender and sexuality studies.

The result is a book that looks at three broad topics 鈥� 鈥淎gainst Nature? Queer Sex, Queer Animality鈥�, 鈥淕reen, Pink, and Public: Queering Environmental Politics鈥� and 鈥淒esiring Nature? Queer Attachments鈥� 鈥� with contributors from literary studies, landscape ecology, geography, science studies, history, philosophy, sociology and women鈥檚 studies, including leading researchers from the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

Erickson, who studied with Sandilands and is now a post-doctoral fellow in environmental history at Nipissing University, says part of the reason for Queer Ecologies was to explore the connection between environmentalism and discourses of homosexuality. 鈥淭he birth of modern environmentalism and the birth of modern understandings of homosexuality and queerness came about at the same time through very similar actors and so we wanted to think about that a little bit more and see how those connections are actually a lot more deeply ingrained than simply being a kind of accidental event,鈥� says Erickson.

Queer Ecologies asks contemporary environmental thinkers and activists to consider how their practices and assumptions about nature are located in homophobic and heterosexist perspectives, and to ask the queer communities to engage in more ecological discourse and action, says Mortimer-Sandilands. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to make nature and environmental issues part of a more robust queer platform. It鈥檚 not just about achieving equality in an ecologically disastrous world. It鈥檚 also about thinking about the interrelationship between sexual聽resistances and environmental justice, for example.鈥�

Left: Catriona Sandilands and Bruce Erickson

There are several historical connections between sexual and environmental politics, says Sandilands, author of .

鈥淔irst, species, race and population were all hotly contested concepts in the late-19th and early-20th centuries; these debates influenced emerging understandings of both ecology and sexuality, which also influenced each other. Second, large-scale industrialization and urbanization both created new spaces in which new sexual cultures could thrive, and also contributed to larger social anxieties about hygiene, degeneracy and what was considered an 'effeminization' of white national virility. Out of these processes arose both modern understandings of sexuality and gender and modern institutions of nature conservation, most notably national parks.鈥�

With these historical connections, it is important to understand that the modern environmental movement has sexual origins, and also that sexual politics have embedded understandings of nature and environment, she says. 鈥淚n addition, political resistances to dominant sex/nature categories also have a history: from Radclyffe Hall鈥檚 literary defence of gender inversion to Oscar Wilde鈥檚 refusal of 鈥榥atural authenticity鈥� to the Radical Faeries to the Lesbian National Parks & Services. It's a fascinating history.鈥�

As a result, Queer Ecologies includes essays on both the 鈥渉istorical links between sex and nature and on more contemporary issues, such as the current popular fascination with the sexuality of animals, conflicts about public sex in designated nature areas, heterosexual panic in anti-toxics activism, population and development politics, and resistances by the queer communities to all of the above in art, literature and politics,鈥� says Sandilands.

Erickson鈥檚 essay takes issue with the iconic nature of the canoe. 鈥淢y starting point for the essay is Pierre Berton鈥檚 comment that a Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe. I try to trace back this national feeling through these very normative ideas of heterosexuality and how the assumption by those that take up Berton鈥檚 statement as being such an interesting and witty way of understanding Canada reify a kind of heterosexist image of the nation.鈥� He also looks at the politics of colonialism that have allowed the canoe to become a symbol of the nation.

Sandilands turns her gaze to two authors, Jan Zita Grover and Derek Jarman, and聽how they responded politically and with dignity to the massive losses brought about by AIDS, and how they offer a model for thinking intelligently about the daily losses that are part of the environmental crisis. Too often environmental loss becomes tourism. Everyone runs out to see the natural wonder before it鈥檚 gone.

鈥淏ut that approach is part of the problem, ethically and politically, we can't just 鈥榤ove on鈥� to other natures, and some of the approaches to loss and memory explored in the massive artistic and literary response to AIDS are very instructive to help us think about the consequences of what we are losing environmentally,鈥� she says.

The book came about through a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada grant Sandilands received related to her work as Canada Research Chair, which included funds for a聽workshop which inaugurated the Queer Ecologies project.

Sandilands' next book, This Is For You: Walks with Jane Rule (UBC Press), is forthcoming.

Queer Ecologies was published last week; a launch will take place in the fall.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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It鈥檚 been a year of research-intensive events and activities in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and one of the most notable initiatives has been the Research Matters series. It attempts to answer the question: 鈥淲hy does research matter?鈥� In particular, it focuses on the ways in which LA&PS researchers 鈥� both faculty and students 鈥� are using their skills and expertise to address timely community, cultural, social, economic and industry challenges.

Missed out on a Research Matters session? Videos and audio files are available online.

There are two more Research Matters sessions scheduled this year, open to the 91亚色 community. The first, which will be held on March 24 from 10am to聽noon in 109 Atkinson Building, takes up the theme of knowledge mobilization. Michael Johnny, manager of聽91亚色鈥檚 Unit, will provide general insights into what knowledge mobilization is and how it ties to LA&PS researchers. Professor from the School of Social Work will discuss his knowledge mobilization efforts in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender research.

The second session will be held on April 19 from 10am to聽noon in 305 91亚色 Lanes and will focus on human rights, international law and global health policy. Political science Professor Lesley Jacobs, director of the , will present in collaboration with four emerging 91亚色 scholars: Hope Olumide Shamonda聽(PhD candidate in philosophy);聽 (PhD candidate in philosophy); Ruby Dhand (PhD candidate in law); and Mariette Brennan (PhD candidate in law).

The series聽has also explored topics ranging from pandemic planning, indigenous research and聽China鈥檚 competitive advantage in the world market to聽the grammar of aid in international development, community engagement as methodological practice, and, most recently, the value of Canada鈥檚 North.

鈥淥ne of the highlights of the year for me in the role of associate dean, research, has been the launch of this series,鈥� says Professor Barbara Crow. 鈥淚鈥檝e gained helpful insight into the individual and collaborative research undertakings of faculty and students, and enjoyed watching connections being made between academic research and what鈥檚 going on in our communities, our workplaces and our lives.鈥�

To RSVP for either of the upcoming sessions, e-mail Lorraine Myrie at lmyrie@yorku.ca.

Republished with files courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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