A new $2-million, blue-ribbon report on the roots of youth violence has some wondering when the Ontario government will act on its recommendations.

One opposition critic attacked the McGuinty Liberals for inaction to date.

"The challenges that have been identified for the government are very significant and you do wonder where they have been, particularly in the question of organizing through the Ministry of Children and Youth," said Progressive Conservative critic Julia Munro on Friday.

"This report ('Roots of Youth Violence') is very important and very much needed," said Natasha Gibbs-Watson, director of the African Canadian youth justice program.

"(The question) is just what's going to happen ... and whether or not it gets swept under the rug or collects dust like all the other reports that have come out in the past."

The Liberal provincial government has said implementing the recommendations will take time. New measures involving spending could be difficult because the province faces a $500 million deficit this year and dwindling revenues.

Justice Roy McMurtry and former Ontario House Speaker Alvin Curling chaired the review. Premier Dalton McGuinty commissioned the report after Jordan Manners was shot dead inside his Toronto high school in 2007. Earlier this week, a 16-year-old was stabbed at the same school, C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute.

"We found a focus on problems rather than on the roots of problems, and on interventions once the roots had taken hold rather than on actions to prevent that happening," they wrote.

McMurtry and Curling thought the problem is growing worse. They cite:

  • the increasing concentration of violent crime among younger people
  • the increasing use of guns and knives in disputes that might have once been settled with fists
  • the increasing "intensity and ferocity of the violence"
  • the "increasingly public nature of extreme violence"
  • the growth in gangs
  • some neighbourhoods trapped in a "downward cycle of disadvantage"

They also cited "a broader community inclined to write off these youth and these communities because they see them as the source of this problem rather than its victims."

Racism

The authors identified racism as a major problem.

"We were taken aback by the extent to which racism is alive and well and wreaking its deeply harmful effects on Ontarians and on the very fabric of this province," wrote McMurtry and Curling.

"This racism affects all racialized groups in Ontario ... in particular blacks (continue to) suffer from a seemingly more entrenched and often more virulent form of racism." 

Youth who feel alienated, oppressed -- and who have no sense of hope -- are more likely to engage in violence, they said.

The report -- which made 30 recommendations -- also focused on other issues the authors said the province must address to reduce violence, including an emphasis on providing easier access to and better mental health services.

The authors said the province must invest about $200 million to provide universal mental health services, noting that the money should be spent even as the government runs into deficit budgets.

"Our report is a road map to government and others who must join us on this journey. Now is the time to take the first steps," said McMurtry at a news conference.

The authors also noted the irony of the criminal justice system.

"Paradoxically, a young person's 'last chance for rehabilitation' is often the criminal justice system, which is ill-equipped to deal with the youth's mental health problems," said the report.

Toronto Mayor David Miller added that society must ensure that entire groups of young people feel don't feel excluded.

"You put a gun in the hands of somebody who is angry, who feels alienated, who feels discriminated against, and that is impulsive, you're creating an incredible risk for society," Miller said.

McGuinty said he will consider the report's recommendations "very carefully" and will look at it as a blueprint for an action plan.

"We can't just write off groups of kids just because they are troubled and troublesome," he said.

He also called on parents to become more engaged in their children's lives.

The report also calls for:

  • Ontario to press the federal government to impose a handgun ban (about 30 per cent of handguns used in Toronto crimes originated with legitimate owners)
  • expand availability of public space and facilities for recreation activities
  • improve parenting skills and "community-based" support system for parents
  • keep crime statistics based on race

Miller has said in the past that he is not in favour of tracking crime statistics, but noted he would listen to suggestions. McGuinty said the issue has been controversial but may need to be revisited.

He said no one should take an "ideological approach" to race based data because it may provide important information about how best to target programs to help young people.

With a report by CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney and files from The Canadian Press