Photo Credit: Alexander Krivitskiy

A friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous wrote a letter in support of the Mobile Youth Services Team (MYST) based on a report prepared by Dr. Rebeccah Nelems, Assistant Professor with the Centre for Social Sciences at Athabasca University. 

MYST is at the forefront of youth gang intervention in the Greater Victoria Area but is at risk due to a lack of secure, long-term funding. 

Below is the letter: 

Increase and secure long-term funding and support for the Mobile Youth Services Team (MYST) to prevent youth exploitation in the Greater Victoria Area

February 7, 2025

Dear Premier David Eby, Federal MPs Laurel Collins and Randall Garrison, Minister of Health Josie Osborne, Minister of Children and Family Development Jodie Wickens, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Garry Begg, MLAs Grace Lore, Nina Krieger, Diana Gibson, Lana Popham, Rob Botterell, Darlene Rotchford, Ravi Parmar, CRD Board Chair Cliff McNeil-Smith, and Mayors, City Councillors and Police Boards for all Greater Victoria municipalities:

Each of the institutions and levels of government you represent are
accountable for the safety and well-being of youth in the Greater Victoria Area (GVA). Yet, in recent years, the GVA’s only Mobile Youth Services Team (MYST) has faced precarious funding while gang entrenchment and youth exploitation are on the rise. A recent Critical Status Report on MYST cites escalations in online exploitation, sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and recruitment into gangs, as well as escalations in risks to children under the age of 12. The intersecting factors of mental health issues, the opioids epidemic, homelessness and the affordability crisis make children and youth especially vulnerable.

We, the undersigned, urge you to align your mandates to increase and secure reliable, long-term funding for MYST to prevent and end youth exploitation in the Greater Victoria Area (GVA).

MYST’s unique design delivers critical intervention to vulnerable youth who
experience barriers to services. The outreach team—a youth and family counsellor and community police officer—partners with institutional jurisdictions across the GVA, including education, health, child welfare, and criminal justice systems. This flexible approach allows MYST to liaise between services and provide efficient and timely responses to youth in crisis. According to the Critical Status Report, approximately 88% of youth have positive outcomes as a result of MYST outreach services, ranging from increased school attendance and access to employment programs to the exiting of gangs and exploitative relationships.

However, despite the success of this outreach model, MYST is jeopardized by limited and short-term funding mechanisms for the counselling position. The MYST funding model requires coordinated revision so that both components of each MYST team receive reliable, long-term funding. The annual cost of one MYST team is approximately $350,000, and two full-time MYST teams are urgently needed to address the needs of our community.

 We call upon the multiple levels of government listed above to develop an effective funding model so that MYST teams can focus on keeping kids safe now and in the future.

MYST is at the forefront of youth gang intervention, offering urgent and
preventive support to vulnerable youth and their families. MYST also works with researchers to generate data that agencies need to navigate the youth exploitation crisis. As such, MYST has received formal letters of support from the Victoria Child Abuse Prevention and Counselling Centre, Victoria and West Shore Child and Youth Advocacy Centres, Safer Schools Together, Youth & Family Mental Health and Substance Use, the Victoria Family Court and Youth Justice Committee, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, School District 61 and the Capital Region Action Team.

This widespread support is a testimony to MYST’s remarkable contributions to our community. Moreover, MYST is an outreach model that can be
replicated in cities across Canada, with Greater Victoria leading the way.

We call upon you, our leaders and elected representatives at the
municipal, regional, provincial and federal levels, to set a decisive path
towards the protection of our children and youth from exploitation by
securing reliable, long-term funding for MYST.

Critical Status Report on MYST prepared by Dr. Rebeccah Nelems, Assistant Professor with the Centre for Social Sciences at Athabasca University:
https://www.victoriafamilycourt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/MYST-Policy-Report-26-September-2024.pdf

Times Colonist Op-Ed about MYST by Metchosin Mayor Marie-Térèse Little:
https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-the-most-vulnerable-youth-areabout-to-lose-their-most-valuable-support-team-9697149