Street kids in Iqaluit -- context counts

There is a mild media uproar about two ten year old boys seen sleeping on the street in Iqaluit.

You don't need context to see that's terrible -- forget the age, no one should be sleeping on the street anywhere, let alone the far north.

And it's true Iqaluit has serious social issues -- a suicide rate eleven times the national average and a rate of violent crime that makes the worst parts of our worst cities look tame (there are three full time judges for a total population the size of Pembroke).

But still, why were the boys on the street? Poverty? Being thrown out of their house? Or something else?

It seems "something else". One of the boys is a regular runaway (now that begs the question why? Abuse or "something else"). It doesn't seem these kids were on the street because of poverty or being thrown out of their homes.

That means the problem (while it may reflect a wider social breakdown) is likely to be found in a single home which needs intervention.

Context is everything.

James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777