Voices Matter: The Impact of Serious Legal Problems on 16- to 30-year-olds in the Black Community

Study Results

Respondents ranged from 16 to 30 years old. Sixty percent of the respondents identified as women. All respondents identified as Black, some giving more specific identities such as “Black / Afro-Canadian” or “Jamaican.” Just under half (44 percent) are currently attending school, 17 percent are working full time, and a third (32 percent) are working part time. A small number (six percent) care for children full time and 12 percent are currently looking for work. Five respondents were laid off due to the COVID pandemic.

When asked to identify the type and frequency of serious legal problems, all focus group participants identified at least one serious legal problem in the previous three years.

The most common types of legal problems were experiences of discrimination in public settings (48 percent), issues with housing (44 percent), police contact (40 percent), and employment issues (36 percent). No respondents identified legal problems related to estates or trusteeing a loved one’s finances or being sued or suing someone in civil or small claims court. Two of the three people who disclosed that they have children listed child custody or child support issues.

The study indicated intersections between immigration status and the impact of legal problems, with increased instability and consequences felt by those who were also facing immigration uncertainty. Racial profiling by police and authority figures, including teachers and school administrators, result in increased distrust of legal resolutions. Childhood experience of legal processes, including landlord-tenant and family law disputes, led to greater isolation when these participants dealt with their own legal issues.

The legal problems that respondents faced resulted in negative impacts on their health, finances, education, trust in government services, and general sense of belonging in society.

Respondents pursued a range of resolution options, depending their own circumstances and the type of legal problem. Most expressed reluctance or distrust of formal legal supports favouring community supports. Many respondents navigated their legal issue with no supports and identified fear, isolation, and uncertainty as a result.

The experiences that the focus group participants shared varied in substantive area, severity, and complexity. Despite this variation, all of the participants understood their legal issues through a combined lens of race and social circumstance. They described their experiences of systems and institutions, as well their options for responding, as issues of racism in their lives. Race was not only a factor in overt instances of discrimination or racist treatment, but also a factor in their experiences of civil and criminal legal issues. They saw race, social privilege, and economic opportunity as fundamental to how they navigated legal issues and why they faced legal problems.

This qualitative research study examined the impact of serious legal problems on 16 to 30 year olds in the Black community in Toronto and Ottawa. The study, one of 13 undertaken by different research teams across the country, provides a more detailed picture of the experiences of this subset of Canadian society. The 13 studies are intended to complement the national data collected through the Canadian Legal Problems Survey (CLPS) 2021. The CLPS 2021 is being conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of Justice Canada and several other federal departments.

The methodology for this qualitative study is rooted in an intersectional understanding of people’s experience of legal conflict, public services, and of research environments. Our approach uses a narrative focus group structure, spurred by scenario-based examples, to invite participants to share their experiences. The methodology is further informed by an understanding of the participants’ age and level of experience with authorities and institutions. The focus group structure has been designed to solicit stories from participants, recognizing the fluid and emerging nature of participants’ understanding of the legal implications of issues in their lives. Along with other benefits to participation, the opportunity to share experiences of serious legal problems was followed by a capacity-building opportunity to build the skills and knowledge of legal options to help participants navigate future legal problems.