Street Youth Legal Services (SYLS) is a program that provides legal information, advice, and referrals to street-involved youth through workshops and individual consultations.  Street-involved young people often have multiple and interconnected legal problems. Complex barriers, including a lack of financial resources, social isolation and mistrust often prevent our clients from getting the help they need. The SYLS project delivers legal information and services directly to young street-involved people in drop-in centres and shelters - the places where they congregate to access other services, such as health care, food, employment assistance and counselling.  It is our goal to educate young people about the value of law to empower even our most vulnerable citizens.  For more information about the program and its expansion to communities outside Toronto, please contact us.
 
 

SYLS lawyer's weekly drop-in Schedule

Reports and Other Materials

Can I See Your ID? The Policing of Youth Homelessness in Toronto: by Stephen Gaetz, Bill O’Grady, and Kristy Buccieri, conducted in partnership with JFCY.

Surviving Crime and Violence: Street Youth and Victimization in Toronto, Report, 2010  and the accompanying Town Hall Presentation, 2010.  Note Recommendation 2.5:  The Government of Ontario in partnership with Legal Aid Ontario, must ensure ongoing funding and support for Justice for Children and Youth’s Street Youth Legal Services (SYLS) program.

Plastic wallet-sized information cards on various legal topics

Homelessness Youth and Access to Justice Report, 2002

Street Law Smarts, 2009

Video on "Leaving Home: Information and Advice for Homeless Youth in the Toronto". Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmnZMYPD3ks) and Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy52O7QVhQs&NR=1). Created by our Youth Action Committee.