Financial literacy program for incarcerated youth goes national

A nationwide initiative, with roots in Saskatchewan, aims to provide Indigenous youth with skills and knowledge previously never been offered in corrections – financial literacy.

“If you have a young person who have their high school education, and they have been involved in crime from 14 or 15 years of age, they have not had the opportunity for some of the new programs that are being offered in mainstream education,” said Clive Weighill the former chief of the Saskatoon Police Service and current vice-president for Forrest Green, the agency delivering the program.

Forrest Green is a data and technology solutions company. It is also the parent-organization of Police Solutions – a company which provides no-cost virtual solutions like criminal record checks and freedom of information requests for police agencies across Canada.

The decision to implement the program nationally was based on current statistics.

Indigenous youth across are vastly overrepresented in correctional facilities in Canada, according to the Department of Justice. Out Canada’s population, Indigenous youth make up eight percent, but account for 48 per cent of custody admissions, with Saskatchewan’s youth correctional service rate among the highest in Canada.

Similarly, in Canada 73 per cent of high school students feel they need to understand personal finance better, and 64 percent received no financial literacy education in school. And, according to the Government of Canada, there is an estimated 15 percent of individuals on First Nations without a bank account at all.

Weighill believes the program can be a benefit.

“This is a great opportunity, for when they get out of the institutions, to have some understanding about money and finances, and what to do when they make money,” he said.

Last year, Forest Green’s sister company Indigenous Tech AI developed an online, free financial literacy course for Indigenous communities across Canada. The course, designed by Indigenous people for Indigenous people, had 500 Indigenous youth signed up across Canada.

“It teaches youth how to open a checking account, how to keep track of a bank account, how to use and pay a credit card, what interest rates are, how to work an ATM – very basic financial literacy,” said Weighill.

The course, which takes around 3-6 hours to complete, awards the students with a certificate once complete.

With so many youth using the program across the country, Police Solutions and Indigenous Tech AI thought it might have another valuable application.

“We thought it might be a good idea to meet with corrections, because there’s a lot of youth in corrections that this would probably help. While they’re incarcerated, why not provide them with a financial literacy program,” he said.

The program is currently being delivered at Dales House in Regina, where over 20 youth have completed the course.

“I believe it really is groundbreaking for engaging Indigenous youth,” said Weighill. “If you’re an Indigenous youth, living in a rural area of Saskatchewan, you might not have (the opportunities) as much as someone who lives in the city, so that’s why it’s so important this course is free and over the internet.”

Police Solutions and Indigenous Tech AI hope to see the financial literacy program implemented in more youth correctional facilities in Saskatchewan, and across Canada.