×
Convivium was a project of Cardus 2011‑2022, and is preserved here for archival purposes.
Search
Search
NIMBYNIMBY

NIMBY

This didn't bother the man. The parks were still nice and the people were still friendly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Emily Scrivens
2 minute read

There was a man who bought a house in a quiet, tree-lined, suburban area outside of Toronto. He and his family were happy. The parks were nice and the people were friendly. On the end of his street was a large house. His neighbor told him it was housing for "young offenders," but lately the charitable organization that ran the place seemed to have younger kids from the Children's Aid Society housed there.

This didn't bother the man. The parks were still nice and the people were still friendly.

One day, the demographics in the house changed. The kids were older, and maybe (he thought) they were scarier. They played basketball in the yard. The man was no longer happy, even though the parks were still nice and the people were still friendly and he hadn't had any problems with the bigger, scarier, basketball-playing residents. The charity was once again housing young offenders who had been sentenced by the courts to "open custody."

Protests were mounted, petitions were signed, and the media was contacted. Politicians showed up at neighbourhood information sessions. But, as in war, the first casualty was truth. Fact-based dialogue was not going to be part of the equation. For the physical and emotional protection of the youth in their care, the charity that had been in that location for 30 years without incident closed its doors and moved the residents to another location.

It was a classic NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back-Yard) scenario.

NIMBY movements have sprung up in response to everything from windmills to mosques, prisons to homeless shelters. Often, the individuals involved do not oppose the concept of what they are objecting to, but they just want it to be somewhere else. Youth "open custody" facilities may be a good alternative to prison for the young people involved, but don't locate one across the road from me.

Of course, people should feel comfortable in their surroundings. They shouldn't fear leaving their houses or feel they need to cower behind drawn blinds and speak only in hushed tones. But at what point does the "right" of the neighbourhood (or a vocal minority within it) infringe on the right of those who would gain from the presence of these organizations—even if we find those people "scary"?

In this true story, the organization was able to relocate the youth to another of their facilities, an older building that has been a youth justice facility for 50 years. As I drove by the building last week, on a quiet tree-lined, suburban area outside of Toronto, I noticed that the adjacent vacant lot had been sold to a land developer. A new sign announced that 50 stacked townhouses will be built next door.

You'll also enjoy...

Turn your back to them

Turn your back to them

And so, the two greatest heroes of most nationalist movements—the peasant and the poet—both share a deep and abiding sense that the modern state is not real Is the Québécois quest for sovereignty a properly modest aspiration fuelled by evident injustices of Canadian federalism or a spiritually disto...

Zoning out religion

Zoning out religion

The ground for the legal fight was laid back in October 2009, when Celani and friends belonging to a lay Catholic organization paid $700 for a few hours rental of the Maison du Brasseur in Lachine, on the southwest edge of Montreal But the case was put over until February 22, 2012 when Celani's lawy...

Democracies' Anxious Youth

Democracies' Anxious Youth

This is in a country where public debt levels are expected to hit 240 percent of GDP next year Over the last three decades the percentage of Japanese voters over 60 has more than doubled, to 44 percent ...