Nova Scotia Youth Centre

The Nova Scotia Youth Centre was built in response to the Young Offenders Act, which came into force in 1984. It opened in July 1988 with a capacity of 120.[1][2]

In the 1990s, Waterville consistently operated over capacity. In response, the province expanded the Shelburne Youth Centre in 1995.[3]

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which came into force in 2003, provides more restorative justice options for youth and compels youth courts to consider options other than custodial sentences. As a result, the population held at both Waterville and Shelburne dropped sharply. In 2004, the Shelburne Youth Centre was closed and the remaining inmates were transferred to Waterville.[3][4] In 2022/23, it was reported that Waterville held an average of less than 10 people per day.[1]

A riot took place at the youth centre on 4 September 2016, resulting in serious injuries to five staff. Several inmates were arrested. Speaking in the provincial legislature, Justice Minister Diana Whalen stated that no such incident had ever before taken place at the facility.[5][6] The Nova Scotia Government Employees Union criticized the door control system at Waterville for allowing the melee to take place.[7] The Canadian Press requested, under Nova Scotia's freedom of information legislation, the results of a probe that the justice department had launched over the incident. Although the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled in favour of the Canadian Press, as of 2022 the government refused to release the information, citing security concerns.[8][9]

A March 1995 report by Viki Samuels-Stewart, commissioned by the Nova Scotia Department of Justice, found that young offenders were victims of abuse at both the Shelburne and Waterville youth centres. Some employees at Waterville testified that they had witnessed such abuses.[10] One of the changes made in response to the report was to require the presence of two employees during pat searches, except during emergencies.[11]

In 2019, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation, called Operation Headwind, into allegations of sexual abuse at the youth centre between 1988 and 2017. In July 2023, the police announced that they had gathered statements from 70 males who said they were abused at Waterville, and had launched a special hotline to gather more information.[12] The police believe (as of July 2023) that there could be as many as 200 abuse survivors.[13]

• Samuels-Stewart, Viki (1995). "In Our Care" – Abuse and Young Offenders in Custody: An Audit of the Shelburne Youth Centre and the Nova Scotia Youth Centre – Waterville. Minister of Justice. Province of Nova Scotia.
• Kaufman, Fred (2002). Searching for Justice: An Independent Review of Nova Scotia's Response to Reports of Institutional Abuse. Province of Nova Scotia. ISBN 0888717148.

• Official website