Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

ANNUAL REPORT 1997-1998

Young Offenders Act (YOA)

The Minister of Justice, Anne McLellan, has announced that she will reform the juvenile justice system. This may involve more than mere amendments to the YOA. CAEFS does not regard this as good news, as the Minister is taking this approach despite a fairly positive report from the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs following their “Phase II” review of the YOA. CAEFS presented a brief to the Standing Committee during the Phase II review. The Minister of Justice, Anne McLellan, has announced that she wants to amend the YOA.

Based upon the Minister’s assertions so far, it is anticipated that the regressive changes might include: the lowering of the age parameters of the Act, so that 10 and 11 years old youth could be charged; automatic transfers to the ordinary (adult) court of young people charged with offences involving serious violence, easier movement of young people in custody [between open and secure custody in young offender centres and from youth centres to adult prisons].

CAEFS has serious concerns about the overall impact of the Act upon juvenile justice for young women. The increasing numbers of younger women in the provincial and federal prison systems are of particular concern to us. Unfortunately, unless the Minister resists the calls for more punitive and regressive scapegoating of Canadian youth, and, instead, embarks upon a public education campaign to inform Canadians about the excessive penalizing and incarcerating of youth in Canada, we are not likely to see much change in the current slide away from justice for young people.