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Youth law changes alarm western ministers

May 14 2010 VANCOUVER - Canada's western justice ministers are concerned changes proposed to the Youth Criminal Justice Act could endanger the public.

Justice ministers from the four western provinces wrapped up a two-day meeting in Vancouver on Friday talking about youth crime, organized crime and how to nudge the federal government to make further legal changes.

May 20, 2010  By Corrie Sloot


May 14 2010
VANCOUVER – Canada’s western justice ministers are concerned changes proposed to the Youth Criminal Justice Act could endanger the public.

Justice ministers from the four western provinces wrapped up a two-day meeting in Vancouver on Friday talking about youth crime, organized crime and how to nudge the federal government to make further legal changes.

The federal government is in the middle of amending the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the justice ministers want to make sure
their criticisms are heard.

Host Attorney General Mike de Jong said the changes could make it almost impossible to keep a youth in custody “even in circumstances where it would seem abundantly clear that maintaining them in
custody is necessary both to protect the public and ensure their attendance in court.”

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De Jong said the ministers are also concerned about the
sentencing threshold the act would place on courts.

“There are times, we believe as the four western provinces, when it is necessary for a young offender to be subjected to the full sanction of the adult sentencing provisions.”

Given the proposals they’ve seen so far, de Jong said it may be difficult and perhaps impossible for a court to hand down an adult
sentence to a youth.

De Jong said he, along with Alberta Attorney General Alison Redford, Alberta Solicitor General Frank Oberle, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Yogi Huyghebaert and Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan, plan to go as one voice to the federal government to relay their concerns.

Another central focus of the meeting was organized crime.

Swan told the media at the end of the gathering that public safety isn’t a partisan issue, and they all worked together sharing
ways to create a “hostile environment” for organized crime.

“By attacking its financial roots, by finding more things we can do within our own control,” he said.

Redford said she’s pleased to see the federal government moving quickly on bail reform for gang members.

“There is no doubt that as western ministers, we’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about our approaches to organized crime and to gangs. We’ve taken a multi-pronged approach.”

Also on the ministers’ wish list from the federal government is improved wiretap and lawful-access legislation that would bring the law into this century and encompass technologies such as cellular phones.

The ministers say those changes are essential to investigating organized crime and other serious and violent offences.

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