Crown certiorari application. Issue as to whether a Youth Court judge has jurisdiction to release a young person from custody pending a contested s. 109 YCJA review hearing, which follows a provincial director’s decision to suspend a young person’s deferred custody and supervision order.
Held: Application dismissed.
Section 106(b) YCJA, properly interpreted, affords jurisdiction to a Youth Court judge to release a young person after commencement of a s. 109 review. Parliament intended the incarceration of young persons to be minimized. Further, the purposes of the YCJA, as set out in s. 3, require the prompt and timely treatment of young persons who are “in the system.” “The young person is under the reviewable authority of the Director up to the time she is placed before the [Youth Court] for the s. 109 review. At that time the young person is turned over to the jurisdiction of the Youth Criminal Justice Court.”
D. Tan – Defence Counsel