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Justice committee Yes.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee As a long-term goal, that's correct.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee No, they remain.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee That's the same in Nova Scotia. The treatment program, which is excellent for youth in Nova Scotia, is the same at the youth detention facility, whether you're on detention or not. Granted, if you're only there for a few weeks it doesn't get as much of a chance to get going, but programming is available.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee None. There was nothing. We saw it when the public saw it, on March 16.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee That's absolutely correct.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee Just to be clear, regarding the offences I listed, there isn't just a presumption against detention, but they are excluded completely. There are two ways you could do it. You could open the availability of pre-trial detention to every offence, because the test, as it's set out for pre-trial detention, is quite strict.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee It certainly would have been another methodology. Justice Nunn's report specifically says it should be a primary goal of the act.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee Sorry, it's one of the primary goals of the act. You're right. That could have been reflected. There are certainly a variety of ways to do it. Mr. Greening may have a point.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee No, we haven't drafted anything along those lines. I would like to think that the fact that the act still includes principles that talk about rehabilitation and reintegration and that section 39 still includes clauses that say custody is still essentially the last resort will continue to push forward the general principles that are concerned mostly with those aspects of rehabilitation and reintegration.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee Our concern with the pre-trial detention provision is that it takes us so far, but then it stops with respect to certain offences and doesn't allow the provinces to deal at all with certain offences in terms of pre-trial detention. That's our grave concern, because those are the very types of offences youth tend to commit.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee I would agree. If I were a counsel in court, I would suggest that under paragraph 3(1)(a) the court is to assess (i) through (iii) in terms of overall protection of the public. I would also suggest, though, that protection of the public includes long-term protection of the public but short-term protection of the public as well.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee Yes, please. We've kind of organized it that way, if that's all right.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald
Justice committee Thank you. Thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to be heard today. My name is Ron MacDonald. I come before you today as a representative of the Nova Scotia government, in my capacity as criminal law policy adviser, but also as a person who was 24 years on the front lines as defence and then crown counsel.
June 17th, 2010Committee meeting
Ronald MacDonald