also wished to know juvenile delinquent pre-trial detention indigenous persons Northwest Territories. at what age a youthful offender was considered to be a under Canadian law$ whether there was an age below which and what was the proportion of was not authorised; to non-indigenous persons imprisoned in the Yukon and 67. Observing that the Supreme Court had interpreted the term “detained” broadly, members wished to know whether that broad interpretation was actually applied in all cases, particularly to arrested entry seekers; whether police officers who had the power to arrest and detain at the point of entry were obliged to follow a code of conduct! whether there was a complaints mechanism open to individuals who claimed to be victims of arbitrary arrest: what guarantees there were for preventing abuses during detention at police and whether there was any provision for compensation for arbitrary stations: Further information was also requested on provisions governing the arrest. obligation to obtain a person’s consent before subjecting him to medical experimentation. 68. In his reply, the representative of the State party explained that the clause of the Criminal Code under which an indeterminate sentence of detention was imposed on a person considered a “dangerous offender” applied only to persons found guilty of a serious personal injury offence which was part of a or brutal behaviour or failure to pattern of generally aggressive, violent control sexual impulses. The Supreme Court had decided that the clause was compatible with the guarantees in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms against cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Section 503 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provided that a detained person had to be brought before a justice within 24 hours. Extremely strict time-limits for reviewing decisions were fixed in each case to prevent arbitrary detention, and if the judge considered that continued detention could not be justified, he was obliged to order the release of the accused or The average issue directives for the trial to take place as soon as possible. duration of pro-trial detention varied from province to province, ranging from an average of 3 days in Nova Scotia to 20 days in the Northwest Territories. In all cases, arrested persons were detained in strict compliance with the law and brought before a magistrate very quickly. A petitioner applying for a writ of w cornug. had first to prove that he actually was under detention and, second, to establish probable grounds for his claim that his detention was illegal. A ruling by the Supreme Court in 1985 had confirmed that any individual who was physically on Canadian territory, in particular an asylum seeker, had access to the same rights as residents. Although it remained a statutory option, the incarceration of fine-defaulters was no longer imposed by the Yukon courts because it was fundamentally unfair to certain racial and socio-economic groups, particularly aboriginals. Juveniles between the ages of 12 and 18 were dealt with by juvenile courts and could be detained prior to trial in the same conditions as adults. The percentage of aboriginals in the prison population of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon was around 45 per cent but that figure had to be seen in relation to the total indigenous which was far higher than in any other region population of those territories, of Canada. 69. 70. rights The Canadian authorities were currently implications of several medical/legal -17- preparing reports on the human issues. No medical research