E/CN.4/2006/7/Add.2 page 14 Group’s mandate and yielded recommendations that contribute to remedying the problems. Public enquiries also exemplify, again, the pivotal role Canadian civil society plays in denouncing circumstances in which detention might be considered arbitrary. 49. The Canadian Human Rights Commission, hearing complaints from Canadian citizens or residents, and the human rights institutions of each of the provinces and cities, such as Ombudsmen offices, provide additional controls. The free and open dialogue between legislative and executive authorities on the one hand and civil society on the other, greatly contributes to limiting the occurrence of instances of arbitrary detention in Canada. C. Decrease in incarceration rate 50. Until the mid-1990s, Canada was among the countries with the highest prison population rates in the Western group of countries. Since the Sentencing Reform Act enacted by Parliament in 1996, the federal (convict) prison population has been steadily declining. The incarceration rate currently is at 116 per 100,000 inhabitants. Only 7 per cent of the persons “in the corrections system” (i.e. serving a sentence) are actually in detention, while 47 per cent of the sentences imposed by courts in 2003-2004 involved terms of probation. The 2002 Youth Criminal Justice Act constitutes a very important step to address the over-incarceration of juvenile offenders, and the number of young persons in custody has declined as a result. These developments have been accompanied by a decrease in the crime rate. 51. Regrettably, the general decrease of the incarceration rate resulting from the Sentencing Reform Act has not had beneficial effects on the problem of over-incarceration of Canada’s Aboriginal population. On the contrary, the over-representation of Aboriginals - particularly Aboriginal women - among the prison population has become even more marked. The Working Group was told that this is due to a number of reasons, including the demographic structure of the Aboriginal population, their growing urbanization and impoverishment, accompanied by high unemployment rates and lesser enjoyment of physical and mental health. 52. The Working Group observes, however, that the authorities are fully aware of and highly concerned at this situation, and are taking measures to address it. The provision in section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code, mandating that, in applying the principle that “all available sanctions other than imprisonment … should be considered”, courts shall have “particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders” is very significant in this respect, and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of this provision in the Gladue judgment should allow it to develop its full potential. The Working Group has further been informed of the efforts at increased recruitment of Aboriginals into the police, the judicial system, the corrections administration and the legal professions more in general. These efforts are to be commended. D. Specialized courts and other programmes aimed at reducing pretrial detention, particularly of persons belonging to vulnerable and marginalized groups 53. In order to address the disparate impact of remand detention on vulnerable groups, the Old City Hall Courts in Toronto, the busiest court in Canada, have established specialized courts dealing with Aboriginal defendants, drug-using defendants and offenders with mental health issues.