E/CN.4/2006/7/Add.2 page 17 remanded to a psychiatric hospital are not implemented, and, as a result, they are kept in prison. According to the information received, this is due both to past political choices and to a current lack of resources. 65. The Working Group commends the initiatives that have been developed at local level to counteract this trend, as described above (paras. 53 to 58). 2. Legal aid in the criminal justice system 66. The right to counsel for persons charged with an offence carrying a prison sentence is enshrined in Canadian law and is implemented through duty counsel and legal aid programmes. A positive aspect of the legal aid system in Canada is that the defendants can choose their own lawyer, and numerous successful defence attorneys are willing to work at the fees paid by legal aid programmes, which are below the market price for legal services. Detainees interviewed by the Working Group who were assisted by legal aid lawyers were generally satisfied with the work of their lawyer. 67. The Working Group noted, however, also a number of shortcomings of the legal aid coverage. As explained above, legal aid is funded by both the federal Government and the provinces, but administered by each province. In 1991 the federal Government sharply reduced its contribution to the provincial legal aid programmes. 68. In all 10 provinces the threshold for eligibility for legal aid is below the Statistics Canada low-income cut-off. Considering that the low-income cut-offs are determined with regard to everyday requirements such as food, clothing and shelter, and that the cost of legal services is significantly greater than the cost of these goods, there is little doubt that many accused who are not eligible for legal aid will not be able to afford to retain legal counsel. The governments of the Northwest Territories and of Nunavut have taken a significant step in putting in place a policy whereby criminal defendants are presumed to be in need of legal aid. 69. The Working Group’s attention was drawn to a further serious problem: a conviction on charges relating to several offences which are not serious enough to qualify for legal aid (e.g. welfare fraud), will result in the loss of social welfare benefits for those found guilty, and, in the case of non-citizens, to the loss of temporary or permanent resident status. It appears that often persons who cannot afford legal counsel will plead guilty to charges on such offences, or be found guilty after trial, with very grave consequences which they did not understand when they entered the criminal process unrepresented. 70. In conclusion, the Working Group recalls that the requirement of effective legal representation for those charged with an offence carrying a custodial sentence is a right, not an option to be granted within the boundaries of the resources that a government makes available. When this right is not fully respected, the price is paid by the poor and socially marginalized, who are already over-represented among the prison population. 3. Concerns regarding police and corrections oversight 71. Each province (and the federal level) has its own system for dealing with complaints concerning misconduct of police officers. Some provinces only have internal complaints