This decision addresses the application of section 11(i) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms concerning the right to the benefit of the lesser punishment when sentencing a young person for offences committed as a juvenile under the now-repealed Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) versus the current Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
The court found that although the YCJA allows for custodial sentences including adult facilities, the JDA's provisions, which focused on treatment rather than punishment and allowed for committal to industrial schools, provide the lesser punishment.
Given the absence of industrial schools today, the maximum sentence under the JDA is probation.
The court ordered sentencing under the JDA, applying the lesser punishment principle.
