Bill C-231 Youth Criminal Justice Act
Bill C-231 An Act to Amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Bill Type: Private Member’s Bill
Bill Sponsor: Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable—Lotbinière)
Status: Outside the Order of Precedence — First Reading September 19, 2025. This Bill hasn't passed yet.
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WHO GAINS POWER
- Youth justice courts gain the ability to delay sentencing to allow a young person to participate in an addiction treatment program — where the offence was linked to drugs or cannabis
- Police officers gain a formal requirement to consider referring young persons to addiction treatment programs before charges are laid — where substance use is linked to the alleged offence
- Provinces gain flexibility — addiction treatment programs can be authorized by the Attorney General or designated provincial authorities
- Young persons gain a protection — failing to comply with an addiction treatment condition cannot by itself result in a custodial sentence
WHO LOSES POWER
- No existing authority is directly removed
- Courts lose some discretion in one specific area — custody cannot be imposed solely because a young person failed to comply with an addiction treatment condition
WHO GAINS MONEY
- No direct financial provisions in this Bill
WHO LOSES MONEY
- No direct financial provisions in this Bill
THE CATCH
- ⚠️ This Bill is unlikely to pass — it is a Private Member's Bill introduced outside the Order of Precedence
- ⚠️ Consent is required at every stage — the young person must consent to referral and the Attorney General must consent to sentencing delays. Either party can block the process
- ⚠️ No funding for addiction treatment programs is included — the Bill assumes programs exist and are accessible but does not require provinces to create them or fund them
- ⚠️ "Addiction treatment program" is not defined in the Bill — what qualifies is left entirely to the Attorney General or provincial designates, with no minimum standards set in Law
- ⚠️ Access will be uneven across provinces — programs must be authorized provincially, meaning availability will vary significantly depending on where a young person lives
- ⚠️ The protection against custody for non-compliance is narrow — it only applies to the addiction treatment condition specifically, not to other conditions a young person may breach