The evolution of juvenile justice in Canada : Évolution de la justice des mineurs au Canada

The treatment of delinquents As befits a country founded by immigrants, the treatment of delinquent children in early Canada was based upon the attitudes, customs and laws that prevailed in the mother countries of France and England, subject to modification under the special circumstances and realities of a pioneer society. [...] The brutality of the parents was paralleled by the brutality of the state. [...] He was among the first of the early Canadian reformers to suggest publicly and officially that the roots of juvenile delinquency lay outside the person and that the entire community bore a responsibility in dealing with the problem. [...] The Brown Commission further recom- mended that the centres be put under the control of the penitentiary in- spectors and that a board of managers be appointed to make weekly visits, look after the apprenticing of the children and oversee the philanthropic activities of the institution. [...] The first of these early reformatories were Isle-aux-Noix, opened in October 1858 on the Richelieu River, and Penetanguishene, on Geor- gian Bay, the former to serve the Eastern part of the country and the lat- ter the Western one.