The ACJA is excited to announce that Ms. Sandra Couture has kindly agreed to a follow-up webinar from her initial presentation “The Youth Criminal Justice Act: Principles and Amendments” that took place on September 23, 2020.

On Friday, January 8th, 2021 from 1100-1200hrs (MST), Ms. Couture will present on “Indigenous Youth and the YCJA”. In this webinar, Ms. Couture will share her expertise and insights regarding the overrepresentation of indigenous youth in Canada’s criminal justice system and how recent YCJA amendments aimed at reducing the rates of indigenous youth in custody impacts police, community corrections, and counsel.

Sandra Couture holds a Bachelors of Civil Law (LL.L) from the University of Ottawa and has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 2006. She began her career as a legal aid defence counsel, and later went on to private practice, representing youth involved in the youth criminal justice system, as well as parents and children involved in the child protection system.

For 11 years, she was corporate counsel for the Director of Youth Protection and Provincial Director of the Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSSO) where she was a litigator in child protection, youth criminal justice and mental health matters. For the last two years as corporate counsel, she was entrusted with all Indigenous youth matters. Since 2018, she has been teaching at the Québec Bar Association School. Sandra joined Justice Canada in September 2019, as a Counsel in the Youth and Indigenous Justice Division, where she provides legal and policy advice on all matters related to the Youth Criminal Justice Act and Canada’s youth justice system. Since February of 2020, Sandra has been providing YCJA training throughout the country to various stakeholders in the Youth Criminal Justice System.

Attendance is FREE but limited. Please RSVP to info@acja.ca by 8AM (MST) on Thursday, January 7th, 2021. Registrants will be sent further details including Zoom credentials.