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Application and Review Process

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Time Limit

You have 30 days to contact the Custody Review Board to ask for a review:

  • from the time you are placed in a custody facility or transferred to a facility, or
  • from the time you receive a Provincial Director’s decision about your placement, transfer, temporary release or reintegration leave.

Filing

To file an application for a review, call 416-327-4673 or 1-888-728-8823 and ask to speak with a case processing officer. The CRB accepts collect telephone calls. The case processing officer will complete the application with you over the phone by asking you for the following information:

  • Your name
  • Your date of birth
  • The name and telephone number of your facility
  • Whether you are sentenced or detained
  • Whether you want to identify your racial or cultural background to help us assess your needs
  • The name of the unit within your facility
  • The name of your primary worker at your facility
  • The name of your advocate at the Office of Provincial Child Advocate for Children and Youth, if you have one.
  • The name and phone number of your probation officer, if you have one.
  • The date you were placed or transferred to your current facility or the date you received a decision from a Provincial Director regarding your placement, transfer, temporary release or reintegration leave
  • The reason you are requesting a review
  • Information about your sentence or your detention.
  • Whether you need accommodation (alternate arrangements) or interpretation to participate in the review process.

The CRB will notify the Provincial Director that you have submitted an application.

If your application doesn’t meet the criteria for a review by the CRB, someone from the CRB will phone you to explain why.

Two Types of Reviews

A review can be done in one of two ways:

  1. An inquiry, where a CRB member calls people or meets with them individually. This is the most common type of review.
  2. A hearing (like court but less formal) held with you, the Provincial Director and anyone else who needs to be there.

If the CRB decides to hold an inquiry, a CRB member will contact you within 24 hours of receiving your application from the case processing officer. As part of the inquiry, the member will gather information from you and other people who know you and your circumstances. The member may connect with these people, talk to them on the phone or do both. The CRB member will use the information from these interviews to make their decision.

If the CRB decides to hold a hearing you will be notified within 10 days.

The Review Process

During the review, the CRB may ask for information from:

  • The Provincial Director who made the decision
  • Staff from the facility where you are currently placed
  • Staff from the facility where you would like to be transferred
  • Other people who might have helpful information, for example:
    • Your probation officer
    • Your parents
    • Your Children’s Aid Worker
    • Your counsellor
    • Your advocate from the Office of Provincial Child Advocate for Children and Youth
    • Your lawyer

The CRB looks at whether your placement is appropriate to meet your needs. For example, if you were transferred to a place that is far from your home, the CRB will look at whether your need to be in contact with your family is being met.

If there is a hearing, we will schedule the hearing on dates that are convenient for everyone. Notice of the hearing will be sent to you or your lawyer, and the Provincial Director/Regional Placement Coordinator.

After the Review

Timing

After conducting a hearing or inquiry, the CRB makes a decision. Unless both you and the Provincial Director agree to give the CRB more time, the decision will be sent to you and the Provincial Director within 30 days of when you made your application. The CRB member who conducted the review will call you to let you know the decision before it’s sent to you. The CRB will also fax you the decision and ask you to sign to show that you received it.

Outcome

The CRB may agree with (confirm) the Provincial Director’s decision, placement or transfer. Or, the CRB may recommend to the Provincial Director:

  • that you be transferred to another place
  • that you be returned to open custody
  • that your temporary release be granted
  • that your reintegration leave be granted

The recommendation will include a summary of facts from the review and the CRB’s reasons.

The CRB can only make recommendations. This means that the Provincial Director does not have to do what the CRB suggests.  For example, even if the CRB thinks you should be moved, the Provincial Director can decide to keep you where you are.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Information about youth in custody or detention is sensitive and confidential. Also, the Youth Criminal Justice Act does not allow personal information about youth in the youth justice system to be published. For these reasons, the CRB’s decision is written in two formats:

  • The parties involved in the application (e.g. you and the Provincial Director) will receive the official version of the decision
  • A second version, which has all of your identifying information removed (e.g. the name of the facility, and your name and date of birth) may be posted on the Canadian Legal Information Institute website where anyone can read it.