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This enactment amends the Criminal Code to add a definition of
``child'' in certain sections where the term refers to a person of a certain
age, which the Act does not presently specify, rather than referring to a
descendant relationship.
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A new definition of ``child'' for Part VIII of the Act that deals with
offences against the person provides that in that Part ``child'' means a
person under 18. This revised definition and an amendment to
paragraph 215(1)(a) set the age of a child in respect of whom the head
of a family is under a legal duty to provide necessaries of life at eighteen,
not sixteen as in present law.
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Certain provisions of the Act in which special age limits have been
set for particular reasons for the protection of younger children are not
amended.
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This ensures that the Act will be interpreted consistently with the
definition of ``child'' proposed by the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child as a person who is less than eighteen years old,
except in cases where a lower age is specifically provided to give added
protection to younger children.
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