SUMMARY

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.

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.

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.

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.