Youth Federal Diversion

The Federal Diversion program is a community-based sentencing option used to deal with a young person alleged to have committed an offence under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).

The Federal Diversion program is a partnership between the Ministry of the Attorney General and St. Leonard’s Community Services.

Federal Diversion may be used to deal with young persons alleged to have committed a federal offence only if the young person cannot be adequately dealt with by way of police warning, caution or referral to the Extrajudicial Measures program due to the serious nature of the offence, the number of previous offences committed by the young person or any other aggravating circumstances.

The Federal Diversion program offers alternatives to the formal court process by providing community based sanctions when a young person is alleged to have committed an offence.

The goal of the Federal Diversion program is to provide supportive interventions and programming to assist young persons to accept responsibility for their offence and address the impact of the alleged offence.

Education and awareness are the key components of programming in the Federal Diversion Program.