The Importance Of Standard Of Development In Canada

It is my personal belief, that a child should be considered a person once the child has reached the third trimester of development. Although Canadian standards do not recognize a child as an actual person until they are birthed, there should be certain safeguards in place in order to protect the child, despite the fact that they have not yet been born. I am aware that there are certain provisions in place to protect unborn children, but a child that has reached the third trimester of development should be considered a “person” in my opinion, because they have reached certain developmental milestones that should classify them as such. As the textbook outlined, there have been gruesome cases in which the only right considered by the legal system
Some provinces have the upper age limits set at 16, and others at 19. However, this doesn’t make sense to me, as children across Canada should have a standard of adulthood to look to. Furthermore, upper age limits affect a child’s ability to access social services, and developing a nationwide standard at age 18 will ensure that all children in Canada under that age will have access to the services they need. Furthermore, the YCJA legislation that allows provinces to set age limits for youth sentencing, is an incredibly discriminatory practice, as children in one province are being treated completely differently than a child in another province. There should be a standard that exists throughout Canada in order to ensure that all children are being treated equally and fairly. My culture also has an impact on my viewpoint on upper age limits. The culture that I was raised in, determined “childhood” by puberty, so once a child had hit puberty they were no longer a child. This was a very sad experience, as children are often forced to grow up long before they are ready to. That is why I believe the nationwide standard should be 18, as this age allows for children to have access to services, and environments to properly develop