Detaining a child is a last resort, and this sets out what has to be looked at before it happens. Whether a child protection or child care agency could take the child instead, how long detention would run, whether smugglers or traffickers would regain control, what kind of facility is involved, whether the child could be kept apart from unrelated adult detainees, and whether there is schooling, counselling and recreation inside.
249 For the application of the principle affirmed in section 60 of the Act that a minor child shall be detained only as a measure of last resort, the special considerations that apply in relation to the detention of minor children who are less than 18 years of age are (a)the availability of alternative arrangements with local child-care agencies or child protection services for the care and protection of the minor children; (b)the anticipated length of detention; (c)the risk of continued control by the human smugglers or traffickers who brought the children to Canada; (d)the type of detention facility envisaged and the conditions of detention; (e)the availability of accommodation that allows for the segregation of the minor children from adult detainees who are not the parent of or the adult legally responsible for the detained minor children; and (f)the availability of services in the detention facility, including education, counselling and recreation.