This is the fourth article in a series examining recent government bills or laws that experts say deserved more scrutiny.
Bill C-14, a major bail reform law, took effect July 15, following years of pressure from municipalities, provinces and the public.
The law makes it harder for accused people to get bail and toughens sentences for certain crimes.
Supporters point to unsafe city streets and a system that kept releasing repeat offenders as proof reform was needed.
“The federal government stepped up and tried to do something here to deal with what we’re seeing around repeat violent offenders. So we’re supportive of [the law],” said Clayton Campbell, a police officer and president of the Toronto Police Association, Canada’s largest municipal police union.
But critics say the reforms leave the underlying causes of crime unaddressed.
“We only hear about the sensational cases … we do not hear about the hundreds of thousands of people that get released on bail and follow all their conditions and complete [it] successfully,” said Nicole Myers, a criminologist at Queen’s University.
“If you were to ask me how I’d want to amend it, I would be like, ‘Tear it up and pretend we just never went here.’”
Tightened bail
Bail allows someone charged with a crime to stay out of custody until their trial. According to Statistics Canada, the average criminal case takes just over six months to reach trial.
In Canada, there is a presumption that accused people should be released, not detained. Only a subset of cases ever proceed to a bail hearing.
The new law introduces new ‘reverse onus’ provisions for certain serious offences, including violent auto theft, breaking and entering, and human trafficking. For such offences, individuals will now have to show they should be released, rather than the other way around.
The new reverse onus provisions also apply to offenders with prior convictions in the past 10 years, up from five previously.
On sentencing, the new law requires courts to consider aggravating factors, such as whether it was a repeat offence, part of organized retail theft, or a crime against first responders or public transit employees.
Judges can also now impose consecutive sentences for repeat violent offenders, meaning someone convicted of multiple offences could serve separate time for each conviction.
The bill was studied at three committee meetings this year and was approved with the overwhelming support of the Liberals and Conservatives. Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser moved to restrict debate on the bill to get it over the line before the House of Commons’ summer recess.
The Bloc Québécois criticized the speed at which the law was passed.
“Bill C-14 was a bill that the public wanted, that the Conservatives wanted, and that the Liberals wanted. … [T]he two parties reached an agreement to speed up the process of getting it passed,” said Bloc Québécois House Leader Christine Normandin in a Feb. 13 House debate.
“Corners were cut for political purposes, and I find that more than unfortunate.”
‘Finally listening’
Political and public pressure for bail reform has been mounting for years. Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have both been prominent political voices calling for change.
The Carney government has been more open to consulting on public safety than the Trudeau government, says Campbell, of the Toronto Police Association.
“Ninety per cent” of the bill addressed the association’s concerns, said Campbell, who was a witness at the committee meeting studying Bill C-14 in February.
“I can say we essentially had zero relationship with the Trudeau government at the time. As soon as Mark Carney got in, we saw a sea change,” Campbell told Canadian Affairs in an interview.
Campbell believes tightening bail conditions for serious offenders will make the public safer.
“Our focus was not on keeping more people in custody. It’s about keeping the right people in custody,” he said. “For our [police] members … having that revolving door becomes very frustrating.”
Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas has seen this “revolving door” first hand. In the B.C. city of about 165,000 people, 15 individuals have 1,335 police files, Dyas told Canadian Affairs.
“These individuals were just continually cycling through our system,” he said.
Dyas, says the new laws will have a positive impact on municipalities like Kelowna, which bear the brunt of crime but lack the tools to respond on their own.
“There’s been a substantial downloading from … judicial systems on a federal level and on a provincial level onto municipalities,” he said.
“And municipalities, the way that they’re built, do not have the tools … to create legislation.”
Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, says he was happy to see repeat offenders targeted by the new legislation. He notes that recurrent and organized shoplifting has become an increasing concern for downtown business owners in Halifax.
“What we’re seeing, especially in regards to shoplifting, is it’s a pretty small group of people that seem to be just perpetually committing the same crimes,” said MacKinnon, who also spoke at the committee meeting.
Both MacKinnon and Campbell welcome tougher sentences for certain offences, such as organized retail theft or assaults on first responders.
“We see our members unfortunately assaulted, seriously injured, shot, stabbed, murdered at times,” said Campbell, of the police association. “So I think that’s an important factor.”
Statistic Canada’s Crime Severity Index, which measures reported crimes by their severity, shows that overall crime levels have ticked up slightly from 2014, but are significantly lower than they were in 1998.
However, the severity of violent crime has increased significantly in recent years.
MacKinnon says the new legislation shows the government is “finally listening” to groups like his that have been raising concerns for years.
“[There was] just a general sense that things have been going in the wrong direction for quite a while,” he said.
Is it effective?
But Myers, the Queen’s University criminologist, is disappointed by the new legislation.
“I don’t want to minimize that [repeat offenders are] a problem,” she said. But in her view, the public often fails to appreciate the presumption of innocence in bail discussions.
Someone who is held in custody before trial and later convicted will usually have that time count towards their sentence. But there is generally no compensation available to someone who is detained pre-trial and later acquitted.
“By all markers that we have available, we do not have a lenient bail system. It’s never been easier to incarcerate legally innocent people in this country,” said Myers. “I’m dismayed to see us moving in a policy direction that is completely disconnected from the evidence.”
According to the digital database World Prison Brief, nearly 50 per cent of Canada’s overall prison population is made up of pre-trial detainees. This is compared to about 25 per cent in the United States and 18 per cent in England and Wales.
Many of the concerns the new law aims to address stem from systemic challenges like homelessness, mental health problems and addiction, Myers notes. The justice system does not adequately address these issues, she says.
“If we’re interested in public safety, we want to give people the support that they need to connect them with the resources that are available,” she said.
“In our failure to do those kinds of things, we’re creating the circumstances that make it more likely that someone would commit a crime.”
Myers also worries that Black and Indigenous people will be disproportionately affected by the new legislation.
“It’s the most marginalized, the most vulnerable people in our society that experience the most onerous, restrictive and criminalizing aspects of our criminal justice system,” she said.
“This legislation, in my view, would likely be no exception to that.”
For his part, Dyas, Kelowna’s mayor, believes it was important for the bill to be passed quickly, noting it can always be amended later if necessary.
“If we get a year down the road and we find out that it needs an adjustment … let’s tweak it.”
