Minister of Justice Arif Villani He said he wanted to ensure the principles guiding bail decisions were upheld because of high rates of reoffending among people on bail, as reported by police.
“Bail decisions are made by magistrates and provincial court judges across the country. They are supposed to follow basic principles. The two basic principles are, is this person a flight risk, do we think they will not appear in court if they are released? And secondly, are they a risk of reoffending?” Villani said in an interview. West District Host Mercedes Stephenson.
“We see people being granted bail and then coming back because they are actually reoffending, which means we need to make sure that magistrates and provincial court judges are applying these principles correctly.”
In early January, amendments to Canada’s bail laws came into effect, removing the obligation to post bail for certain people charged with violent crimes, such as those charged with firearms offences and intimate partner violence. The removal of the obligation to post bail means that defendants will need to prove why they are eligible for bail, rather than prosecutors having to prove to the court why someone should not be eligible for bail.
Villani said the goal of the bill (Bill C-48) is to make it more difficult for “serious and recidivist violent offenders” to get bail.
Last week West District, Two senior police officers said they were waiting for more data before they could announce whether the situation they and their colleagues were experiencing had changed.
“Between 2019 and 2022, 53 per cent of homicide offenders in the RCMP jurisdiction received some form of community release,” said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Jodie Boudreau.
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“From my own experience in Winnipeg, we've found that about 20 per cent of the people that we arrest for violent crime are actually released on bail. So this is something that we're going to be focusing on as a national effort,” Danny Smith, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Winnipeg Police Chief, said on the show.
Crime rates in Canada had been rising since 2014, but fell sharply in early 2020, according to Statistics Canada. Coronavirus disease The crime rate began to rise again in 2021.
Property crime remains the most common crime, but violent crime has been trending upward and did not see a similar decline in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.
Crime rates remain well below their peak in the early 1990s, when there were 10,342 crimes per 100,000 people in 1991. The 2022 rate is 5,668 crimes per 100,000 people.
“I think there's no doubt that violent crime has been increasing, looking at the crime severity index,” Villani said.
“I would say we're trying to tackle this problem on multiple fronts. So we're investing in things like border security and gun trafficking, we're investing in things like guns and gangs, task forces, etc.”
Rising vehicle theft rates are a focus of police and political attention, with Villani announcing $121 million to combat the problem. He stressed the strategy would focus on disrupting the organised crime gangs that cause the problem, rather than just arresting thieves.
“All of these crimes that we are seeing are being orchestrated by organized crime groups both domestically and internationally,” Villani said.
Meanwhile, anti-Semitism has surged this week following Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel and in response to Israel's actions in Gaza. Shootings have hit two Jewish schools in Toronto and Montreal.
According to Statistics Canada, Jews are the most targeted religious group in police-reported hate crimes, with 502 such crimes occurring in 2022.
Villani said he believed police were doing everything they could to address the issues and condemned the overall increase in hate-related incidents.
“We're seeing an increase in anti-Semitic incidents. We're seeing incidents of Islamophobia. We're seeing attacks on racial groups, on women, on the LGBTQ2 community, unfortunately,” Villani said.
“These are concerning. The statistics for the Greater Toronto Area in particular are alarming, with a 130 per cent increase over the past five years. This shows that action is needed.”
According to Statistics Canada, Muslims were the second most targeted group, with 108 hate crimes reported by police in 2022. Another 1,723 racial or ethnic hate crimes involving Muslims occurred in 2021, according to a November 2023 Senate report on Islamophobia.
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