Stricter bail a 'balancing act' with overrepresented groups: police chiefs

Chief Danny Smyth, President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, holds a press conference during the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Summit in Ottawa on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA -

Toughening up the bail system without putting more people of colour behind bars is a balancing act, the leader of Canada's police chiefs said Tuesday.

Danny Smyth, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, made the comments in Ottawa after meeting other chiefs to discuss opportunities to recruit more immigrants into the profession.

The talks, held as part of the association's annual conference, come as the federal Liberal cabinet meets in Prince Edward Island ahead of Parliament's return next month. Housing, immigration and bail reform are expected to top the government's agenda.

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Following a spate of high-profile violent crimes in the last year -- including fatal shootings of officers -- the police chiefs were among the voices calling on the federal government to reform the bail system to make it harder for people accused of certain crimes to return to the community.

Criminal justice experts and defence lawyers say the bail system already has problems with bias: Black and Indigenous people are overrepresented and have difficulty getting bail, as do people suffering from mental health conditions.

"What I think people sometimes overlook is that the victims of crime are the very communities that (we're) talking about, where the racialized or the marginalized communities become very vulnerable. It's those people that are being harmed as well," said Smyth, who is also Winnipeg's police chief.

"There's a bit of a balancing act there," he added, saying "the reforms being considered are very specific to repeat violent offenders."

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Since being appointed to the role in last month's cabinet shuffle, Justice Minister Arif Virani has said his top priority is to pass a law that proposes a suite of new bail measures.

The government bill, presented by Virani's predecessor David Lametti back in May, places a reverse onus on people charged with serious violence offences involving a weapon who have been convicted of a similar offence in the last five years.

In typical bail scenarios, a Crown prosecutor must convince a judge why an accused person should remain behind bars until a court hears their charge.

Under reverse onus provisions, the burden shifts to the person who is in custody to show a judge why they should be released while awaiting their day in court.

The Liberals are also seeking to add certain firearm offences and cases involving intimate partner violence to the reverse-onus provisions.

Virani has defended the government's move to make it harder for some people to get bail at a time when it's also tried to reduce the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.

He has said the tougher reforms apply to a "finite" number of repeat offenders, and efforts to reduce the number of people of colour in jail mainly focus on non-violent offences.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug.22, 2023.