COLUMN: Think Again – We need bail reform in Canada

Last weekend, I attended the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in Ottawa. This conference provides a great opportunity for municipal politicians from across the country to get together and share ideas.

One of the most impactful sessions for me was a panel discussion titled “Police Perspectives on Bail Reform: Breaking the Cycle of Repeat Offenders.” The panelists included an Ontario police chief, a police union president, an RCMP superintendent, and a Vancouver city councillor.

While each of the panelists came from different regions, one message came through loud and clear—we need bail reform in Canada. In far too many cases, people who commit crimes are arrested by police, processed at the courthouse, and immediately released on bail. The same thing then happens the next day, and the next.

According to the panelists, few things are more demoralizing for police officers than to arrest the same person repeatedly only to see them let out of jail again and again. Even violent repeat offenders often have little difficulty getting bail.

When it came time for questions from the audience, a large number of councillors immediately went to the microphone. Councillors from across the country shared their personal stories about how their communities were impacted by our lax criminal justice system. One councillor also pointed out that small business owners experience some of the worst effects of crime, since it affects their bottom line in a significant way.

Fortunately, no one in the room demanded that we “defund the police.” It appears that ridiculous slogan has finally fallen out of favour.

The cause of bail reform is not merely theoretical. Earlier this year, a 28-year-old woman who worked as the City of Portage la Prairie’s tourism coordinator was killed by an impaired driver. The driver was out on bail at the time, and he had a warrant out for his arrest. Unsurprisingly, Portage la Prairie Mayor Sharilyn Knox has now taken up the cause of bail reform in a very public way.

Both the federal and provincial governments must act. The federal government needs to tighten bail laws so that judges are empowered to keep repeat violent offenders in prison. And provinces need to streamline the provincial court system so that judges aren’t faced with a massive backlog of cases.

Meanwhile, municipalities can assist with advocacy. Municipal politicians do not control the justice system, but we can advocate for change. The police chief on the FCM panel emphasized that when police chiefs speak, they get only limited attention from the media, but when municipal politicians speak, it attracts a lot more attention.

This is why I’m glad that municipal politicians have reached a near-universal consensus that bail reform is urgently needed. This is an issue that transcends typical left/right political divisions. We all want our residents to feel safe in their communities, and this means keeping violent offenders off the streets.

One city councillor asked the panel members about firearms. The police chief was clear that most firearms used in the commission of crimes (99 percent or more) are illegally imported guns from the United States. In other words, cracking down on law-abiding gun owners might get some good headlines, but it won’t do anything to address the real issue.

Everyone deserves to be safe in their homes and communities. If you commit a serious crime, you belong in jail. If you commit serious crimes repeatedly, you deserve to be in jail a whole lot longer. This is a message that all federal and provincial politicians need to hear.

Canada urgently needs bail reform. The sooner this happens, the better.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.