House of Commons ‘dropped the ball’ on rushing Liberal bail-reform bill, Senate hears

OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s representative in the Senate encouraged the Upper Chamber to pass its bail-reform bill “expeditiously” Thursday, while acknowledging the picture of what bail looks like in Canada is incomplete. 

Sen. Marc Gold confirmed during a debate that the bail-reform package will be studied by a Senate committee, after the House of Commons gave unanimous consent Monday to pass the bill without study by MPs.

The legislation was ultimately referred to the Senate’s legal affairs committee Thursday afternoon, but not before many senators voiced concerns about the potential effects of the bill — and the fact members of Parliament declined to study it. 

Prince Edward Island Sen. Percy Downe said that MPs “dropped the ball” in rushing the changes through the House of Commons without further scrutiny.

He said that leaves the Senate having to start from “ground zero” in its review of the legislation. 

The speedy passage of the bill so far has also prompted concern from civil-society groups that say its measures could worsen the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous individuals behind bars, and lead to more people making false guilty pleas so they can leave pre-trial detention.

Many of the same concerns were voiced by senators. 

“I understand the emotional and political impetus to speed this bill to passage, but I am concerned at the speed at which things are moving,” said Alberta Sen. Paula Simons said Thursday. 

“Because we are dealing with an issue in which people’s fundamental liberties are at stake.”

The Liberals brought in the bill, which would make it harder for certain offenders to get bail, amid widespread pressure from provincial premiers and police chiefs for Ottawa to toughen up existing laws following a string of high-profile violent incidents involving repeat offenders.

That included the shooting death of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala in late December. 

Court documents show a man who is co-accused of first-degree murder in the case was denied bail on unrelated assault and weapons charges months before the shooting, but was released after a review. A warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to show up for a court date months before Pierzchala’s killing.

The Liberal bill proposes to expand reverse-onus provisions for certain offenders.

It means that instead of the Crown having to prove why someone charged with a crime ought to stay behind bars while they are awaiting trial, the responsibility shifts to the accused to prove why they should be let out.

The bill, tabled last May before Parliament took a summer recess, seeks to expand reverse-onus measures for certain firearm and weapons offences, as well as in some circumstances when the alleged crime involves intimate partner violence. 

In arguing in favour of the bill, Gold said it is designed to target people charged with serious violent offences.

But he acknowledged that not enough data is being collected about what bail looks like in Canada right now. 

“It’s a critical question: What is the impact of this bill or what might it have been?” Gold said. “We don’t have proper data.”

Some Conservative senators voiced concerns that the proposed measures would not capture enough offences and need to be strengthened to better protect potential crime victims. 

But Sen. Kim Pate suggested Thursday that the high-profile violent crimes that led to calls for bail reform were “outliers.” 

Pate is a former executive director the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, which advocates for criminal justice reform. 

She called the Liberal bill a piece of “performance legislation,” and warned it could lead to “discriminatory outcomes” against people who are Black, Indigenous, living with mental illness or members of other vulnerable groups who are already overrepresented in provincial jails.

“Who will this bill actually end up jailing?” Pate asked.

She added: “The public should be horrified by the willingness of elected officials to bypass the usual process of studying a bill and evidence, such as that of what Canadian crime rates actually are.”

Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani, who earlier in the week defended the bill’s quick passage into the Senate, said in a social media post on Thursday that he hopes the legislation “gets Royal Assent as fast as possible.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023. 

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press