(OTTAWA) Experts warn bail reform introduced this week by Justin Trudeau’s government could be subject to legal challenges and have limited impact.
The bill seeks to make obtaining bail more difficult for people charged with violent gun crimes who have already been convicted on similar charges within the past five years.
If passed, it will be these defendants who will have to prove that they can be safely released pending trial, not prosecutors who will have to prove the danger they pose.
The bill also adds to this category certain armed offenses and certain cases where the alleged crimes are related to domestic violence.
Danardo Jones, assistant professor of law at the University of Windsor, recalls that the Supreme Court has already warned governments against a reverse onus. “It creates many changes and I am not sure that it will meet the constitutional criteria,” he explained.
Justice Minister David Lametti promised that any new law would respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedomswhich ensures that anyone charged with a crime cannot be denied bail without good reason.
A 1992 Supreme Court decision ruled that bail “shall not be denied unless there is a ‘substantial likelihood’ that the defendant will commit a criminal offense or interfere with the administration of justice and only if that “significant probability” jeopardizes “the protection or safety of the public”.
Assistant Professor Jones says he fears that with this bill, “we may see public safety weigh more heavily than civil liberties”.
“We have to strike a balance,” Minister Lametti said Tuesday at a press conference. “We believe we have achieved this, struck a balance between the Charter of Rights and public safety. »
Associate Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University Nicole Myers said the new law could have “limited” effects, as it does not address the causes of crime.
She argues for “doing the hard thing” and investing in education, health, mental health, addictions, poverty and homelessness.
“It is on the state to bear the burden of proof and demonstrate why someone should be kept in custody, rather than the accused to demonstrate why they should be released,” she added. .
Mr. Jones and Mme Myers both worry that the new law will disproportionately affect groups already overrepresented in Canadian penitentiaries, including blacks and Indigenous peoples.