Northern cities thank retiring Timmins Police Chief Foy

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The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities issued a statement Monday thanking Timmins Police Chief Daniel Foy and North Bay police chief Scott Tod for their help advancing the cause of bail reform.

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Both chiefs recently announced their retirement.

The Federation created a Bail Reform and Property Crime Taskforce earlier in the year with the four police chiefs in northeastern Ontario.

Critics say that Bill-75, which reformed the bail process in 2019, is to blame for the rising crime rate in Canada. In 2020, according to Statistics Canada, the violent crime rate increased five per cent, while the property crime rate decreased one per cent compared to the previous year.

To address the overrepresentation of indigenous people in the corrections system and the high number of persons who remained in custody awaiting trial, the new law legislated a “principle of restraint” for police and courts to favour release at the earliest opportunity.

Some, such as B.C. attorney general Murray Rankin say the unintended consequence of the reform was that more repeat offenders, some of them accused of random violence, ended up on the streets.

The taskforce asked for four changes to Bill C75 at the federation’s annual general meeting in May: create a designation of a chronic persistent offender, allow community impact statements at bail and at bail hearings, create reverse onus in bail for all firearms offences, and send all bail-related gun charges go to the superior court for bail release.

Within the month, 70 support resolutions were passed by communities in Northern Ontario.

Later that month, Bill 48 was introduced by David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, which will amend the Criminal Code.

“Daniel and Scott were not only strong leaders in their communities” and “they were instrumental in Northern Ontario having a voice on necessary changes to Bill 75,” Danny Whalen, the federation’s president said in the statement.

“Their efforts have helped lay a strong foundation for improving society. We wish them well in their retirement,” the statement continued.

The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is an association of 110 districts, municipalities, cities and towns in northeastern Ontario mandated to work for the betterment of municipal government in the region and to strive for improved legislation respecting local government in the North.

It is a membership-based association that draws its members from Northeastern Ontario and is governed by an 11-member board.

With files from Tasha Kheiriddin