Bail reform among key topics raised during Solicitor General's visit

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In addition to hosting a tour of police and fire service, local officials took the opportunity to discuss crime trends and the need for bail reform during a visit by Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner in Timmins last week.

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The Timmins Police Service is part of a Northern Task Force that has been calling for reforms that would make it more challenging for repeat and violent offenders from being released before trial.

“We did have a discussion around bail reform and how we can continue to be an advocate” on that issue, said Kraymr Grenke, chair of the Timmins Police Services board. “We do understand the catch-and-release system isn’t functioning in our community and in the province and our country anymore. People who are committing crimes are just getting released on bail and committing more crimes.

“He (Kerzner) understands this is an issue that needs to be changed,” said Grenke. “It’s a federal issue. He’s had that conversation with the public safety minister – and there is now a new public safety minister (Dominic LeBlanc) that has come into effect, so he will continue to have that conversation.”

While many in Timmins have attributed much of the crime happening in the city during the last few years to the launch of a homeless shelter and a supervised drug injection site, Grenke noted the perceived ineffectiveness of the judicial system in deterring and detaining violent offenders is a growing nationwide concern — one that is not exclusive to Timmins.

He said that is reflected in the “first letter all 13 premiers from the provinces and territories have ever signed together, saying that bail reform has to be a priority.”

In April, the Council of the Federation — the organization representing Canada’s premiers — called on the federal government to take action against the scourge of “violent crimes committed by repeat offenders.”

Those sentiments have been echoed in Timmins where most members of city council have mentioned that rising crime was the No. 1 concern expressed to them by voters during the last municipal election campaign.

That mirrors views expressed in an Angus Reid Institute survey in October which found that a clear majority of Canadians (60 per cent) were reporting that crime in their neighbourhoods was on the increase.

As for what’s causing this, Canadians were largely in agreement that this is a policy issue. In a wide-ranging June poll conducted by Leger, near-unanimous numbers of Canadian respondents blamed the crime wave on a justice system that was too “lenient” on violent offenders, particularly when it came to the issue of bail. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “there are too many repeat violent offenders being offered bail.”

However, these sentiments seem to stand in sharp contrast to those of Canada’s newly sworn-in justice minister, Arif Virani, who began his tenure three weeks ago by saying that the real problem was Canadians’ inaccurate perception that crime was getting worse.

“Empirically, it’s unlikely,” he said to suggestions that Canada is becoming less safe. Rather, his ministry would need to counter “a sense coming out of the pandemic that people’s safety is more in jeopardy.”

However, the empirical statistics seem to say otherwise.

Statistics Canada figures released just last month had Canada’s 2022 Violent Crime Severity Index higher than at any point since 2007. Homicide rates are hitting 30-year highs. In 2022, Canada recorded 2.25 homicides per 100,000, the highest since 1992.

Nonetheless, Grenke remains confident that a unified stance by police services, municipal leaders and provincial premiers will help drive an eventual move towards bail reforms.

“In Question Period before the House of Commons broke for summer period, they did acknowledge that bail reform needs to be looked at,” he told The Daily Press. “I think that’s a great indication that community safety across the country is something that will be addressed.”

Grenke added, “When they could look at bail reform, hopefully this fall when they sit again and it goes to committee, I know the (Conservative) critic for public safety Miss (Raquel) Dancho from Kildonan-St. Paul (Manitoba) will be a very strong force in bringing bail reform back to the forefront.”

— With files from Tristin Hopper of Postmedia