Provincial ministers fresh from meetings in Ottawa are outlining what bail reform may look like, as random, and repeat violent offenses are up across the country.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth and Attorney General Nikki Sharma say they and their provincial cohorts are pushing for changes in response to “unintended consequences” from federal amendments to Bill C-75.
Through the legislation, the government changed bail provisions to strengthen an accused’s “right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.”
Observers say an increase in repeat and random violent assaults is linked to the bail changes.
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Kyla Lee, a criminal lawyer in Vancouver, said she doesn’t believe more reforms will necessarily go as far as the province hopes.
“I don’t think that we’ll see violent repeat offenders like those that we see often in the Downtown Eastside with those sort of random attacks…I expect what we will see is this will apply to people who commit violent offenses involving firearms, because that has been sort of a target issue for the Liberal government,” explained Lee.
Whether those changes could include broadening firearms to weapons is unclear.