(Chair) in the chair.

[English]

Welcome to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. I want to invite senators around the table to introduce themselves.

Senator Denise Batters, Saskatchewan.

Senator David Arnot, Saskatchewan.

[Translation]

I am Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu from Quebec, and I am the committee’s deputy chair.

I am Marc Gold from Quebec. I am the Government Representative in the Senate and the sponsor of the bill.

[English]

Welcome. Marty Klyne, senator from Saskatchewan, Treaty 4 territory.

[Translation]

I am Senator Pierre Dalphond, and I represent the senatorial division of De Lorimier, in Quebec.

[English]

Senator Paula Simons, Alberta, Treaty 6 territory.

[Translation]

I am Senator Renée Dupuis, and I represent the senatorial division of The Laurentides, in Quebec.

[English]

Kim Pate. I live here on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg.

Welcome, minister. Mobina Jaffer from British Columbia.

Kwe’. Senator Judy White from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the ancestral homelands of the Mi’kmaq and the Beothuk.

Mary Coyle, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, representing Senator Bernadette Clement.

My name is Brent Cotter. I’m a senator from Saskatchewan and the chair of this committee. Just before we begin, and for your information, Senator Arnot and Senator White are not officially members of the committee, but they are joining us today out of interest in the bill, and perhaps for the opportunity to see the minister in his first performance at this committee in this capacity.

Honourable senators, we are meeting today to begin our study of Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail reform). Appearing on our first panel to discuss this government legislation, we are pleased to welcome the Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. At this time, I would also like to introduce his colleagues, some of whom will stay for the second hour of our meeting: Isabelle Jacques, Associate Deputy Minister; Matthew Taylor, General Counsel and Director, Criminal Law Policy Section; Chelsea Moore, Legal Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section; and Shannon Davis-Ermuth, Senior Counsel and Manager, Criminal Law Policy Section — welcome to you all.

As I think you know, minister, we’ll invite you to deliver approximately five minutes of opening remarks, to be followed by dialogue, which usually means questions from senators for the better part of the following hour. I’m going to turn the floor over to you now, minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the members of the committee. I’m pleased to be here speaking to you from the traditional unceded Algonquin territory.

[Translation]

I am delighted to be here today to discuss Bill C-48. The bill seeks to strengthen our bail laws so that they continue to protect our communities and ensure public confidence in the system when it comes to cases involving repeat violent crime and weapons offences.

[English]

This bill comes at a time when we’ve all been deeply disturbed by a number of tragic incidences of violence that have shaken the public’s sense of safety and their confidence in the criminal justice system.

I want to start by offering my condolences to the victims involved, as well as their families, and acknowledge the hardships of all those who have been impacted by these senseless acts of violence.

I would like to remind you that this bill is the result of extensive discussions with our provincial and territorial counterparts. Our Indigenous partners, particularly national Indigenous organizations, and law enforcement agencies across Canada were also involved in the discussions.

It is also the result of a study on the bail system in Canada undertaken by the House of Commons Justice Committee earlier this year, which heard from approximately 30 witnesses over the course of seven meetings. That testimony from the House of Commons Justice Committee was reviewed carefully by my office and department, and considered in the drafting of this legislation now before you.

All the provinces and territories support this legislation, as did all members of the House of Commons, which is somewhat rare; I will confess that to you.

We have also received support from police and victims’ groups. We have heard calls to pass this legislation swiftly, and I look forward to working with you to do exactly that.

The basis for the current bail legislation, in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is that every person has the right to reasonable bail.

For most criminal offences, the onus is on the Crown to convince the court that the accused should be detained. A person may be held in pretrial detention for three reasons: to ensure the accused’s attendance in court, thus avoiding the risk of flight; to ensure public safety, particularly when there is a substantial likelihood that the accused will reoffend; and to maintain confidence in the administration of justice.

Bill C-48 would add a reverse onus for repeat violent offending involving weapons. For this reverse onus to apply — in the bill’s context — the accused must satisfy three conditions: They would be charged with a violent offence involving the use of a weapon; they must have been convicted in the last five years of a violent offence involving the use of a weapon; and both the offence charged and the past offence must have a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more. This approach would encourage the courts to focus their attention on those who present a higher risk of reoffending at the bail stage of criminal proceedings.

Second, in terms of the general aspects that are touched by this bill, there are four firearms offences that would be added to the reverse onus provisions. I can delve into this in more detail later, but they relate to possession of a firearm; breaking and entering to obtain a firearm; robbery that involves a firearm; and making a firearm. This responds to the concerns we’ve heard from law enforcement agencies across Canada about gun violence, and would implement the call from all 13 premiers to add a reverse onus for the offence of possessing a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm.

The third general category that is touched upon by this bill is strengthening the existing reverse onus that applies to accused persons charged with an offence involving intimate partner violence, where they had previously been convicted of this type of offending. This provision would be expanded to apply to accused persons who have not only been convicted of such an offence, but also those who have been discharged after being found guilty of such an offence.

Senator Boisvenu, I know you have a bill that does exactly the same thing that is currently being examined by the House, so I’d like to thank you for your work in this area.

Beyond the proposed reverse onus amendments, the bill would bring clarity to prohibition orders made at the bail stage.

The final two changes relate to the considerations that courts must take into account when making bail decisions. This bill would require bail courts to consider if the accused person’s criminal record includes a history of convictions involving violence, regardless of whether or not the accused is subject to a reverse onus.

In addition, the bill would add a further requirement that bail courts must expressly consider the safety and security of the community in relation to the alleged offence when making a bail order, in addition to the safety and security of any victim. This would ensure that specific concerns from smaller municipalities, Indigenous communities and racialized or marginalized communities are taken into consideration at the bail hearing.

It is just as important to ensure that the measures introduced do not exacerbate the overrepresentation of Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals in the criminal justice system. I am confident that our decision to bring forward measured reforms, focused on a group of individuals who pose a higher risk to the public, is consistent with our government’s mission to tackle systemic discrimination in Canada’s criminal justice system.

I would also like to emphasize that bail is a joint responsibility. This is not some sort of magic wand piece of legislation. All levels of government have a part to play in ensuring that our bail system is working as intended. Non-legislative changes — such as the need to continue reinforcing community bail supervision programs; access to sustainable housing; and mental health and addiction supports, amongst others — are also important prongs in improving our bail system. I applaud the work that has been done in these areas recently, and I will continue collaborating with all levels of government to ensure the objectives of the bail system are being met.

I am also committed to ensuring that we gather accurate and comprehensive data on bail in Canada. That data is not sufficient at this point. In the same federal-provincial-territorial, or FPT, meeting where the government committed to introducing this very legislation, my provincial and territorial counterparts committed to better data collection on bail so that we will be able to see what kind of impact this legislation has.

Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak today on this important bill. I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you, minister. There’s a good deal of enthusiasm to engage with the minister. I will invite each of us to pose questions and answers with a limit of five minutes. Without being disrespectful, I might be fairly disciplined on that so that colleagues will get the chance to ask their questions.

We will begin with the deputy chair, Senator Boisvenu, and, more or less, end with Senator Gold, who is the sponsor of the bill. I’ll do my best to make space for everybody, but we are challenged by the enthusiasm of the committee.

[Translation]

Welcome, minister. Congratulations on your appointment. I hope to meet with you soon to discuss issues that are especially important to victims of crime.

Bill C-75 was passed in 2019. For the past four years, sexual assault and domestic violence crime has risen by 32%. The number of women killed has gone up by 60%. With this new bill, are you now admitting that your government made a mistake in passing Bill C-75?

Thank you for your question, senator. To be perfectly frank, I don’t think it did. Bill C-75 was brought forward to address a number of aspects of the justice system, particularly domestic violence, which has been a priority for you as well as for our government.

The statistics show that violence against women is increasing. A number of systemic factors come into play, especially given the pandemic and the fact that people had to stay home, stuck in private spaces, whether home or elsewhere. When a space is unsafe for a woman, we are going to see more violence against women.

Our government can certainly address these types of situations through funding. We have funded programs to prevent domestic violence.

Our goal with Bill C-75 was to impose, for the first time, a reverse onus for bail in intimate partner violence cases. Thanks to the bill, we are going to broaden or expand the regime, by targeting that same threat of violence not only when an individual is convicted, but also when someone is discharged.

Your bill deals with a few aspects of crime, including in connection with firearms offences. All of Canada’s premiers have called for an in-depth reform of the bail system. British Columbia’s justice minister was the one who said that the exception has become the norm. Bail is granted almost automatically.

Why didn’t you do an in-depth review of the current system in order to bring forward much more robust bail legislation, instead of a bill that touches on only a few aspects of the Criminal Code, such as bail in cases involving firearms offences? Take, for example, attempted murder without a firearm. That offence would be subject to bail. Why didn’t you expand the exceptions around bail to all serious crimes?