Thank you for that question.

Some of the ideas we heard this morning from the Attorney General for British Columbia give us an avenue, some paths on how to improve the system. We heard about better information sharing and better supports for persons who are on bail to ensure that they comply. Those are the kinds of ideas that we would be putting forward, and obviously advising the minister of what is happening in bail court, how challenging it is for duty counsel to provide the representation properly.

I would mention, yes, duty counsel are available, but one of the challenges is the Crown is not ready to proceed, for whatever reason. It is an overburdened system. Matters are put back into remand. That increases pressure on clients to plead or to agree to conditions that they can’t possibly meet. They are re-arrested and back in custody.

We would advise the minister of the reality of that and urge the minister not to proceed with such a wide bill but really focus, if you must, on violent offenders in ways which this bill does not.

That is the concern that we have as these greater demands come to our duty counsel as a result of this bill and as a result of the expanded reverse onus. How do we meet those demands? How do we provide those kinds of services without taking away from other services? Some of the difficulties currently that people without resources who are dependent on legal aid have to obtain bail have already been mentioned: access to sureties, access to housing. With the reverse onus, those are increased.

One aspect I want to mention about the importance of duty counsel work with respect to this bill is that it is needed because it actually helps address the risk of this bill. It actually in some ways supports the government’s goals to ensure that it will be focused on violent offenders. It won’t pick up people who have an assault with a weapon conviction for using a relatively innocuous object. It won’t pick up and criminalize women who have received discharge for an intimate partner violence. That’s the work the duty counsel, bringing that to the attention of Crowns and judges, and we’ll be challenged to continue that work.