Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. I speak to you from the traditional territories of the Lkwungen speaking people including the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱sáneć people. I am pleased to be able to join you today to speak in support of Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail reform).

Bill C-48 reflects B.C.’s advocacy to expand the reverse onus provisions and to hold those who commit serious repeat violent crimes accountable by making it more difficult to obtain bail. We believe that everyone deserves to feel safe in their own communities. Across Canada, communities have been raising concerns about repeat violent offending. In fact, what you have before you today is supported by Attorneys General across the country and came from the work of two FTPs and many working group meetings between prosecution services across this country.

To address the issue of community safety, I wanted to talk a bit about B.C.’s approach. We launched the Safer Communities Action Plan, a comprehensive approach to community safety. It has many layers to it, including investing in mental health and addictions and in better systems within our justice systems, like virtual bail and the repeat violent offenders’ initiative. To talk a bit about that initiative, we think this is an innovative approach to reduce repeat violent offending. We have Crown counsel working with probation officers and police officers. They have cases of the most violent offenders referred to them so they can work together across systems to help come up with a plan, get better information if they are seeking detention of the individual and address the impacts that those people are having on communities. They’ve been running for about four months now and, so far, they are showing a lot of success.

As part of the work we are doing to keep communities safe, it is our view that targeted legislative amendments are needed to address the bail regime. The proposed amendments in Bill C-48 would make it more difficult for people to get bail if they have been accused of specific firearm offences, repeated serious violent offending involving weapons and repeat intimate partner violence. The proposed amendments will also require justices to keep public safety at the forefront of their decision making, including changes to ensure that they are considering community impacts. It shifts the burden of proof onto those accused of committing serious violent offences and where the accused was previously convicted of an offence of the same criteria within the past five years. I want to make it clear that these amendments are meant to target those who commit repeat violent offences with firearms and other dangerous weapons such as knives and bear spray. They will also address the enhanced risk posed by intimate partner violence.

I believe these are very important changes. I’ve heard too many stories of vulnerable individuals who have been assaulted when a repeat violent offender is out on bail. We need to change the law to provide Crown and the courts with additional powers to detain people who pose a risk to public safety. I believe these amendments strike a balance between the rights of victims and communities and the legal and constitutional rights of accused people. These amendments also complement the work already under way to help break the cycle of repeat violent offending and build safer communities here in B.C.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today to speak in support of Bill C-48 and to speak about the particular approach B.C. has taken and the leadership role we feel we are having when it comes to addressing this issue. Thank you very much.

[Translation]

Thank you for that important question.

Data is a concern. We in B.C. have been collecting data in new ways through our Crown prosecution office. They are looking at the times that they are seeking detention, so the times they are looking to assess the case and determine that this individual is a threat to public safety. They are collecting data on how many times detention is attained and how many times it is not in those instances. We’ve been doing that for the last five months. You are right that, at the last FTP meeting we had across the country, there was agreement across all provinces to work together to figure out how to streamline the type of data that we all need to be collecting to monitor this thing.

One thing interesting to me that’s happening in B.C. is the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative because there are particular cases referred to in that initiative. The Crown counsel and the police officer and the probation officer are empowered to focus on that individual who is a repeat violent offender. We are getting very specific data, obviously privacy-protected, but data about individual instances of how they ended up where they are and how the system has responded. I think we in B.C. are going to learn a lot from that. We are obviously subject to what we are able to disclose and happy to help everyone learn together.

Definitely.

Thank you for that question.

It means first and foremost that systems are talking better to each other. No matter if the person is going from one end of the province to the other, they are able to track that particular individual, so there is better information, not only for sentencing but also for planning when it comes to that person if they are going to be released on bail.

I think that the hubs have been running in 12 areas across the province, and they are being referred to by the different systems. There are criteria to determine who fits as a repeat violent offender in that service. What we are learning after four months of that running is it helps Crown counsel have better information if they are seeking detention because the systems are working together. There is fullness of files and understanding of this individual’s trajectory through the criminal justice system and impact on communities. From our preliminary view, it is resulting in better outcomes for communities and individuals and actually assessing what’s needed to stop them from reoffending.

At this stage, we are investing in resources to make sure we are thinking about and focusing on that. All systems have to work together when we are doing this. I have to say that the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative is a holistic approach to that, thinking about what that individual needs to stop reoffending. Sometimes it is a mental health intervention. Sometimes it is medication that the person needs to be receiving that they are not receiving. Sometimes it is increased incarceration because it is determined that, after all the efforts are put in place, there is reoffending and violence. The public needs to be protected. It helps us get a better view of the trajectory of what that individual needs and what services are needed.

Thanks for that question.

In my view, it strikes the right balance. Of course, you raise very serious concerns about the tenet of our justice system, which is innocent until proven guilty. My role is also to keep in mind how that shows up for people in the justice system, particularly the criminal justice system. It is our view that this strikes the right balance. They are targeted in the sense that it is focused on a certain category of repeat violent offenders.

As you know, in the Criminal Code, there are already reverse onus provisions where we say that, in certain circumstances, a judge may determine that, for certain factors, this person is unsafe to be released. We believe that just needs to be strengthened. There are categories, particularly with intimate partner violence, which happens to be a very dangerous time for the victim of the violence. We know with a lot of women’s organizations we work with that that’s a time when there is a heightened risk that the woman will be seriously harmed because of the nature of the escalation of the criminal proceedings. I believe there are specific circumstances where detention is appropriate over release. Those are circumstances where we think this bill strikes the right balance, which is the use of weapons and intimate partner violence, those things that we know cause harm to communities.

I represent a community in east Vancouver, and I hear from vulnerable women in particular who are victims of repeat violent offenders when they are out on bail. That is something that, I think, certainly the people who were involved in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women have approached me and talked about as an honest discussion. It is my view that there are times in the criminal justice system where it tips over to protecting the community, and this reverse onus is capturing that.

An interesting thing happened during COVID in terms of the different independent actors in our justice system working together better in terms of understanding how to keep the justice system operating under the constraints that we were under at that time. Those tables are still around now. To your point, it’s important that we understand better outcomes, measures and data when it comes to our justice system. I remember when I took on this role and learned about how hard it is to collect data and how there are so many independent actors that it makes it not only important to understand how the justice system is acting on people and how it shows up for people but also complicated to think about how we collect that data and how we measure it. A lot of important work needs to be done to continue the connection that we have had since COVID and across provinces to think about that.

At the end of the day, everybody just wants better outcomes for their communities and for individuals not to be in a situation where there are repeat violent offenders. That’s an ill in society which I think everybody can agree we want to work to prevent. It’s good that there is a review in this process and that we will be looking at that.

I mentioned the repeat violent offender initiative in B.C. I just met with the whole team, the Crown counsel that’s working on this. They are starting to hear that some accused want to be referred to the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative, despite what you would term as stigma related to that kind of label, because they feel that they would then get both the attention and the resources they need potentially to change their life.

We will find out a lot of interesting things through all the work we are doing. I hope that will make the justice system better. Obviously, this process needs a review. We need to understand together what we’re measuring and what success looks like.

Thanks for asking that.

I want to make something clear about this question. In B.C.’s approach, we have an Indigenous justice strategy that we have been implementing for a couple of years. We acknowledge and recognize the harms in our justice system to Indigenous people. There are two tracks to it. One is about lessening these harms and making sure that we can address the over-incarceration of Indigenous people. We have Indigenous justice centres that we are standing up across the province. These are centres where Indigenous people who are encountering the justice system can receive culturally appropriate, Indigenous-led legal services, include Gladue Report-writing and all the things we need to be better at when it comes to Indigenous people facing the criminal justice system. The second track of that is helping to understand how we implement Indigenous legal orders.

We are also working on an anti-racism strategy that would affect all government services. It’s something that I’m keenly aware of, and, as you mentioned, part of my practice before coming here was with that. B.C. is making a very strong commitment to making sure our justice system is not working against Indigenous people, as it has been in the past.

Thanks for both questions. I’ll address the first one.

We are always thinking about investments. Of course, I have to work with the Solicitor General when it comes to the other half of that, and I’m focused on what we do in the Attorney General’s office.

We have invested in increased Crown counsel. We have done the biggest hire of Crown counsel in, I think, decades here in B.C. because we want to make sure the resources are there on the front end when it comes to addressing the challenges that we were talking about. The investments that we made were specifically in the repeat event offenders initiative. That’s focused particularly on this group of people. I’m always working with my colleague the Solicitor General when it comes to what resources are needed on his side of the justice system. We are prepared to work with the federal government to raise that investment.

I think you raise a very important point about legal aid. We’re grateful that the federal government has given an increase in legal aid over the past couple years, but we think we need to work together with the federal government to get further increases for criminal legal aid to make sure people have that ability to get representation if they can’t afford it.

On your second question related to the Safer Communities Action Plan, I’m not aware of other provinces that are taking this approach. We think it’s the right approach. We’ve consulted experts who have told us that crime is complicated. Impacts on communities and how it shows up in communities are real, and communities across Canada are facing that. Our approach is about addressing all the challenges that lead to a decreased sense of safety for communities, whether that’s the mental health and addictions investments we’re making or changing our justice system in many ways. We’re investing in the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative, which is about understanding the individual that’s committing the violence and thinking about what the system needs to do to respond. We’re also investing in many resources that communities have been asking for, such as situation tables. We’re working on many things. I think we’re always led by what we hear the needs are from our communities. However, I do think it’s a comprehensive approach that every ministry needs to focus on to deliver safer communities.

Thanks for the very important question.

It’s something we have to be keenly aware of, and I think we’re making the right investments in B.C. to make sure there are checks and balances when it comes to that process. As I mentioned before, we’re very committed to our Indigenous Justice Strategy. We’re working with Indigenous people to understand what’s showing up for them in terms of the racism and the colonization of the system that they have faced and then undoing that harm. It’s part of the work you mentioned with the Indigenous women’s justice strategy that we’re working on, and it’s really led by Indigenous women. We as a government know that sometimes fixing those issues is stepping back, understanding what’s happening and addressing the challenges when we hear what they are from Indigenous women. You raise a very important point. It’s something I’m concerned about, and we’re working on investing to make sure that doesn’t happen when it comes to the bigger system.

I also want to add that the reason I strongly believe these amendments are appropriate is that in my community, I have people who have participated in the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls inquiry. They were part of that. When you’re talking about a specific category of repeat violent offenders that have caused harm or intimate partner violence, there is a need for protection so they can do no further harm to particularly the most vulnerable people in our communities.

I think it’s all about striking a balance and being aware of the challenges that the justice system needs to address, like the ones you’ve raised.

Yes. If we are seeing that things are more harmful than good for communities, then I would say it would be my job to advocate for the changes needed to fix that.

In B.C., I think we’re putting the right systems in place to be able to ensure that that doesn’t happen because we are investing in resources to address repeat violent offenders. As well, we are investing in resources to make sure the supports are there and to understand when, particularly, as you mentioned, Indigenous women are facing the problematic sides of the justice system. We will see that. I am confident that we’re making the right investments to be able to see how this goes. I believe that it strikes the right balance.

Thanks for raising both of those very important issues, and thank you for the appreciation of me running at the beginning.

I am very proud to lead the anti-racism work in government in my ministry. That work is comprehensive and involves identifying where systemic racism sits and removing it. We’ve done some really groundbreaking stuff here when it comes to that work. We’re collecting race-based data. Racialized communities have been asking for that for a long time. We have a demographic survey that I think is just recently out of the field where we asked British Columbians to give us, in a private and protected way, race-based data. The second part of that is I will be passing legislation that goes to government’s action once we see what that data is showing. The goal is that once it’s clear how different systems and services, including the justice system, impact different people, we can address it through better policy and better interventions. That’s important work.

I am keenly aware that part of our approach to our work here today, and just comprehensively approaching safer communities, is acknowledging the disproportional impacts of the justice system on Indigenous and racialized people and how negative those impacts have been up to today. It’s something that I think is part of the work we all need to do. Yes, I think that’s really important.

On the second question, I’m always happy to talk with colleagues across the country about the work and the approach that we’re taking in B.C. I hear from different Attorneys General about the work that they are doing when it comes to this. I am hopeful that, through our collaboration that was seen on this bill — actually, I think it is pretty rare to have everybody agree across the country on specific amendments — we can continue the conversation about how we are jointly rising to the challenges that our communities are seeing when it comes to repeat violence and offending. We are always happy to share the work that we are doing and hopefully seek more federal support on some of the initiatives that we have going on in B.C.

Yes. We have a Minister of Housing in B.C., and we have a poverty reduction plan under the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. All of that is highly connected. We hear most often that housing is one of the bigger challenges that we face in terms of people having secure lives. One of our top priorities in B.C., to be honest, is investing in understanding how we can face that challenge of housing.

We are also experiencing a tragic opioid crisis in B.C. Too many lives have been lost to that. We are thinking about it in a comprehensive way, which means getting the services up in communities that for too long have been underfunded, namely, mental health and addiction services and mental health, and addictions for young people, so people in schools that are facing that first adverse childhood experience that might set them off to having mental health challenges, so these are being invested in across the province.

We have really thought about all these challenges, the complicated root causes of them and also the work that we need to do to undo the harms of the justice system on these groups of people.

We have been advocating to get these specific changes that you have before me. At this point, I don’t have any further advocacy. I think there is an important conversation, apart from the reforms that you see before you today, about more cooperation between the federal and provincial government for supports, whether it’s increased funding for legal aid or increased funding for our repeat offenders initiative that I think is working or has a lot of potential to work. Right now, I am not advocating for any further changes besides the one before you on bail reform.

Thanks for that.

There are obviously other connectors or issues to this that I have been talking about a bit. This is a targeted piece that’s before you, but we have to work together for better data, for example, which is one of the first questions that I had. We also have to work together for better investments in different levels of the justice system. When it comes to how communities are experiencing or facing challenges, I think the federal government does have a role to play. Although what you have before you are very targeted reforms that we’ve been advocating for, there’s obviously a bigger conversation in all of our FTPs about the different aspects of investments and approaches that are needed to work together to fix it. I think we’ve talked about some of that today.

That is a very timely question. We’ll have our next meeting in Quebec next week, so we’ll all be talking about this. This will be on the agenda, along with other items.

No adjustments to the strategy will be required. We see this as not in conflict, to be frank, because we are talking about repeat violent offenders. There’s a circle around that group that is causing harm to many people, including Indigenous women and girls, in the community. I would start by saying that.

Yes, that strategy is comprehensive. We are standing up resources in communities across the province. Five more centres will go up shortly this year. These Indigenous justice centres are direct resource centres for Indigenous people that are encountering the justice system, whether it’s Gladue report writing or legal advice from an Indigenous lawyer.

The goal of the centres is to work with the local First Nations. Each centre will have a different focus based on what’s needed in the community, but we can establish cultural supports for people. If it’s appropriate in the criminal justice system that it’s not detention, it could be some culturally appropriate pathway that the accused may go down.

Once we develop those systems and communities, that will evolve over time depending on the community and the nations involved. The supports will be those needed to lessen the over-incarceration of Indigenous people in the province. It’s important work, and it’s led by the BC First Nations Justice Council. I meet with them regularly as Attorney General, and we figure out what supports they need to do the work. It is about taking back that power.

Thank you.

That’s right. We have a few in the province that are running. We’re thinking about that as part of the strategy as well. Communities are asking us about it. They would like to have their own Indigenous court. Yes, we are thinking about expanding it.

Thanks for the questions, senator.

I am glad you asked the minister about legal aid funding. We have been asking as well. We are grateful for the increases that you mentioned previously, but we see the need for further investment in criminal legal aid, along with the investments that we need to do as a province to do our share of that. It is of concern. One of the worst things in our justice system is when somebody can’t afford to get representation and encounters something that affects their liberty or their life without that proper representation. We will continue to advocate for the levels of criminal legal aid that we think are necessary in the province. We did ask for an increase at the last budget round and are hopeful that we will get it at some point. It is part of the picture that we need. Part of the comprehensive plan is ensuring that the resources that are needed to respond to changes like this are in place.

That’s an important question. We have issued a directive — it was the AG in B.C. before me — to Crown counsel when it came to offences such as this. Included in that was a clear directive that you must ensure, as you are doing this work, that this doesn’t impact the work that we are doing on the Indigenous Justice Strategy and lead to further harm and over-incarceration of Indigenous people. It’s part of the work that we have done in B.C., and it’s always that balance that we have to ensure that we strike. We are always thinking about further work that might need to be done on this file. I will take that and think about whether we need to do anything else in that regard.

Great questions.

Yes, you are correct about the history there. Since then, the legal aid lawyers have an association now that represents them, so we are able to sit down and negotiate payment increases for their work. We have recently upped that. We are doing that work continuously. However, because they have an association now, they speak regularly and meet with me as government and talk specifically about the needs or the challenges that they have. We are always looking at ways to improve that.

Presently, in particular when it comes to legal aid, we are thinking about family law in B.C. and how we can support increases in that. It’s a little bit off-topic here but something that we are all continually in discussion and talking about.