Justice committee  Absolutely, I do. I think this is testament to the demands for change being heard. This is the second standing committee that I have appeared before in the last two weeks. There was a provincial standing committee prior to this. For the first time, to my knowledge, in the history of our country, we had all premiers unite in a single piece of correspondence to our Prime Minister, asking for bail reform.

Justice committee  Thank you for the opportunity.

Justice committee  We have an obligation to assist in the prosecution of an offender, which would include a bail hearing. We would work with the Crown attorney on making any met recommendations as they relate to conditions of release and/or are specific to secondary grounds to be considered upon release.

Justice committee  Most police services have high-risk offender units or other units of that type. We call ours the “crime abatement strategy”, in which we do our best to identify offenders who are out on bail and pose the highest risk to the community. We'll do proactive compliance checks to ensure that they are complying with those conditions.

Justice committee  Without having looked statistically at the components other than bail release, I can't say conclusively, but I can tell you anecdotally that my professional opinion is yes.

Justice committee  I don't think your study is too narrow. My reason for that is that change is needed immediately. If you stop and talk to any police officer in any community across this country, they will tell you their top priority is to see bail reform. We owe it to each and every one of them; we owe it to victims of violence crime, and we owe it to victims of intimate partner violence to make these changes now.

Justice committee  Absolutely, there's more work to be done. It takes a holistic approach, which requires very detailed and critical-systems thinking. However, we cannot let that stand in the way of progress. We can't stop with these changes, but we need to start somewhere. I think this is a very appropriate and responsible place to start.

Justice committee  One of the statistics that I've already referenced would be a helpful context in looking at various bail reform initiatives in the province of Ontario. We identified that between 2018 and 2022 there was a 72% increase in violent crimes committed by serious, prolific or repeat violent offenders.

Justice committee  Who were on bail, yes.

Justice committee  Certainly. Thank you for your condolences. If you don't mind, I will take you back to some of the recommendations I cited in reference to paragraph 515(10)(b) of the Criminal Code. We're actually identifying things that need to be given appropriate weight as they relate to public safety before considering the release or while considering the release of an offender.

Justice committee  It is a small number of the cases, and I know there are many former Crown attorneys around this table, or a number anyways. We know it's a small number of offenders who commit the majority of violent offences, and it is those prolific offenders that we are focused on.

Justice committee  It is a different problem, but it is a real problem and one that certainly is of great concern to us. There are fraud offences that victimize seniors' life savings—those types of very dramatic financial impacts to communities and to businesses—and I think it comes down to meaningful consequences and true rehabilitation.

Justice committee  I believe it could be related to the bail system. I can't specifically relate to the violence on public transit, but the overall violence.... Chief Myron Demkiw of the Toronto Police Service would tell you that he has statistics that are absolutely alarming about the number of people who are released on bail who fit the definition of a repeat violent offender using a firearm in the commission of an offence, who then reoffend and reoffend and reoffend, up to three times; 17% of Toronto's homicides fit into that category.

Justice committee  I define “narrow” and “very narrow” by being very specific in relation to the types of offences and what would constitute a repeat violent offender. It is a distinct pattern of violent criminal behaviour that has led to criminal convictions before the courts, and evidence of convictions of having used weapons and/or firearms in the commission of those offences.

Justice committee  Yes, sir.