Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for this opportunity.
In terms of the public perception of the current system, one thing that the Attorney General of Ontario and the current minister I think have both acknowledged is that the mathematical soundness of the two-for-one principle as a general rule is sound. There is no question that the lack of availability of parole and the lack of availability of statutory release means that a person serving pretrial custody is disparately serving a lengthier sentence equivalent than a person who is sentenced. The reason is that if you're serving pretrial custody, you can't apply for early release before your trial date, whereas if you're sentenced, for instance, to a year in custody, you can apply for parole after one third and you can get statutory release after two thirds.
The justice minister has said that he wants to change that system too. Well, until that is done, this will differentially affect people who are held in custody and give them longer sentences. There's no denying that mathematics. I don't think the current attorneys general or minister do deny that. What they say is that the public is dissatisfied with the two-for-one principle, or, in some cases, the three-for-one or four-for-one principles in the cases of remand institutions that are no less than draconian in their treatment of prisoners.
Just in this past couple of weeks, we've had a work slowdown at the Milton detention centre—one of the largest ones in Ontario—which has resulted in people being taken to court at 4 p.m. for a bail review that should have happened at 10 a.m. They get remanded, and they spend more time in pretrial custody. That is not the fault of the prisoner whatsoever. It's a labour relations issue.
What would happen if that occurred under the regime that this bill would implement? Well, that person would not get any credit whatsoever over the one-for-one basis for something that's totally beyond their control--namely, the conditions at the jail and the fact that they weren't brought to court in a timely fashion so that the justice system did not move ahead as it could.
Another disparity that's glaring in the face of this bill, and that has not really been addressed, is that under the current drafting of the statute, if you're detained under subsections 524(4) or (8) of the Criminal Code—that is, because you have a previous outstanding charge—you are disentitled to even the one-and-a-half credit that this bill entertains as a compromise.
That, in my respectful opinion, has the potential in certain cases to be grossly disproportionate for the following reason. Let's say a client of mine may be detained on a second charge. They're out on bail for a first charge and they get accused of something—not convicted of something, but accused of something--on a second occasion. They lose their entitlement to bail under section 524.
Perhaps they were innocent of the first charge in the first place. Perhaps they never should have been denied bail in the first place because the initial charge they were facing had no foundation. Under this regime, they will not be able to get any enhanced credit for the jail time they should not even have had to serve.
The fundamental problem with this bill, in my respectful opinion, is twofold. The first has to do with the example I've just given. We could offer many kinds of examples where disparities and unfairness ensue. It cannot take into account individual circumstances.
The second and I think most important thing is the fact that it takes away the ability of judges to tailor sentencing to the actual circumstances in front of them. Instead, it imposes a system on them that does not reflect fairness to the person in front of them.
I think it's vulnerable, for that very reason, to charter attack. Even if it survived a charter attack, the fact that it could be passed does not mean it should be passed. It simply has the potential to act in a grossly disparate manner to people who, through no circumstances that they've caused, have their trial delayed or are detained on spurious grounds.
Thank you.