I don't think so, because you have to take into consideration the nature of the underlying allegation and the prior conviction, and how serious the previous conviction was in relation to the second incident—whether it's an escalation of behaviour, what role the complainant had in it.... It's an unfortunate thing, but a lot of the cases that we see involving domestic violence are cases where both parties have some role to play in it. That's not saying that anybody is at fault for it, but often it's fuelled by alcohol and by some type of a relationship-based disagreement that leads to this.
If you treat all people as though they're—to speak colloquially—the serial wife-beater and treat all people like that dangerous person who probably should be held in custody because of their propensity towards that type of violence, that is what undermines the section 11 protection that is aimed at reasonable bail.
I think one thing that we do in British Columbia that is really helpful is that we deal with these administration of justice offences and breaches through a provincial practice directive that they be set for trial within 60 days. That helps to clear a lot of the backlog because they're heard very quickly, and then, if people are acquitted of them or if the charges are later dropped, bail reviews can take place. We're not having as many people sitting in custody awaiting their substantive charges because there have been these allegations of breaches. I think that setting some clearer timelines for the speed with which these types of offences must proceed might help to assist with some of your concerns that you've expressed about the number of people in custody.