Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Cooper, thank you very much for being here today and for your work in bringing this forward on the House side and getting it to committee.
I can tell you that the passion with which you speak of Constable Wynn and his loss, and of Constable Bond, is something that's not lost on this committee and not lost on me personally. I want to thank you for bringing it forward.
I think it's important for us to bear in mind, of course, what the bail provisions are all about, which is to ensure public safety is kept front of mind when determining judicial interim release and also to have an orderly justice system. Of course, at the foundation of that, though, is that individuals who are accused of criminal offences are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, the obligation is normally on the crown to prove that the person should be detained. It's important to bear that in mind when reviewing these provisions.
I'd like to start first with a provision in section 515, which you say is ancillary, I guess, to the main purpose of this: changing the wording from “may” to “shall” in section 518.
In paragraph 515(10)(a) is the first ground, I guess, that a person could be detained on. It's if they are a flight risk or if they're not going to appear in court. Paragraph 515(10)(b) is the ground that the crown can rely on to show the person should be detained because they are a risk to the public. It's that they may reoffend, or they may “interfere with the administration of justice”.
The third ground, sometimes referred to as the “tertiary ground”, in paragraph 515(10)(c), is what this bill is seeking to expand. The grounds that are being expanded upon in the proposed bill here would overlap considerably with what has already been determined in paragraph 515(10)(a), the flight risk, or paragraph 515(10)(b), public safety, by adding elements that were already considered in those first two, such as the person's criminal record or the person's failure to appear.
In my view, I guess the crown has already had a kick at the can, if you will, on paragraph 515(10)(a), to detain the person as a flight risk, or on paragraph 515(10)(b), because of their criminal record or their likelihood of reoffending.
I'm wondering why, then, you would see that an expansion is necessary when these things were already considered in the earlier provisions in this triage of elements to determine bail.