Thank you.
My name is Adam Dalrymple. I am the president of the British Columbia Crown Counsel Association and the vice-president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel. I'm employed as Crown counsel here in Vancouver, British Columbia, and I've been on the front lines of this prosecution service for just over 17 years.
I'm honoured to be invited to this committee as a witness, and I hope I'm helpful to the committee. However, I should preface my comments by saying that I am not permitted to speak about specific cases and active prosecutions. I'm also not able to speak on behalf of the B.C. prosecution service or the Government of British Columbia.
As president of the BC Crown Counsel Association, I represent approximately 550 frontline criminal prosecutors who work in British Columbia criminal courts. We represent them in all aspects of their professional employment, and our association was established approximately 33 years ago.
The law of bail and sentencing, particularly in respect to repeat prolific offenders, is at the forefront of Canadians' minds. I've travelled the province of British Columbia and listened to mayors, council members, business owners and our frontline prosecutors. This outreach, coupled with my years of experience in the criminal courts, informs our views on this important topic.
Our association would urge legislatures and policy-makers to look at the issue of bail and sentencing in Canada from a holistic perspective. No one level of government in our Canadian system of government holds all of the answers. Given the division of powers, as you know, the federal government is charged with deciding what is criminal in our justice system. The provinces are largely responsible for the administration of justice. This means that most of our criminal courts and prosecution services are funded and staffed by the provinces. Many of the social services that are provided are provided by provincial and municipal governments.
Passing tougher laws is not the only way to address offending in our communities. Laws must be supported with sufficient frontline resources and services to investigate and prosecute offences. There must also be sufficient local services in place to support and monitor those who are on bail in our communities while they await their trials.
The organizations I represent are calling for the hiring of more frontline prosecutors, and when I say “frontline”, I mean courtroom prosecutors. While we appreciate that the hiring of most criminal prosecutors is within the provincial domain, we stress the importance of a coordinated, multi-faceted approach. By limiting the ratio of frontline Crown to accused, building a national bail information system that transcends provinces, and funding local police and Crown projects and social services in communities, we believe the federal government will have the desired impact on crime and repeat offenders in Canadian communities.
The ReVOII, which is an acronym for the repeat violent offending intervention initiative developed by the Government of British Columbia, is just one example of how a Crown program can reduce offending, uphold the rule of law, enhance public confidence in the justice system and keep our communities safe.
Thank you.