Reforms to Strengthen Canada’s Bail System Become Law

Justice Minister Arif Virani holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Oct. 5, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Legislation making changes to Canada’s bail system has received Royal Assent and will come into effect on Jan. 4, 2024.

“Canadians should know that their voices have been heard as we strengthen our bail system,” Minister of Justice Arif Virani said in a statement. “The changes we made target serious repeat offending involving weapons such as guns and knives, as well as those accused of repeat intimate partner violence.”

Bill C-48 will target repeat offenders in Canada who have used weapons such as knives and bear spray, as well as those repeatedly accused of intimate partner violence. A new reverse onus provision will be added to these offenders, which means they will be detained while awaiting trial unless they can prove they are not a flight risk or a threat to public safety.

The bill will also clarify the term “prohibition order” in reverse onus provisions for weapons offences, require courts to consider an offender’s history of violent convictions when making a bail decision, and commit to a parliamentary review of the previous measures after five years. During any bail decision, courts must now verify that they have considered how the decision could impact community security and “vulnerable overrepresented populations.”

The bill receiving royal assent comes after the premiers of all provinces and territories and several police chiefs called for Ottawa to make it harder for repeat violent offenders to get bail. Back in January, the premiers sent a letter to Ottawa demanding “immediate action” on the issue.

Several high-profile killings by people who had been given bail, including a man who murdered Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala in December 2022, heightened the calls for stricter bail. According to court documents, the man had been denied bail on unrelated assault and weapons charges months before the shooting but was released after a review.

The Liberal government’s Bill C-5, which passed in 2022, eliminated 20 mandatory minimum sentences on gun and drug offences to address “systemic racism in Canada’s criminal justice system.”

A failed Tory motion on bail reform from February noted that since the Liberals had taken office in 2015, violent crime had increased by 32 percent, gang-related homicides increased by 92 percent, and five Canadian police officers have been killed in the line of duty in just one year.