Whereas:
Violent crime in Canada has increased 50% since 2015, according to Statistics Canada, including a 116% increase in gun crimes during the same period, with repeat violent offenders increasingly being released back into the community on bail;
Police chiefs from across the country, including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, have called for urgent reforms to Canada’s bail system, specifically citing the need to better protect the public from high-risk, repeat violent offenders;
The revolving-door justice system, enabled by changes to the Criminal Code through Bills C-5 and C-75, has made it easier for serious repeat offenders, including those charged with gun crimes, sexual assault, and other violent offences, to obtain bail quickly;
Provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario have all called on the federal government to take action to reform bail provisions, with many municipalities also joining in the demand for stronger public safety protections;
Victims and law-abiding Canadians deserve a justice system that prioritizes public safety, not political ideology, and one that stops enabling repeat offenders to harm our communities.
Therefore, we undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, support the Conservative's Jail not Bail Act:
- Repeal and replace the Liberal “Principle of Restraint” with a directive for the primary consideration to be the protection and safety of the public.
- Introduce a new “Major Offences” category with reverse onus bail conditions for firearm, sexual, kidnapping, human trafficking, home invasion, robbery, extortion, arson and assault charges.
- Strengthen bail laws by mandating judges consider an accused’s full criminal history, prevent anyone convicted of a major offence in the last 10 years while also on bail and charged with a major offence from getting bail, and toughen the risk assessment standard from “substantial likelihood” to “reasonably foreseeable”.
- Prohibit anyone with an indictable conviction from acting as a guarantor (who ensures bail conditions are followed), require judges to enforce bail conditions on guarantors and require non-residents to surrender their passports upon request.
Let’s stop the revolving door. It’s time to fix the broken Liberal bail system now.
