B.C. attorney general praises federal bail reform legislation

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma says she welcomes the federal government's new bill that aims to improve Canada's bail system.

The new legislation, tabled Tuesday, is intended to crack down on repeat violent offenders through five specific Criminal Code changes.

Those changes are:

• Creating a new reverse onus for serious repeat violent offences involving weapons where the accused was previously convicted of an offence of the same criteria within the past five years, with both being punishable by 10 years imprisonment or more.
• Adding certain firearms offences to the provisions that trigger a reverse onus to include other indictable offences such as unlawful possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, and break and enter or robbery to steal a firearm;
• Expanding the current intimate partner violence (IPV) reverse onus to address the enhanced risk to also apply to accused persons previously discharged of an offence involving IPV;
• Clarifying the meaning of "prohibition order" in an existing reverse onus to state that an order includes a court’s release order for bail that imposed conditions around firearms possession; and
• Requiring courts to consider an accused person's history of convictions for violence and other community safety concerns when making bail decisions.

B.C.'s attorney general says the proposed amendments help address issues raised by the provincial government about community safety.

Sharma added that the concerns were shared by other provinces and territories across the country.

"I urge the federal parliament to pass these amendments quickly – communities can’t wait," she said.

B.C. has also launched its own projects to try to address community safety.

This year, the province launched its "Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative," which is intended to increase targeted enforcement of prolific offenders, and improve monitoring for these types of crimes.

The province is also spending $25 million to support repeat violent offender management teams, and recently announced the creation of 12 community hubs that will streamline coordination between police, corrections officials and prosecutors who deal with repeat offenders.

With files from CTV News' Rachel Aiello