Administration of Justice
Whenever I have attended town hall/community meetings at which the Alberta Minister of Justice is present, there are a few concerns that residents consistently bring up. Among them are “catch and release”, bail conditions, repeat offenders and sentencing.
A sister organization to the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association, the Okotoks Rural Crime Watch Association, sent a letter to the Alberta Justice Ministry and others earlier this year containing a number of hard-hitting questions relating to the administration of Justice. The Okotoks Rural Crime Watch Association received a fairly lengthy reply from the Assistant Deputy Minister ( Justice) for the province of Alberta, Kimberley Goddard. Below I extracted her responses for the topics that I believe are most often expressed as concerns by the public.
First of all, it is important to understand that the Criminal Code of Canada is the responsibility of, and is written by, the federal government. It is then up to the individual provinces to enforce and administer that Criminal Code.
Question #1: The Catch and Release process and bail conditions. Response: “The Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed that the default form of bail for most accused persons is to be released without conditions. This means that release is favored at the earliest reasonable opportunity and under the least onerous grounds.” “Recognizing that this situation is not ideal, on January 13, 2023, a letter signed by provincial Premiers was sent to the Prime Minister, urging the federal government to take immediate action to strengthen the Canadian bail system.
The federal government responded with the introduction of Bill C-48 which came into force January 4, 2024. Bill C-48 “emphasized that it will be generally necessary to seek detention in cases of repeat violent offending, including allegations linked to gang activity, in order to protect public safety.” Bill C-48 also “created a reverse onus provision for any person charged with a serious offence involving violence and the use of a weapon who has been convicted” as well as to “require the court to consider if an accused person has any previous convictions involving violence and to include in the record a statement that the safety and security of the community was considered”.
As a point of interest, local RCMP have unofficially “guesstimated” that 80-90% of crime in our area is performed by repeat offenders. For the most part crime has gone down slightly in 2024 and RCMP, again unofficially, attribute this to repeat offenders being locked up or undergoing frequent curfew/conditions checks.
Question #2: Non-removable detection devices after release. Response: the “Alberta government is committed to the implementation of a modern ankle bracelet electronic monitoring program that is expected to be implemented across the province in early 2025. The criteria are for adult bail clients and community-sentenced offenders whom the court deems to pose a risk to public safety. The courts will have the discretion to impose an electronic monitoring condition that requires the individual to wear an ankle bracelet and be subject to electronic monitoring.”
It should be noted that our local RCMP officers do conduct curfew and other checks on convicted criminals to ensure they are abiding by the conditions of their release. Goddard noted that “Non-compliance with release conditions is addressed promptly, which may result in the individual being returned to Court”.
Question #3: Deterrent and punishment must be more significant than the rewards of the crime. Response: “When seeking to arrive at an appropriate sentence, the prosecutor and the judiciary are guided by the sentencing provisions in the Criminal Code wherein it states that a sentence should be similar to sentences imposed on similar offenders for similar offences committed in similar circumstances. A justice has the responsibility to impose sentences in line with precedent, always noting that for each offence and each offender, some elements are unique.”
“The sentencing provisions in the Criminal Code are set forth by the Parliament of Canada. As only the federal government can make or amend criminal law, the Government of Alberta must work within this existing legislative framework. If you wish to express your concerns to the federal Minister of Justice, you write to the Honourable Arif Virani at mcu@justice.gc.ca.”
I hope the preceding gives you some insight into the administration of justice in Alberta. If it’s the laws or sentencing you don’t like, you’ll have to make your views known to the Government of Canada. There is nothing to be lost writing to the federal justice department if you want something changed. I applaud the Okotoks Rural Crime Watch Association for their initiative.
Dave Schroeder – HCRCWA Board Member
