Court report: bail, repeat offenders and Bill C-48

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On Jan. 4, 2024, a substantial reform of Canada’s bail system came into effect. Bill C-48 received Royal Assent and amended the Criminal Code to strengthen Canada’s bail system by targeting repeat violent offenders.

 In the last two years, the bail hearings that played out in Taber court have been more consistent in showing that the justice system may be implementing those changes.

 On March 3, an accused from Taber appeared in court via CCTV from jail, and over the course of an hour heard their defence attorney argue for their release while awaiting trial. The request was denied and the accused remained in custody.

 This was largely due to the fact that the prosecutor was relentless in dismantling the statements of a surety – or civilian supervisor – who appeared on the witness stand. And while prosecutors can be relentless, defence lawyers can be crafty at finding provisions, loopholes and technicalities that might exonerate their clients.

 Bail hearings are newsworthy, but often under-reported due to the fact that the regulations surrounding the hearings have changed over the past 15-20 years, creating some confusion. Ethical and legal implications dictate that ‘accused’ and ‘charged’ don’t necessarily mean ‘guilty.’ Individuals charged with a crime have the right to a fair trial and the chance to go about their daily lives without having their alleged misdeeds publicized or used against them.

The new bail provisions target serious repeat violent offenders who use firearms, knives, and other weapons to kill, injure or endanger others. The amendments also consider the risks posed by intimate partner and sexual violence.

 A bail hearing allows an accused the lawful opportunity to be released from custody while awaiting their trial. Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, “all accused persons have the right to liberty and are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. This means that an individual charged with an offence has the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.”

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada noted that “in Canadian law, the release of accused persons is the cardinal rule and detention, the exception.”

 That said, the bail reforms of 2024 included a provision for ‘reverse onus,’ which shifts the onus from the prosecution to the accused. For serious offenders, the onus shifts to their defence to prove why detaining the accused would be unjust and unnecessary.

  Currently, the law of bail has three main purposes: to ensure those charged with an offence appear in court when required; to maintain public safety by assessing and managing any potential risks if an accused person is released; and to maintain the public’s confidence in the justice system.

 Those tenets are referred to as primary, secondary, and tertiary grounds, and if a judge rules that bail is denied, he/she does so by stating which of these grounds constitute justification for the denial.

 In the process of a bail hearing, a surety is often interviewed on the witness stand to determine their trustworthiness and ability to maintain a semblance of control over an accused while he or she awaits trial. A surety is almost always asked what they would do if the accused fails to comply with the conditions of his bail. The right answer is always “inform the police.” A surety who falters in the slightest on that point will be challenged quickly by a prosecutor.

Since 2024, Taber court judges have ruled that numerous individuals remain in custody pending trial, but the catch and release game still plays out, and with predictable consequences: catch, release, catch etc.

 In July 2025, the Alberta RCMP noted that “The top 20 per cent of offenders are responsible for 90 per cent (of the) Crime Severity Index (CSI) score.”

 A 2024 Statistics Canada study on individuals released from custody or starting a community sentence across five provinces (including Alberta) found that 50 per cent were reconvicted within three years.