Canada’s premiers were mulling over their joint communique last week, when B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma made an impassioned pitch to go further, and do more, on the issue of repeat sex offenders.
Sharma was filling in for Premier David Eby at the meeting, and outlined the province’s disgust over notorious child predator Randall Hopley’s statutory release despite being deemed a high risk to reoffend, and another repeat offender arrested while on probation for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a washroom.
The premiers were mostly versed on larger bail reform issues, but Sharma began pulling out statistics and proposals to tighten the rules around sex offences as well. “This is my day job,” she told them.
In the end, the premiers added “reviewing risk assessment for sentencing and release of repeat sex offenders and individuals charged with intimate partner violence and gender-based violence crimes” to their joint communique and list of demands to Prime Minister Mark Carney on public safety.
“No system is perfect but when we see these cases come through the question is, what risk assessment was done for this repeat offender who was released again and then didn’t abide by the rules,” Sharma said in an interview. “Obviously, there’s a problem.”
This is B.C.’s second pitch to Ottawa to change the Criminal Code to address repeat violent offenders. Last year, the province successfully convinced the federal government to expand so-called reverse onus provisions, meaning people accused of repeat serious offences and intimate partner violence were detained in custody until trial unless they could prove they were safe to be released on bail.
B.C. championed the change as a success. But it’s debatable when it’s had much of an effect on the problem, after a litany of awful stories involving criminals (often in a state of drug addiction or mental impairment or psychosis) who are awaiting trial or on probation committing a new round of violent offences.
“In the last month alone, we have seen shocking incidents of violence committed here in British Columbia by individuals with lengthy criminal histories, only to be released again shortly after being arrested,” Sharma wrote in a May 28 letter to federal Attorney General Sean Fraser.
B.C. has pitched Ottawa on three changes to the Criminal Code.
Perhaps the largest is to add “public safety” into the code’s section on “principle of restraint,” which states a judge should release a person accused of a crime at the “earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions that are appropriate in the circumstances.”
“When you affect somebody’s liberty pre-trial it’s important to have the right checks and balances,” said Sharma.
“But when it comes to individuals showing repeat violence and showing disrespect on court orders and the law … what we’re saying is there should be other principles other than restraint.”
B.C. also wants Ottawa to crack down on “time-served” sentences, which allow repeat offenders to sit in jail before trial for enough days that when they are finally sentenced they’ve already served time equivalent to their punishment and are just released.
The federal government could flag repeat sentences for the same offence as an “aggravating circumstance” in sentencing, as well as allow for escalating maximum sentences for things like repeat breach of conditions.
And finally, the province would like to see people who are in provincial court for multiple violent or breach offences in the past year, have to seek bail in BC Supreme Court—an extra step right now reserved only for singular serious offences.
Sharma said the stories of repeat violent offenders flouting the system are undercutting public confidence, and the two sex offender cases she highlighted have in particular caused justifiable concern.
“In our view, our system did not do the right risk assessment and make decisions based on individuals like that,” she said. “We need to increase that scrutiny. It sits with everybody. It sits with me when I hear a story of re-traumatizing, especially of a 14-year-old girl.”
Justice ministers and attorneys general from the provinces are now working on an action plan to present to Ottawa. Sharma said she’s hopeful changes are coming.
Still, the public may be growing weary of hearing politicians squabble about hyper-detailed legal issues while the situation worsens on the streets through a series of horrific cases.
This is the third year B.C. has promised progress on violent repeat offenders, and the second time it has pointed the blame at other levels of government. At some point, it may have to do more than just talk tough and send letters to Ottawa.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for The Orca/BIV. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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