Stricter rules for bail

This enactment amends the Criminal Code in order to (a) replace the principle of restraint in section 493.‍1 of the Act with the principle of protection of the public; (b) add the protection of the public as a consideration in decisions on the release of an accused; (c) add several violent indictable offences to the list of reverse-onus offences in subsection 515(6) of the Act for the determination of judicial interim release; (d) create a list of major offences, composed of violent reverse-onus offences; (e) prevent those charged with a major offence from being released after arrest by a peace officer; (f) require that only a superior court judge may determine, on a reverse-onus basis, whether to permit the interim release of an accused if the accused was charged with a major offence while they were on release in respect of another major offence and if they were convicted of a major offence in the last ten years; (g) provide for the expiry of the interim release of an accused upon their conviction of an indictable offence while they await sentencing; (h) prohibit those who have been convicted of an indictable offence in the last ten years from being named as a surety; (i) require that a justice assessing judicial interim release consider whether or not an accused is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident and, if not, whether they may attempt to leave the country; (j) make it a condition that those who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents deposit their passports in order to be released whether by a peace officer after arrest or by a justice on judicial interim release; and (k) change the standard of assessment under paragraph 515(10)‍(b) of the Act of whether an accused, if released, will commit an offence or interfere with the administration of justice from a “substantial likelihood” to “whether it is reasonably foreseeable” and require that the criminal history of an accused be taken into consideration.

It also amends the Department of Justice Act to require the Minister of Justice to prepare and table in Parliament an annual report on the state of judicial interim release in Canada.

The government's summary, printed at the front of the bill as introduced.