MLAs unanimously call for bail reform

The family and friends of Kellie Verwey marked what would’ve been her 29th birthday Monday at the Manitoba legislature calling for change to the justice system.

Verwey, a well-known economic development officer in Portage la Prairie, died Jan. 15 after being hit by an alleged impaired driver in a stolen truck.

“Kellie would want everybody to stand up and say this this wrong and we need this to stop,” her mother, Meechelle Best, told reporters Monday outside the chamber.

“We don’t want this to happen going forward, or to anybody,” said Best, who was flanked by Progressive Conservative MLAs Jeff Bereza (Portage la Prairie) and Trevor King (Lakeside), whose son attended school with Verwey.

RCMP said James Lorne Hilton, 24, who was charged with being impaired and driving a stolen truck, had a warrant issued for his arrest Jan. 9, after he repeatedly violated bail conditions from previous offences.

Family and friends of Verwey, who was preparing for her wedding when she was killed, packed the visitors gallery at the legislature where the issue of repeat offenders and bail reform dominated question period.

Interim PC leader Wayne Ewasko offered condolences to Verwey’s family before asking Premier Wab Kinew when his government would act on its pledge of stricter bail measures promised in the first 100 days of taking office.

Kinew said his government has taken steps but first wanted to offer condolences to Verwey’s family.

“Having your loved one taken from you far, far before her time was very, very unjust… That injustice was compounded by those lingering unanswered questions which remain” including those about the bail system, said Kinew, who promised to work “across the aisle” to address them.

“Clearly there’s much more work to do.”

The PCs introduced a motion that was passed unanimously by the legislature Monday calling for the provincial government to take “immediate and decisive action to further enhance bail enforcement within law enforcement agencies to protect and safeguard Manitobans from individuals that violate conditions of their release.”

Ewasko said during question period that the Kinew government hasn’t lived up to its 2023 election campaign promise to address crime.

“We know that violent crime has risen in our province in the last 14 to 15 months, seniors are afraid to go out, cars are being hijacked, life altering injuries are happening on a day-to-day basis,” said Ewasko, who pointed to three shootings in less than two weeks in Winnipeg and a “gang situation brewing.”

“What level of crime does it take to have an individual stay locked up?”

Kinew said the National Police Federation has endorsed steps the province has taken, including $4 million added to bail enforcement, directing Crown attorneys to be tougher on bail and hiring more police officers to track those who’ve been released.

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Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said after question period that the province’s five-point plan includes 100 electronic ankle monitoring bracelets, with 71 in use as of Friday tracking “prolific high-risk offenders.” He said the former PC government had cancelled the program.

His department is also collecting data about those released on bail and sharing it with federal criminal justice counterparts.

He called on all parties and Manitobans to join the province in pushing the federal government for tougher laws, bail enforcement and resources and “shine light on fact that the federal government has fallen down in their obligation.”

Bereza launched a petition last month demanding the NDP government strengthen warrant enforcement, increase bail supervision and oppose the release of accused persons in the interest of public safety. It called on the province to lobby Ottawa to repeal provisions of the Criminal Code that “allow for the continued victimization of law-abiding Manitobans while granting repeat offenders additional rights.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.