Manitoba government, provinces call on Carney to take action on bail reform

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This article was published 21/03/2025 (190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba and other provinces — citing a Portage la Prairie-area woman’s death — called on Ottawa to pursue “stricter” bail reform measures, drawing a rebuke from the federal government while a snap election looms.

Canada’s 13 premiers sent a letter to new Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday — before reports said he will call an election Sunday — demanding the Liberal minority government make good on a December promise to change bail and sentencing laws.

“It’s time for the federal government to step up to show a renewed commitment to bail reform at the federal level, and it’s time to honour the family of Kellie Verwey and the community that she so brilliantly inspired,” Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said Friday.

Under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the federal government said it will amend the Criminal Code to make it more onerous to get bail when there is a risk to public safety, and to provide courts with the ability to impose consecutive sentences in more serious cases.

The proposed changes target repeat, violent and organized-crime offenders.

While the premiers pointed a finger at Ottawa, Chantalle Aubertin, a spokeswoman for federal Justice Minister Gary Anandasangaree, said provincial governments are responsible for most of the criminal justice system’s operations.

She cast blame in the direction of current or recent provincial conservative governments, claiming Canadians are seeing the consequences of Tory “underfunding.”

“Instead of blaming the federal government, provincial leaders need to get to work to address court backlogs, properly fund police and prosecutors, provide victim supports and deal with unsafe and overcrowded jails,” Aubertin said in a statement. “Underfunding not only makes it hard to properly administer bail, it also causes delays that can jeopardize trials.”

Ottawa’s stance is that effective bail reform must strike a balance between public safety and the rights of the accused, she noted.

Aubertin said earlier federal measures are working and there is more work to do.

The premiers said their provinces and territories are taking steps to address repeat and violent offending via measures for law enforcement and interconnected issues, including poverty, homelessness, addiction, trauma and mental health.

They met with Carney in Ottawa Friday to discuss U.S. tariffs.

Despite earlier federal bail measures, “there remain too many cases where communities are afflicted by the scourge of violence perpetrated by someone who is out on bail,” the premiers wrote in a letter that Wiebe said was organized by the Manitoba government.

Premier Wab Kinew and the other provincial and territorial leaders referred to a Jan. 15 crash that killed Verwey, a 28-year-old bride to be.

“The circumstances that underpin this incident cannot be allowed to happen again,” the letter said.

James Lorne Hilton, 24, is accused of being impaired while driving a stolen pickup truck that veered into oncoming traffic and caused the three-vehicle collision just east of Portage.

Hilton was on bail and had a warrant for his arrest. He was accused of repeatedly violating bail conditions, stemming from previous charges, in the weeks before the crash.

Verwey’s mother, Meechelle Best, supports the call for stricter bail and sentencing laws, among other measures for reform.

“As it stands now, it’s not working,” she said of the bail system. “Repeat offenders are at the heart of these requested changes. At some point, there has to be a final straw that breaks the camel’s back for these folks to not be given the benefit of the doubt.”

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham recently wrote to Carney and other federal party leaders to advocate for bail and sentencing reforms, a spokesman said.

Last year, the federal government amended bail provisions to create a new reverse onus targeting serious repeat violent offending involving weapons, and to broaden the reverse onus targeting repeat offenders of intimate partner violence.

Bail is recognized as a constitutional right in Canada. Crown attorneys oppose bail where appropriate, said Chris Vanderhooft, president of the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys.

Calls for stricter laws will not change anything fundamentally in the criminal justice system without proper resources, he said.

“These things don’t prosecute themselves. You’re going to need Crown attorneys to handle the work, and you’re going to need the resources to review the new material,” Vanderhooft said.

The association is seeking more staff for the Manitoba Prosecutions Service to cope with an increasing workload. The province’s 2025 budget does not contain any new positions, Vanderhooft said.

Christopher Gamby, a spokesman for the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba, said bail system changes or longer sentences are unlikely to solve the issues behind most offending.

“You could increase the consequences, but that’s probably not going to solve the problem,” he said. “You can have somebody detained on bail, but eventually they will be released. You haven’t solved the problem.”

A lot of accused people who go before the courts are victims of abuse or other crimes themselves, and haven’t received the treatment or care they need, Gamby said.

Some programs in the community or in jails are effective at reducing a person’s chances of reoffending, and would benefit from increased funding, he said.

Gamby noted some people aren’t willing to actively address their challenges, such as addictions.

The Manitoba government’s 2025 budget contains a few measures to monitor people on bail, including 12 new Winnipeg police officers, an expanded ankle-bracelet monitoring program, a new law enforcement unit and funding for data and intelligence systems.

Progressive Conservative justice critic Wayne Balcaen accused the NDP of failing to fulfil a pledge to be “tough on crime.” He claims provincial bail reform measures have fallen flat.

“This NDP government is responsible for a lot of what is happening right now in our justice system,” Balcaen said.

On March 10, the provincial Tories introduced a motion that was passed unanimously by the legislature, while Verwey’s family was present, calling on the provincial government to take “immediate and decisive action” to advance bail enforcement.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers, who was sworn in Monday, has said his violent-crime strategy will include a focus on repeat offenders who are on bail.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

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Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris 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.