NORTH BATTLEFORD — Both mayors of the Battlefords joined MLA for the Battlefords Jeremy Cockrill and Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Tim McLeod to sign a letter calling on the federal government for bail reform.
A press conference following the signing took place at the Northwest Community Futures Development Corporation offices in North Battleford on Wednesday.
The letter called on the federal government to implement "more meaningful federal bail reform."
"Our communities continue to face escalating risks from individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety and who are routinely released under a system that does not sufficiently prioritize the protection of our citizens," the letter stated.
The province is asking for several changes to the Criminal Code to address bail reform.
The letter asked the federal government to give "primary consideration to public safety in the bail decision-making process."
It also called for the introduction of a reverse onus for anyone convicted of a violent offence who is accused of committing another violent offence — placing the responsibility on the accused to show they are not a threat to public safety.
Battlefords MLA and Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said recidivism is a key problem to address.
"We see the same repeat offenders committing violent crimes in our community," he said. "Obviously, that has an effect on how people in our community feel about safety in the Battlefords. But it's also important that if you commit a criminal act that you pay the consequences of that act."
Cockrill said effective bail reform would have an impact not just on the Battlefords, but across the province and the country.
North Battleford Mayor Kelli Hawtin said the city wanted to join the provincial government in partnership to ask for bail reform for a number of reasons.
"For a number of years, we've heard from our RCMP and our chief of police that the biggest volume of crimes that have been in our community, the most serious crimes, are being committed by repeat and violent offenders," she said. "It's taxing our police resources and it's putting our vulnerable community at risk, having these types of people free to be on our streets. So, in order to use our resources more effectively we really want those violent repeat offenders dealt with, and taken off our streets and out of our communities. We're not asking for more people in prison. We're asking for the right people to be in prison."
Hawtin noted that much is being done in terms of community safety efforts.
"We put a lot of investment into proactive initiatives to try to combat crime down the road," she said. "But that stuff is not effective if these repeat violent offenders get to be on the street corner recruiting, selling drugs, this type of action. So that's the impetus of us asking for this. We see the effect here and we know we need change."
Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie agreed.
"What we're asking for [with] bail reform is to find some other solutions than just wasting the time of our law enforcement agencies, wasting the time of our Crown prosecutors, wasting the time of our judges and court systems. Let's find a solution to make sure they [offenders] can't come back on the street and commit five or six more crimes," he said.
"Many in this room have probably reported on the image of the Battlefords as being an unsafe community," Leslie added. "I want to challenge that here today and say the Battlefords are one of the safest communities I've travelled in in the last three or four months. But we have this stigma because of a few individuals in our community that continue to commit these crimes, giving us a bad reputation. Part of this bail reform will help us change the image of the Battlefords, and hopefully bring more people to our wonderful community."
