PM unveils Reverse Onus gun crime legislation
Updated Thu. Nov. 23 2006 11:00 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has outlined tough new gun crime legislation that will require some criminals to prove why they should receive bail.
Harper made the announcement in Toronto flanked by Ontario's Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and newly re-elected Toronto Mayor David Miller.
The three set aside their partisan differences to unite in support of the introduced amendments to the Criminal Code.
The changes would require those already convicted of a gun crime, who have been arrested for a second time, to prove to a judge that they are not a danger to society.
"Our legislation will reverse the onus so people charged with serious gun crimes will have to demonstrate why they shouldn't stay in custody until they are tried," Harper said.
He used the example of a 23-year-old Toronto man who was accused of shooting four people in London, but promptly vanished after he was granted bail and ordered to stay at home with his mother until his court date.
"That means somewhere in Canada, maybe in London, maybe in this city, a man facing multiple violent firearms charges is freely roaming the streets," Harper said.
"It's hardly an isolated case. In Toronto police report that almost 1,000 crimes involving firearms or restricted weapons have been committed so far this year, and nearly 40 per cent of them were committed by someone who was already on bail, parole, temporary absence or probation."
The 'reverse onus' bail conditions will remove the current system which requires the Crown to prove to a judge why those accused of gun crimes should be detained.
Some lawyers were outraged by the move, arguing it would create a false impression that gun crime is being addressed, while potentially imprisoning innocent people along with criminals.
"You can certainly expect lawyers like me will be at the front of the line, bringing Constitutional challenges," defence lawyer Steven Skurka told CTV News.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will look into the bill before making a judgement on any potential legal issues.
"We want to study the particularities that have been proposed, the details. Our justice critic is studying the bill now," he said.
Both McGuinty and Miller have pushed the federal government for tougher gun crime laws since teenager Jane Creba was killed by gang crossfire on Boxing Day, 2005 in downtown Toronto.
McGuinty said the new legislation will stop giving gun-toting criminals the benefit of the doubt and send them to jail.
"When you pick up a gun to commit a crime you lose your right to be free," he said.
Miller said he was "comforted" by the new legislation which he said ensures that witnesses of gun crimes will be able to come forward without fear of reprisal.
"Witnesses need to know that if they help police in apprehending a criminal using a gun, they'll be able to come forward and speak without fear -- because (the criminal) will remain in jail."
Miller said "there's no room for guns on the streets of Toronto," or anywhere else in the country, ever."
Guns "serve one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to kill."
Toews has recently been pushing Tory crime legislation promised during the election campaign. He recently said another piece of legislation, Bill C-10, which would impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain gun and gang-related offences, will help.
"What we need to target on is the use of handguns, especially by gangs," Toews said earlier this month. "That is what C-10 is really focused on. The areas of increase in gun crime is specifically the use of handguns by gangs."
Toronto experienced what some called the 'Year of The Gun' in 2005, culminating in the Boxing Day shooting death of teenager Jane Creba as two gangs fired at each other on a crowded Yonge Street in the downtown core.
Statistics Canada reported earlier this month that Canada's homicide rate in 2005 hit its highest level in a decade.
The rate went from 1.95 per 100,000 people in 2004 to 2.04 per 100,000 in 2005.
However, Canada's murder rate peaked out at 3.3 in the 1970s. The 40-year average is 2.17.
Perhaps the most startling figure is that 222 of the 658 murders -- there were 622 murders in 2004, or 34 fewer -- were committed with firearms.
The increase is directly related to a rise in gang activity, particularly in Alberta and Ontario, where guns are typically used in two-thirds of homicides, StatsCan said.
More than 107 of last year's homicides were believed to be gang-related, an increase of 35 over the previous year, accounting for 16 per cent of 2005's killings.
The steep rise, however, may be connected to StatsCan's decision to record homicides "suspected" to be gang-related rather than the previous method of recording "determined" gang-related killings.
With a report by CTV's Kathy Tomlinson and files from The Canadian Press