Bail will be easier to get for low-risk accused

TORONTO — Crown attorneys are being told that bail considerations should start with the least restrictive form of release, as Ontario tries to cut court backlogs and reduce the number of legally innocent people in custody.

A new bail directive announced Monday is part of Ontario’s response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s Jordan decision that set out time limits for criminal cases. It also comes in the wake of another Supreme Court case that set out approaches to bail.

“There are some people who pose a risk to public safety and should rightly be denied bail, but for those people who are low risk and may just need a bed to sleep in, that’s where Ontario can step up and help,” Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said. “People should not be denied bail by the simple virtue of their disadvantage.”

About two-thirds of the people held in Ontario’s correctional institutions are on remand, meaning they have not been convicted of the crime for which they are accused. Many people end up in remand because they don’t have the social or financial supports to get bail, Naqvi said.

The new policy, set to come next month, will emphasize that an unconditional release should be the default, and if that is not an acceptable outcome, at that point other options such as conditions should be considered. If some form of supervision is needed, Crowns should first consider recommending some form of it in the community — such as requiring the accused to report to police — rather than in detention, the policy says.

The use of sureties — people who assume responsibility for the accused complying with their bail conditions — should be the exception and not the rule.