Widow speaks out as Wynn’s Law turned down at committee stage
A Conservative member of Parliament from St. Albert is accusing his Liberal colleagues of playing partisan politics in effectively defeating Bill S-217, otherwise known as Wynn’s Law.
MP Michael Cooper denounced members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for recommending on Tuesday that the House of Commons not proceed with passing Wynn’s Law.
“The House of Commons (is voting) against closing a fatal loophole in the Criminal Code, a loophole that cost Const. Wynn his life when he was murdered by a career criminal who was out on bail,” said Cooper, speaking to media at the St. Albert Inn at 156 Street and St. Albert Trail on Friday.
Bill S-217 was introduced after RCMP Const. David Wynn was shot and killed outside a St. Albert casino in January 2015 by Shawn Rehn, who later took his own life.
The judge at Rehn’s bail hearing was not told about Rehn’s lengthy criminal past, and Rehn was granted bail despite having dozens of prior convictions on his record while facing 29 outstanding charges under the Criminal Code.
The bill would have made it mandatory for a Crown prosecutor to present an accused person’s criminal record and any outstanding charges during a bail hearing.
Shelly MacInnis-Wynn, David Wynn’s widow, said she supported the legislation as a means to ensure no family has to suffer a similar tragedy.
“The last few days have been devastating, heartbreaking and even traumatizing because of the way that our prime minister has treated this bill,” she said, with tears streaming down her face.
“I am not sure why it has to come to this,” she continued. “And why they feel it is necessary to hurt an already broken family when all we have ever wanted is to make sure that no one else feels the pain that I feel.”
Critics of the bill have argued the legislation would create unnecessary delays in an already beleaguered criminal justice system and that the issue at the heart of the bill will be better addressed in a comprehensive review of Alberta’s bail system.
“We heard from witness after witness after witness,” said Randy Boissonnault, Liberal MP for Edmonton-Centre. He serves on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and did not support passing Wynn’s Law, saying experts advised that further delays would see even more criminal cases thrown out without trial.
“Overwhelmingly (they) were against the changes being proposed because of the complications it would create by delaying the justice system, which ends up letting more people out of prison and not being tried through the trial system because of the long delays in the process,” said Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal MP for EdmontonMill Woods and a cabinet minister.
Cooper disagreed. “The bail hearing for Const. Wynn’s killer was a very efficient bail hearing, but it had fatal consequences.”
Cooper also questioned why many of the same members of Parliament would reject this bill out of concern for delays while they “have stood in silence as their minister of justice continues to sit on her hands, failing to appoint judges while serious criminal cases are being thrown out every single day.”
There are 62 outstanding judicial vacancies, Cooper said. “That’s more judicial vacancies than the number of judges that the minister of justice has managed to appoint in the last 19 months.”
Cooper expects the bill will be officially voted down in the House of Commons before the end of the session.