Thank you very much.
Good afternoon and thank you for the invitation and for allowing me to appear this afternoon on behalf of the Canadian Police Association, which represents more than 60,000 frontline police personnel across Canada.
Our members include civilian and sworn law enforcement professionals serving in every province and territory, in large urban centres as well as rural and remote communities. Collectively, they bring a perspective that is both national in scope and grounded in day-to-day experience.
This is the first time we have had the opportunity to appear before this committee since the last federal election, so I want to begin by thanking you for the invitation.
I also want to congratulate you, Mr. Miller, on your election as chair, and mention that I look forward to working with you in this new role.
Frontline officers are uniquely positioned to speak to the challenges facing our justice system. When Canadians call for help, it's police who respond. It's our members who arrest repeat violent offenders, only to see those same individuals return to the streets weeks, days and sometimes even only hours later. While it's fair to acknowledge that Canada's justice system generally works well, the persistence of this small but highly disruptive group of offenders places an enormous strain on police resources, heightens risks to officers and communities, and perhaps most importantly, erodes public trust in the system.
That erosion of trust is real. Statistics Canada has documented a steady decline in Canadians' confidence in the justice system and the courts. This does not serve anyone well. When citizens lose faith in the fairness and effectiveness of the system, victims feel unheard, communities feel unprotected and officers feel as though their work does not matter. Confidence is the foundation of legitimacy, and without it, every part of the system suffers.
What makes this situation especially frustrating is that both the governing Liberal Party and the official opposition Conservatives acknowledged during the last election that bail and sentencing reform must be a priority. In fact, both parties made specific commitments in response to questions from the Canadian Police Association.
As you all know very well, it is rare in Canadian politics to see such broad agreement across party lines, and it would be a profound missed opportunity if Parliament failed to act. Canadians rightly expect progress when their elected officials all recognize the same problem. That is why this committee's work is so important.
We hope that your study can move this discussion beyond partisan lines and into the realm of practical solutions. This is not an idealistic or quixotic hope. It is the kind of constructive, evidence-based collaboration that Canadians expect and deserve from their representatives.
From our perspective, there are clear and achievable reforms that would help restore confidence and strengthen accountability: creating a stand-alone offence for breaching parole conditions to ensure that supervision orders carry real consequences; mandating the reporting of all breaches by supervising authorities so that gaps and delays do not put the public at risk; replacing automatic statutory release with earned discretionary parole for high-risk repeat offenders so release is based on rehabilitation and not the calendar; strengthening reverse onus provisions and bail decisions, particularly for violent and habitual offenders, to better protect communities while awaiting trial; expanding resources for police to locate and apprehend offenders who breach conditions, ensuring swift and consistent accountability; and finally, increasing resources to support any changes that are made in relation to bail and sentencing reform, particularly with respect to additional training and resources for Crowns, JPs and judges to facilitate the modernization of facilities and capacity building within the corrections system.
These are not radical proposals. They are targeted, evidence-based measures that respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms while enforcing the fairness and effectiveness of our justice system. Most importantly, they reflect what Canadians expect, that when repeat violent offenders violate the conditions of their release, there are meaningful and immediate consequences.
Our members are doing their jobs. They arrest dangerous offenders and bring them before the courts, but without reforms, the cycle of arrest, release and reoffending will continue to erode confidence in the system and place unnecessary strain on communities.
The Canadian Police Association stands ready to work with all members of Parliament and with our provincial and territorial partners to turn consensus into action. During the question and answer portion of today's meeting, I'd welcome the opportunity to provide more detail on our proposals and discuss how they can be implemented.
Thank you.