“Broken Bail” in Canada: How We Might Go About Fixing It

In recent academic, professional and media conversations regarding pre-trial detention in Canada, a new expression has been taking shape. Specifically, an increasing number of people have claimed that “Bail is Broken” in this country. It is likely safe to assume that the generic reference to ‘bail’ in this context refers not only to the bail process (i.e. the criminal procedure of determining whether an accused detained by the police will be released or formally detained until trial) but also to remand (i.e. the detention of these accused in provincial/territorial custody awaiting either a bail determination or, having forgone or been denied bail, the resolution of their court case). Indeed, not only are a greater number of criminal cases beginning their lives in bail court and the determination of bail is taking longer to occur, but those (formally or informally) detained until trial are also spending longer periods of time in remand. Both of these separate but interrelated phenomena have contributed to the problem of pre-trial detention in Canada.