The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Criminal Lawyers’ Association will launch an urgent constitutional challenge next week against the introduction of mandatory cash bail by the province on August 17.
Cash bail creates two tiers of justice: one for the rich, and the other for the rest of us. Innocent, but cannot afford to pay? You face penalties, or may not be released if a surety is unwilling to step forward.
Mandatory cash bail applies to people presumed innocent. It applies to first-time accused persons and non-violent allegations. And will increase the population of overcrowded Ontario prisons with inhumane conditions.
As the CLA and CCLA will argue, mandatory cash bail under Bill 75 clearly violates the Constitution. Criminal procedure is a federal power under the Constitution. The federal Criminal Code sets out that a justice has discretion on whether to order a security deposit (‘cash bail’). The province cannot rewrite federal law. Neither can the province violate the s. 11(e) Charter right to not be denied reasonable bail.
The province already has tools at its disposal to address violations of bail conditions by seeking forfeiture of an amount pledged when a bail condition is violated. Mandatory cash bail is unjust and unconstitutional.
