OPINION | British Columbia’s Broken Bail System Is At The Core Of The Public Safety Crisis
Photo Credit: Ben Nelms/CBC News
On Apr. 15, a tourist was violently attacked on the Vancouver seawall by a stranger. Her attacker, Peterhans Nungu, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault causing bodily harm. On Apr. 23, Nungu was granted bail and sent to a secure medical facility, which he was released from on May 20. According to Global News, Nungu had allegedly been released on bail in Surrey after being charged for assaulting a police officer and perpetrating domestic violence, a day before he attacked the tourist. According to a Vancouver Police Department (VPD) press release, he is currently on house arrest in Vancouver.
On May 13, a man was struck in the face with an axe and robbed by a stranger in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, sustaining minor injuries. Following the incident, Steven Henry Hall was arrested and charged with robbery and breach of probation. Just hours after the attack, he was granted bail and released from custody pending a court appearance on May 27. Two weeks prior to the attack, Hall was released on probation after being charged with uttering threats in 2024. According to the Vancouver Sun, Hall appeared in court in Vancouver, Surrey, and Coquitlam multiple times between 2017 and 2021. His charges “included assault with a weapon, theft, mischief, break and enter, resisting arrest and several breaches of probation orders.”
Both of these violent attacks were ultimately caused by Canada’s broken bail system.
In Canada, bail is a legal process where a suspect who has been arrested and charged with a criminal offense is released from custody while awaiting their trial. It is granted by a judge at a bail hearing and may come with a set of conditions. According to the Government of Canada, the main purposes of bail laws are “to ensure those charged with an offence appear in court when required, to maintain public safety by assessing and managing any potential risks if an accused person is released, [and] to maintain the public's confidence in the justice system.”
The bail system is under federal jurisdiction as it is governed by the Criminal Code of Canada. Bail is also enshrined in section 11(e) Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which states that “any person charged with an offence has the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.”
The bail system’s “ladder principle” requires that the accuser be released on the least amount of restriction and surveillance as possible given the circumstances, meaning that prosecutors must prove “that more stringent measures—such as supervision, curfews, or detention—are necessary to ensure the accused attends court, protects public safety, or maintains confidence in the justice system,” according to DowntownEastside.org. There are certain circumstances where the burden of proving why they deserve bail moves from the prosecutor to the accuser, known as “reverse onus.” Reverse onus is applicable for charges including murder or attempted murder, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and possession, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and offences connected to organized crime or terrorism.
In 2019, Bill C-75 amended the criminal code, and enacted a “principle of restraint” for pretrial release, which “promote[s] the timely release of accused persons,” according to the Government of Canada. The application of this amendment in BC became informally known as the “catch and release” system, whereby suspects would be arrested, processed, and released from custody on bail or probation shortly after.
This catch-and-release system has contributed to an epidemic of stranger violence committed by repeat offenders in BC. According to the VPD, officers respond to an average of 1-2 stranger assaults each day, where the victim and attacker did not know each other, and had no previous interactions or provocations. The VPD analyzed 44 stranger attacks that occurred between March and June of 2022, and discovered that 53 per cent of cases “involved a suspect who had been previously apprehended under the Mental Health Act,” and 60 per cent of suspects “had been previously charged with violent crimes.” Combined, the 40 suspects analyzed had 3892 previous police interactions across BC, highlighting how a vast number of random assaults are committed by repeat offenders.
These violent stranger attacks may be caused by the assailant having a severe mental illness, or being in a state of psychosis caused by drug use. After being arrested and charged, they are often granted bail and released back into the community, where the root cause — rampant drug use and lack of mental health services — remains prominent and unchanged. Without receiving adequate treatment for mental illness or addiction, there is nothing to prevent those individuals from reoffending. Coupled with the insufficient bail system that allows repeat offenders to walk free, stranger attacks are a common occurrence, which is having a significant impact on British Columbians. A 2024 Research Co. survey of 1,200 participants found that 50 per cent of BC residents fear for their safety.
In November 2022, BC launched a new Safer Communities Action Plan to help combat violence and theft perpetuated by repeat offenders. The program promised to “launch […] new repeat violent offender co-ordinated response teams, made up of police, and dedicated prosecutors and probation officers […] and implement a clear and understandable approach to bail for repeat violent offenders within the existing federal law.” Since bail laws are outside provincial jurisdiction, the Safer Communities Action Plan was also established “to pressure the federal government to address the consequences of changes to the federal bail system that have made it more difficult to hold people who commit repeat, violent offences in custody while they are waiting for trial,” according to a news release from the provincial government.
In July 2024, Canada’s Premiers penned an open letter calling on then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to spearhead bail reform after the murder of a Surrey woman by a violent offender who had been released on bail days before. The letter stated that "police services should not have to chase the same criminal three or four times because of an inadequate bail system […] This not only represents a drain on policing resources but is a hindrance to public safety."
The goal of the Safer Communities Action Plan and the Premiers’ open letter was partially achieved in January 2024, when Bill C-48 came into effect, which made several amendments to the criminal code, specifically the bail system, including “address[ing] serious repeat violent offending with firearms, knives, bear spray and other weapon,” “address[ing] the enhanced risks posed by intimate partner violence,” and “require[ing] courts to consider an accused person’s history of convictions for violence.”
Despite this amendment, which supposedly targets offences like assault with a weapon, the suspect who attacked a man with an axe in May was granted bail and released hours after he was arrested. This release directly jeopardized public safety and created the potential for further violence, as the suspect had a history of such behavior.
Bail laws must be amended to include stricter regulations for violent and repeat offenders, to protect the community and prioritize public safety. The bail system was designed to protect accused perpetrators from being punished or deemed guilty before trial, which protects individual liberty, but also weighs the rights of the accused over the rights of victims and the right of the general public to safety. The presumption of innocence is a human right, but so is the right to safety, which is enshrined in Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, where the right to “life, liberty and security of the person,” is protected.
The need for reform goes beyond the bail system. The catch-and-release model that has been used since 2019 is failing British Columbians. By shifting stress away from the judicial and prison systems, the release of violent offenders places the weight of potential violence on the community, and violates citizens' right to public safety.
Bail reform would entail extending the circumstances that invoke reverse onus to encompass violent or prolific offenders who pose a risk to public and personal safety, and systematically expediting the detention and treatment of these offenders. Additionally, efforts should be made to counteract Bill C-75’s principle of restraint for pretrial release, shifting the judicial priority to guaranteeing public safety. Medical and mental health treatment is necessary to truly rehabilitate repeat offenders, but public safety must be guaranteed, meaning pretrial detentions and longer sentences must be given to those who pose a risk to the community, regardless of personal circumstances. Involuntary treatment centers, increased police funding and an extended social safety net for unhoused individuals and those suffering from mental illness will only end the public safety crisis if they are coupled with stronger bail laws and an end to the catch-and-release system.
Random violence and the release of repeat offenders has generated doubt in law enforcement and the Canadian judicial system. When the tourist who had been attacked on the seawall told her story of the assault on TikTok, the comments painted British Columbia as a place where similar assaults are common and residents have resigned themselves to feeling unsafe. The province will stay that way until life, liberty, and security is prioritized over the presumption of innocence.