British Columbia’s public safety minister said the province is investing an additional $6 million dollars for police departments to target repeat violent offenders.
Gary Begg announced the funding for the Special Investigation and Targeted Enforcement (SITE) program Friday in Surrey.
A press release said the SITE program has supported police operations in 38 communities throughout British Columbia. The funding brings the province’s funding for the program to $17 million.
It said the funding has facilitated more than 5400 investigations of individuals and 177 of those investigations also involved the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative (ReVOII), which monitors repeat violent offenders under community supervision in the province.
SITE is a three-year program launched in 2023.
“Its purpose is to enhance inter-agency co-ordination and to prioritize repeat violent offenders across jurisdictions in a more strategic and effective way,” said Vancouver Police Superintendent Andrew Chan at the announcement Friday.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and other local B.C. leaders issued a statement last September, calling on the province and federal government to take more action on bail reform for repeat offenders.
Begg said Friday the NDP government has been lobbying hard for bail reform with the federal government.
“It’s a very important discussion that is ongoing,” said Begg.
He said the additional police funding is just one part of the province’s efforts to address the issues around repeat offenders, including partnerships with social services and anti-poverty groups.
The release states the province’s latest budget includes $235 million in new funding in the next three years for various public safety and justice programs.
The issue of bail reform has been pushed to the forefront by some high profile cases involving repeat offenders, including the murder of 30-year-old Surrey woman Tori Dunn last year. The Ontario man charged in the case was out on bail at the time of Dunn’s killing.
The federal government’s Bill C-48 came into effect last year, expanding the use of reverse onus bail provisions to target repeat violent offenders. That means for certain offences the defendant must argue for why they should be released on bail, rather than the prosecution arguing for why they should stay locked up.
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma welcomed the bill when it was proposed in 2023.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued against the use of reverse onus provisions, saying pre-trial detention in Canada seen a 158 per cent increase since 1986, and Indigenous and Black individuals are overrepresented among those denied bail.
Meanwhile, critics are sounding the alarm about what they say has been a chronic underfunding crisis in B.C.’s justice system. The B.C. Crown Counsel Association filed a grievance last month over staffing shortages, particularly in the southern Interior region.
The Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. said last year a “sheriff shortage crisis” has led to significant delays in the justice system in British Columbia. They highlight retention and recruitment issues within the British Columbia Sheriff Service.
