The view from the new remand unit at Prince Albert Correctional Centre. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
The president of the Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan says police should never be allowed to sit in as prosecutors during bail hearings for suspects.
President Kim Beaudin also says unrealistic bail conditions are leading to more and more aboriginals being placed in jail awaiting their court dates.
The practice of police officers acting as prosecutors in bail hearings sometimes occurs during after-hours court hearings when an accused appears before a justice of the peace.
The practice was recently ruled a violation of the Criminal Code in Alberta.
Beaudin, who served as a justice of the peace for five years, says he has seen it often and he has never been comfortable with it.
“Well you have got the police who are playing two roles. They are playing the role of administering the law, then they turn around and become the prosecutors,” he said. “That is not a good position that police should be in really.”
Beaudin says many accused are often released if they can scrape up the bail money, but he says the conditions placed on them are so strict and unrealistic it doesn’t take long for them to violate one of the conditions. Then, the accused ends up back behind bars, waiting for weeks or months for their court dates.
He says the system needs an overhaul.
“I believe there are some real issues around the terms and conditions like curfews and drinking, that there is something wrong there, and they shouldn’t be in there in the first place,” he said.
“You can’t tell an alcoholic not to drink, nor should you be able to arrest someone for standing outside their house at nine at night.”
Beaudin has met with the Canadian Human Rights Commission and has received a favourable response. He is also planning to meet with provincial justice officials to express his concerns about the high incarceration rate of aboriginals.
It is estimated that 85 per cent of people in Saskatchewan jails are aboriginal, even though they represent only 15 per cent of the population.