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Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Advocates warn Ontario's bail reform could harm mothers seeking recovery
Alicia Gordon had battled addiction for more than 15 years before it brought her in direct conflict with the law. The First Nations mother from Northern Ontario was released on bail twice; first in 2019 for charges related to drinking and driving, and again in 2020 for possession of stolen property, respectively. After her second release, Ms. Gordon turned her life around. She got sober and had occasional visitation rights to her five and six-year-old children. 'I went to treatment, got accepted into university, things were really positive,' Ms. Gordon said. Then an unexpected breakup triggered a relapse. A third arrest in 2021 saw her pleading guilty to 16 of more than 30 charges, including possession of stolen property, several break and enters and failure to appear in court. After six weeks of incarceration, Ms. Gordon was granted a 'bail bed' through the John Howard Society of Thunder Bay, a supervised housing program that provides support for those needing to meet their bail conditions. Ms. Gordon has been sober ever since. She said the program was the lifeline that allowed her to finally get her life back on track for good. But Ms. Gordon worries others like her won't get the same chance if the Ontario government pushes through its package of bail reforms. The reforms, proposed on April 30, include more restrictive bail measures, dedicated prosecution teams for violent crime and GPS monitoring fees, which individuals would have to pay to get out on bail. The province has also urged the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to keep repeat and violent offenders 'off the streets.' Advocates warn that Ontario's proposed bail reforms could unintentionally harm women and mothers by removing the flexibility that has helped many, like Ms. Gordon, break the cycle of addiction and rebuild their lives. In Ms. Gordon's case, the judge reduced her sentence, allowing her to serve one year of probation in her community instead of going to jail. 'I worry about the other me's that might get stuck there and can't be everything they could be because they weren't given the same chance that I was,' Ms. Gordon said. 'Recovery is not linear and it takes so much effort to stabilize. It's a journey.' Today, she shares custody of her now 10- and 11-year-old children, who divide their time between her and the kinship caregivers who supported them during her legal troubles. 'All of that happened for me because I got bail,' Ms. Gordon said. 'And if I hadn't, I wouldn't be sitting at my job today. I wouldn't be enjoying my children. I would have been completely cut off.' Women's rights advocates say a one-size-fits-all approach to bail risks punishing vulnerable individuals rather than supporting their rehabilitation. According to a World Prison Brief report, in 2021 women made up seven per cent of the incarcerated population in Canada. In Ontario, mothers represented about 80 per cent of that subset, according to internal data from the council of Elizabeth Fry Societies of Ontario, which advocate for women in prison. Senator Kim Pate, who was formerly the group's president and has been a long-time advocate for incarcerated women, said Ontario's proposed reforms are 'outrageous fear-mongering' and pandering to growing worry about public safety. 'To suggest that judges, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law should be set aside for political reasons?' Ms. Pate said. 'I think it's incredibly irresponsible of the premier of the province.' Charlotte Carron, press secretary to the Attorney-General of Ontario, defended her government's proposed reforms, saying the changes do not remove a judge's discretion. 'Ultimately, the decision about whether to release or detain an accused person rests solely with the presiding judge or justice of the peace who hears the evidence and arguments made by the prosecutor,' she said in a statement. 'We continue calling on the federal government to do its part and make real changes.' Lindsay Martin, executive director of the Council of Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario, described the addiction-to-crime cycle as a 'revolving door' for caregivers involved in the justice system. Martin said mothers who end up in the criminal justice system because of substance use are often released on bail without housing and without their children. The risk of relapse is further perpetuated by prison transfers from one end of the province to the other, sometimes before trial. 'One thing the general public doesn't necessarily understand is that you can be incarcerated in Northern Ontario and transferred down to Southern Ontario,' Martin said. 'So the incarceration is going to further displace you from your family and your home. They're kind of just set up to fail.' Ms. Gordon, who was initially detained at the Thunder Bay Correctional Center in her hometown, said she was transferred more than a thousand kilometers away to a Sudbury district jail two days after receiving her second sentence. It wasn't until after that she was able to call to tell her family she had been moved to a Sudbury district jail. She said the communication while she was there was not easy: family members and friends had to put money aside to pay for calls, which Ms. Gordon said were expensive and would last 30 seconds. 'There's a real sense of hopelessness,' she said. 'Women become so defeated, it actually pushes them deeper into their addictions, and deeper into being in conflict with the law,' she said. 'They are at a loss because their children are so far removed from them.' Martin said displacing Indigenous mothers such as Ms. Gordon from their communities echoes Canada's history of residential schools. 'You see that very clearly and when families are displaced children go into the child welfare system. Those families are, again, for another generation, being ripped apart.' Ms. Gordon said its the children who often bear the weight of generational trauma that perpetuates a cycle of crime. 'You can imprison mothers, but you're imprisoning the children as well,' she said. 'They just don't have bars around them.'
Global News
13-05-2025
- Global News
Ontario students warned over ‘senior assassin' game after high school lockdown
After a lockdown was put in place at a high school and teens were arrested at gunpoint at the beginning of May, Guelph police are following in the footsteps of many police departments in the U.S. by issuing a warning to students about playing the 'senior assassin' game. 'The popular game known as 'Senior Assassin' involves high school students competing to eliminate fellow participants by shooting them with water guns or other projectiles within a specified time period,' police said in a release. The service then noted that the game is not just played during school hours but after hours as well. Guelph police said one of the main issues is that the weapons used in the game often look realistic, which creates concern for others in the community, including some who are playing the game, and police can be called in. Story continues below advertisement That is what happened on May 1, when a high school in Guelph was placed on lockdown briefly as officers responded after it was reported that teens with guns were inside a car outside the school. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The officers then arrested one of the boys at gunpoint, as well as two others. Police say the trio were warned for possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and will complete an educational diversion program through the John Howard Society rather than face charges. The incident in Guelph is not the only one police have been forced to deal with, as there have been several reported throughout the U.S. in recent months. In Texas, a high school senior fell out of the back of a Jeep last month while playing the game and hit his head. He remains in hospital on life support, according to CBS News. And in Florida in February, a police officer shot an 18-year-old in the arm after a group of young people were spotted lurking around a car in the dark, according to NewsNation affiliate WFLA. 'The homeowner was alerted,' Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said. 'There's some people in her driveway, so she did what most would do, go check it out. And unfortunately, one of the students has a water pistol, but it looks like a gun in the dark, you can't tell the difference.' Story continues below advertisement The officer, who was off-duty at the time, responded to the call and shot an 18-year-old in the arm. Police said he is expected to make a full recovery. Last year, there were also issues in Ontario's Halton Region, as police reported seven incidents in a one-week period in which residents reported seeing young people with firearms on school grounds and residential streets. Const. Ryan Anderson told Global News the assassin game had escalated across the area, and had led to a couple of teens being charged in Georgetown. 'This year we're seeing a lot of guns that look like Glock-style handguns, and obviously members of our public are concerned when they're seeing this,' Anderson said.
CBC
20-03-2025
- General
- CBC
Homelessness on P.E.I. has more than doubled in 3 years, non-profit finds
Social Sharing The John Howard Society on P.E.I. says the number of homeless people on the Island appears to have grown significantly. The 2024 Point in Time count conducted by the society found 318 unhoused people across the Island, more than double the 147 counted in the survey three years before. Conor Mullin, president of the non-profit group, said the study this time took a more comprehensive approach and surveyed communities from tip to tip on the Island, rather than focusing only on Charlottetown and Summerside. "What these results show is that homelessness is not just a Queens County problem or a Prince County problem. It's not just an urban problem; it's a problem that exists Island-wide," Mullin told CBC News. While the expanded scope of the count did contribute to the higher number, Mullin said the findings also indicate that the issue has grown larger overall. "What we're seeing is that as our population increases and becomes maybe more diverse, we're also seeing that these unique populations are suffering from these problems." Homelessness affects different populations Mullin said the count started on Sept. 30 and ran for 24 hours into Oct. 1, 2024. The exercise is done at the same time in every province, as dictated by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada. "It involves having people out on the streets, at shelters, out on trails, places where we know homeless populations congregate, meeting people, talking to them, getting just a count of the number of people," he said. The John Howard Society has been counting how many people on Prince Edward Island do not have a place to live, and for the first time ever, it looked at the situation across the entire province. Conor Mullin, the president of the society's P.E.I. branch, spokes to Sheehan Desjardins of CBC News: Compass about the numbers. The count found that 70 per cent of P.E.I.'s unhoused population was located in Queens County, which includes Charlottetown. But this high concentration is likely due to the fact that most of the homeless services and resources on the Island are centred in that region, Mullin said. "So though some of these individuals may be from Prince or Kings County, they may be localized in Queens County just to have closer access to services." Demographic info collected too Along with the count, the non-profit also conducted a survey to gather demographic data, including gender, age and whether individuals belong to specific groups such as Indigenous people, newcomers to Canada, or veterans. One of the most striking findings was the sharp rise in homelessness among people who are new to the Island, Mullin said. "There's been almost a tripling in the homelessness found in that population, from about one per cent in 2021 to three per cent now in 2024, so that tells us that we need to have programs tailored specifically to the newcomer population," he said. Indigenous homelessness has also nearly doubled, rising from nine per cent in 2021 to 17 per cent in 2024. Mullin said this highlights the need for Indigenous-specific support programs. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness has also increased, from about one per cent to 2.5 per cent. However, Mullin noted that the John Howard Society of P.E.I. administers a federal program designed to provide housing for homeless veterans on the Island. The group plans to do just a count this year, with another combination count and survey in 2026.
CBC
31-01-2025
- CBC
Ontario advocates launch employment toolkit, say criminal records 'shouldn't act as a life sentence'
Research shows a criminal record can be a non-starter for many Canadian employers, which is why an Ontario non-profit is launching a toolkit and free training to help people with a criminal past find work. The John Howard Society of Ontario, a non-profit agency that advocates for humane responses to crime and its causes, has just released the "Fair Chances Developer Toolkit." The toolkit promotes "fair chance hiring," including tools to help job developers advocate for people with criminal records as viable employees, and dispels myths and misconceptions employers may have. Nearly four million Canadians have a criminal record, according to a federal government estimate. Accessing that talent pool could be an economic boon, as well as a way to help people rebuild their lives, says Aileen Simon, education and strategic initiatives coordinator at the John Howard Society of Ontario. "Once someone's served their time, it's in everyone's best interest for them to be able to get back up on their feet," Simon said. But many Canadian companies are unwilling to hire people with criminal records, according to a report commissioned by the John Howard Society last year. Three-quarters of the 400 hiring managers interviewed for the report said they had never knowingly employed anyone with a criminal record. "It really does require very specific tools and resources to appropriately address the concerns that employers have," Simon said. "We really hope that this toolkit can be a part of that." The new toolkit coaches job developers on the best ways to pitch clients with criminal records as job candidates. It offers guidelines on how to disclose an applicant's criminal record so it doesn't overshadow their qualifications, how to respond to common employer objections and how to tailor job searches to accommodate bail and parole conditions. A person's past crimes often aren't an indicator of their future job performance, Simon said, and the toolkit shows ways to explain this to prospective employers. "If someone's being hired as a bus driver, then having an impaired driving charge might be particularly relevant," she said. "But if they spray-painted a wall when they were 18, that might be a little less relevant." WATCH | People with criminal record are part of large talent pool, advocates say: This CEO came up with her business idea while in prison 12 months ago Duration 2:27 Refusing to hire someone on the basis they have a criminal record is not considered discrimination under the province's Human Rights Code — even if the record is unrelated to their job duties. In general, people with criminal records also have lower job turnover, equal or better job performance and no higher risk of workplace misconduct than employees without a record, according to research cited in the 2024 report. "We just ask that there be a more fair assessment of that candidate outside of that criminal record, outside of that one moment in time. It shouldn't act as a life sentence for them," Simon said. Educating employers is key: expert Governments should "humanize" criminal records, allowing people to include positive information about their experience with the justice system, says Renze Nauta, program director for work and economics at Cardus, a non-partisan think tank in Ontario. He says the key to opening barriers isn't ignoring a person's criminal record, but giving employers a fuller picture of the candidate. That's why he wants to see criminal records include positive aspects of a person's experience with the justice system. "It would include a certain record of behaviour that they had when they were in prison or on parole," Nauta said, highlighting things like skills training, addictions treatment and work-release programs. "The criminal record is only a partial statement of who a person is," he said. The Ontario government has made people with criminal records a priority of its skills development fund, announcing $12 million in 2023 to train people with a record for skilled work. The province announced an additional $160 million in spending on the fund later that year, with a portion intended to help people with prior criminal records "find meaningful employment," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said in an email.
