Northern Bail Project now underway in Northern B.C.

“I think COVID-19 is some of the silver lining in the court system which obviously took a huge blow with the closure of a lot of courtrooms, while we responded,” says David Eby, Attorney General. “The silver lining is that we’re looking at technology that previously everyone had a long list of reasons why it wasn’t possible.”

When COVID-19 arrived, the BC Provincial Court say they had been working for some time with the government and stakeholders to reform bail practices and improve this system, providing better access to justice for people in smaller communities.

This is a program unique to Northern B.C. according to Attorney General David Eby, he says there will be plenty of opportunities for all parties to share their concerns and build on the successes of the project.

This program is particularly beneficial to communities that may not have court on a regular basis, and can now avoid long trips to Prince George or other centres for the accused who need to appear in front of a judge.

While the program does benefit rural detachments particularly well, sharing concerns is something that the Prince George RCMP plan to do, who provided a statement outlining their concerns.

“The detachment is a very busy place, arrests are made daily and now there is a mix of prisoners who are subject to ongoing investigations with prisoners held on in-custody matters,” says the Prince George RCMP. “This has added to the overall complexity and risk to daily PG RCMP operations.”

The project will be re-evaluated at the 30, 60, and 90 day intervals to look for ways to improve it even further.

In the meantime, it means less time traveling for bail hearings.

by Caden Fanshaw

Northern Bail Project now underway in Northern B.C.

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