City of Williams Lake Supports Federal Announcement on Upcoming Bail Reform Measures

Courtesy of the City of Williams Lake:

On October 16, 2025, the Federal Government announced legislation aimed at strengthening Canada’s Criminal Code for crimes committed by violent and repeat offenders as well as a commitment to increase RCMP resources. The media release can be found here: https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2025/10/16/prime-minister-carney-announces-new-measures-combat-crime

Despite City of Williams Lake Council’s ongoing call for stronger sentencing and monitoring for prolific, violent and repeat offenders, the judiciary has consistently failed to mitigate the threats to community safety resulting from their release into the community. It is clear that the judicial system is overburdened, due in large part to repeat offenders. Council has continued to request that the courts and judges take into consideration the community appetite to see stricter penalties applied to these types of criminals, and that they not be released when they are at risk to reoffend.

“Williams Lake has been at the forefront for advocating for significant bail reform to help keep repeat, violent and prolific offenders off our streets and restore confidence in our judicial system,” said Acting Mayor Scott Nelson. “While the proposed measures are encouraging, we cannot stress enough that we need strong, focused bail reform. We are thankful that the Prime Minister has taken the initiative to address this crisis, but we need to be clear that our communities need more than baby steps. We need gigantic steps to ensure public safety – the current catch and release of repeat offenders is not acceptable.”