Canadians should expect politicians to support right to bail, Virani's office says

The office of Canada's justice minister says the public should expect politicians to support their right to bail and to be presumed innocent — warning that "immediate" and "uninformed reactions" only worsens matters.

A jury on Sunday found Umar Zameer not guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto police officer who was run over in an underground parking garage in July 2021.

Ford told reporters on Tuesday that he only had "limited information" when he initially called Zameer's release on bail "completely unacceptable" and an example of the justice system needing "to get its act together."

Shakir Rahim, who directs the criminal justice program with the civil liberties group, says without being granted bail, Zameer, an innocent man, would have spent the past few years behind bars.

Last year, the federal Liberals introduced a suite of tougher bail measures after widespread concern from the Opposition Conservatives, premiers and police chiefs, that it was too easy to access for repeat violent offenders.

Virani, who shepherded the bill through Parliament after former Montreal MP David Lametti was shuffled from cabinet, defended the reforms as targeting those with violent criminal histories, while justice advocates warn it risks contributing to the overrepresentation of Indigenous, Black and other marginalized people in pre-trial detention.