Thread:

I have spent last hour reading the devil in the details of Bill 22 – the federal govt's major criminal justice reform with proposed amendments to the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

My preliminary personal views:

There’s important stuff, like

scrapping mandatory minimums for approx 14 crim code offenses. This is a necessary and basic reform.

But others remain. Mandatory minimums should be FULLY eradicated. They have disproportionate impact, violate basic principle of individualized & proportionate & Gladue sentencing

Rhetoric around retaining some mandatory minimums due to "gang -related" violence goes against attempts to address systemic racism in the criminal legal system (leaving aside Charter implications of mandatory minimums).

Idea of gang violence is already & inherently racialized.

Also, bill removes mandatory minimums for drug-related offenses. This is good, but does not actually fully decriminalize drugs.

We are in midst of opioid crisis and people are dying due to policy decisions and lack of safe supply. That is the urgent demand across the country.

Importantly, full and actual decriminalization means removing all criminal sanctions and other regulatory measures — such as administrative penalties, fines, drug seizures, involuntary treatment or coerced diversion programming — for the possession of substances for personal use

Without full decriminalization and by retaining police and prosecutorial discretion to charge for simple possession, we will continue to reproduce systemic oppression in criminal legal system. Indigenous, Black, racialized, trans & homeless drug users will continue to be targets.

Finally, expanding the use of conditional sentencing may seem like positive step toward decarceration of Indigenous, Black and racialized people when contrasted to incarceration. However, conditional sentences can quickly become a defacto pipeline to incarceration, especially

when punitive conditions such as house arrest, curfews or mandatory counselling are breached. The process is the punishment and extends the reach of criminalization.

This is reform that works *against* abolition. The goal is to end all criminalization but CSOs widen the net.

I think the main reform here that is in the spirit of non-reformist and, hence, necessary reform is to the step to scrap many mandatory minimums. It is also a promise long overdue and, in true liberal centrist fashion, basically takes us back to pre-Harper years.

Friends,

In light of tabling of Bill 22 today, who are racialized people out there doing radical and rooted criminal law reform and drug policy reform? Would love to hear from you all, please HMU!