The widow of a St. Alberta Mountie killed on the job said she plans to fight for a lifetime to pass a bill that would place tougher restrictions on bail.
On Friday, Shelly MacInnis-Wynn, the widow of Const. David Wynn, and Conservative St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper held a joint press conference to discuss resistance to Wynn’s Law from the federal Liberals.
READ MORE: Alberta Mountie’s widow makes impassioned plea for changes to Criminal Code at Ottawa hearing
Currently, it is not mandatory to disclose an assailant’s criminal history during a bail application. Wynn’s Law would alter the wording of the Criminal Code so a prosecutor would be required to provide that information to a judge.
However, last week, debate over the bill was postponed until next spring, with the federal Liberals arguing the law could result in court delays and that the justice system is not set up to have all that information available.
“In a way, it’s a little confusing. I think their concerns with things being delayed within a bail hearing and gathering their information – that’s not an excuse,” MacInnis-Wynn said.
“This is an easy fix. I know that things are complicated within the system…but this is easy. We have to start somewhere.”
Wynn was shot and killed at the Apex Casino in St. Albert in January 2015. He had been attempting to arrest a man wanted on warrants.
READ MORE: ‘We’re saying our goodbyes today’: wife of St. Albert RCMP Const. Wynn
That individual, Shawn Rehn, had been out on bail despite having 30 outstanding charges and a lengthy criminal record. It was later discovered those previous offences had not been mentioned during his bail hearing.
“This [law] would be important to him. I know how hard he worked at his job. I remember him staying after work to prepare bail hearings,” MacInnis-Wynn said.
“He would be at least an hour or two late sometimes but that was fine because it would mean keeping somebody off the streets.”
Watch below: The widow of a late St. Albert Mountie is speaking out once again to get a law passed that she believes would have saved her slain husband’s life. Kent Morrison reports.
Cooper called the delay in passing the bill “an outrage,” saying Wynn’s death was preventable and made possible through a loophole.
“I’m going to continue to keep up the fight. This will not be voted on until February so there is still time to put pressure on the government to convince the Liberals to do the right thing,” Cooper said.
He disputes concerns from the Liberals that the law would create delays in the justice system, saying most bail applications already include criminal history.
“If it’s already done in most cases, then surely the issue of a backlog in the court system can’t be the issue. The only reasonable conclusion I can reach in terms of why government is opposing it is for partisan political reasons,” he said.
READ MORE: Liberals putting ‘partisan politics ahead of public safety’ by opposing Wynn’s Law: Alberta MP
Cooper said he has been speaking with Liberal backbenchers and has received some messages of support.
The MP also is launching an online petition to be tabled in the House of Commons. It is called “Wynn’s Law Now.”