The mayor of Edmonton is calling on the federal justice minister to take “immediate action” on bail reform following the murder of a man at an LRT station.
In a letter to David Lametti, Amarjeet Sohi also pleaded for better release and reintegration plans, given the high concentration of correctional facilities and parolees living in the Edmonton region.
Sohi said the suspect in the crime, 27-year-old Jamal Wheeler, had been released from a correctional facility and was supposed to be under 24-hour house arrest.
Instead, Wheeler was living in a tent near Belvedere Transit Centre, Sohi said.
“I struggle to comprehend why someone who could be a risk to others was released into our city without a plan in place to ensure they would not reoffend,” said Sohi.
Four other high-profile murders in recent years are suspected to have been committed by people who had been in and out of prison for many years: the stabbing deaths of a mother and child outside an elementary school in Mill Woods and the killings of two men in Edmonton’s Chinatown in May 2022.
“The accused in (the Chinatown killings) was released into our community without support or an integrated release plan,” Sohi said.
According to the mayor, since 2020, there have been 26 homicides in Edmonton committed by someone who was arrested for a violent offence and then released.
“This is a crisis that requires your immediate attention.”
There are several correction and remand facilities in the Edmonton region: two provincial remand and correctional facilities, a youth facility and four federal correctional facilities.
Edmonton also has one of the highest number of parolees per capita of Canada’s major cities, Sohi said.
While Sohi said he is encouraged by the amendments proposed in Bill C-48, he said the bill needs to go to second reading as soon as possible, and there needs to be “a systematic review on preventing recidivism,” or reoffending.
“There needs to be better support to ensure that individuals with complex mental health and substance use issues have an integrated release plan and the resources necessary to support their successful reintegration from government-run correctional and health facilities,” said Sohi.
Sohi said he will be meeting with Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis Friday to discuss how the city and province can work together to improve public safety in Edmonton and will be following up with Lametti for a similar meeting.
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