A Tragedy That Should Have Been Prevented

You can be excused if you have put out of mind the slaying of a 28- year-old OPP constable and murder charges laid against a repeat offender who was under a lifetime weapons prohibition and out on bail facing major criminal charges.

Since that Dec. 27 tragedy in the Hamilton area there have been so many other stories of unthinkable suffering and loss---far away and close to home---that have caught media attention and shocked the public.

We can do little about so-called acts of God like earthquakes—except send financial and other aid to the victims. But we have the power to bring about change that will prevent repeats of the bungling that led to the death of Constable “Greg” Pierzchala.

This was an evil act of barbarity that could and should have been prevented.

The shortcomings of our justice system don’t touch the daily lives of most people the way health issues do but for good reason, public safety is becoming an increasing concern for all of us.

The man charged with shooting the young constable did pretty well as he wanted for six months out on bail under the noses of police who were too busy and understaffed to bring him in. The de-fund police movement might want to take notice.

Since an outpouring of public anger and a funeral attended by thousands, politicians have taken notice, people like retired assistant crown attorney Andrew Bell have waded in, and we’ve seen some good reporting and analysis by Hamilton Spectator justice columnist Susan Clairmont.

Unfortunately, says Bell, there will not be an inquest and a criminal trial will deal with proof of murder but not the terms of bail the alleged killer breached. 

While provincial premiers and others demand federal bail reform, Bell says, “the problem here is not with the law, the judge who released the accused person or the terms of bail imposed. The fault must lie with one or more of the persons responsible for ensuring that (the accused) complied with the terms….it is certain someone failed to do his or her job or did it badly.”

It will be up to the provincial Solicitor General and local police forces to determine what went wrong, says Bell, adding “now that the cruel death of Constable Pierzchala is no longer in the news cycle, I question whether any of them feel compelled to do so.”

We should all hope that public pressure and politicians in both Ottawa and Queen’s Park drive the kind of inquiry and change that are needed.

The facts are these:

Randall McKenzie, 25, from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and his 30-year-old girlfriend have been charged with murder in the shooting death of Constable Pierzchala.

Mackenzie has a long history of charges and jail for offences including domestic violence, weapon possession, possession of drugs, assault and armed robbery.

In 2021 he served 209 days in pretrial custody, typical of our backlogged justice system where inmates wait months for trials and bail hearings and major cases get thrown out because the time limits imposed by the Supreme Court have been exceeded. 

He was denied bail by a justice of the peace when the Crown argued that McKenzie could reoffend and be a public safety risk. 

Six months later and six months before the shooting of Constable Pierzchala, a judge granted bail after admitting “it was a difficult decision and I hope I’m right.”

Justice Harrison Arrell referred to the Supreme Court’s direction (known as the Gladue principle) to give special consideration in cases of accused who are Indigenous. 

“The accused (McKenzie) is Indigenous. And it is a well-known fact that such individuals are overrepresented in our prison system, especially in pretrial custody, because of their challenges with poverty, lack of education and addiction issue. All of these factors are present in this case,” said Justice Arrell.

The Crown argued against granting the bail but the judge asked in reference to Gladue, “What am I supposed to do?” 

Notably, Justice Arrell admitted to the court: “I don’t mind telling you it’s a very iffy case.”

Iffy indeed---and very consequential, especially for Constable Pierzchala and the people who knew and loved him.

A major factor in the decision was the judge’s acceptance of a new bail plan presented by McKenzie’s lawyer that included a different surety (the accused’s mother) and a mandatory GPS ankle monitor.

McKenzie would live with his mother at her house on Six Nations, attend programs in drug addiction and anger management and she promised to call police if he violated bail conditions.

Indications are few if any of the bail conditions were obeyed or enforced. McKenzie failed to show up for a court appearance and removed his GPS ankle bracelet. This action alone was cause for police to arrest him but no action was taken.

It is believed there has been no effort to recover the $ 2,000 McKenzie’s mother pledged for his bail and court insiders say this is customary. She lives on a disability pension. 

There are millions of dollars in forfeited bail money which is either never deposited with the court or collected when the accused breaches the bail.

The McKenzie case flags another little-known aspect of the bail process.

The Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General conducts GPS monitoring and enforcement through the services of a private company—not court or law enforcement personnel or agencies. 

The private company supplies the devices and its monitoring system can detect both tampering with the GPS ankle bracelet and whether the person wearing the device is complying with terms governing his/her whereabouts. 

The company is required to call police immediately when a bail condition is breached.

Judges are bound by federal law that governs bail policy but enforcement is a provincial responsibility.

There isn’t a community in this province that isn’t struggling with the high cost of local policing and clearly bail enforcement is not a priority.

Six Nations Police were responsible for ensuring that McKenzie complied with his bail conditions because he lived within their jurisdiction. But Chief of Police Darren Montour, who was born and raised in the Indigenous community, says his force of 39 officers is underfunded and can barely keep up with 911 calls and a fentanyl epidemic.

To his credit, Chief Montour fully appreciates the intergenerational damage affecting his people but he objects to the double standard that encourages courts to give special consideration to those who are Indigenous .

“It doesn’t matter what the race of the person is. Look at the history of the person. My thing is protecting the public,” says the chief, who believes it was wrong to grant McKenzie bail.

The Hamilton Police Service were also involved in the McKenzie case and had a Bail Compliance Unit whose mandate included actively searching for and arresting offenders who breach bail conditions. During a six month period last year, 348 people wanted on outstanding charges were arrested. But this unit was disbanded as part of a reorganization about the same time as McKenzie was on the loose.

In all, 57 members of the Hamilton force, including detectives, were redeployed back to uniform duty to cope with an increasing workload.

Like other police services across Ontario, Hamilton police are asking for a significant budget increase this year to cope with increasing demand in areas like neighbourhood crime, guns, gangs and drugs.

Even without the GPS bracelet, finding Randall McKenzie and returning him to jail would not have been all that hard if there had been a will and the resources to do so.

Sadly, this case has provided a window into a justice system that wasn’t able to enforce the law and prevent the death of young police Constable Greg Pierzchala.