We are committed to reducing crime in community- Shandro

Edmonton(ATB): Yash Sharma, Editor-in-Chief interviewed Hon Tyler Shandro,
Alberta Justice Minister and excerpts are as follows.
Yash: How Fort McMurray Drug Treatment Court will be beneficial to Drug
addicts?
Shandro: Well, thank you. That’s a that’s a great question for those who suffer
from addiction and then get into a life of crime. The benefit of the drug treatment
courts is that in 70% of those who graduate from a drug treatment court end up
being crime free. So it’s a benefit not just to them and moving on with their lives,
getting back into being with their families, contributing to their communities, but
also for our communities to have these folks. And no longer suffering from that
addiction and no longer living a life of crime. So it’s a benefit to them and to the
community. Well, our commitment was to expand originally, you know, back
before 2019 before the election, we had only two courts, one at Edmonton which
started in 2005 and one in Calgary, which is 2007. And then our commitment was
to expand them to add another five. So Fort McMurray is the last of these seven
drug treatment course that we committed to opening. I think now we have a
catchment area for each of these seven drug treatment courts that captures the
whole province.
Yash: We understand Alberta’s Government is advocating changes to the bail
system that will protect the law abiding public. Please let us know the action
plan.
Shandro: Well, thank you. And the action plan is first of all to make sure that
people know that this is stemming from decisions that the Federal Government
made in 2019. We have to remember that the rules for whether you committed a
crime and whether you’re out on bail, how long your sentence is gonna be, those
are all rules that the federal government decides in the Criminal Code. And in
2019, through a bill called C-75, they made a lot of changes to the to the bail
regime, which made it very difficult for.
Those who are repeat offenders even and though some folks who are violent
offenders, who are serious risk to reoffend while out in the community, they are
still being let out on bail. So what that’s done is making a lot of our communities
less safe. We’ve been raising this issue with other Provinces and with the Federal
Government. There was a conference in October 2022 on this. Ministers

throughout the country and I was pleased to see other Provinces joining me and
calling for the Federal Government to reformed the bail regime to making sure
this focus on keeping our community safe.
Yash: Amendment to Bill 21 to ban hundreds of thousands of shot guns and
riffles stands withdrawn. Is it temporary respite?
Shandro: Well, we understand that from the Federal Minister Marco Mendicino,
who’s the Public Safety Minister. He’s made public comments first that that they
are hearing from Canadians and then he ended up saying that this is a temporary,
that they are regrouping and that they will be taking another shot at these
amendments. So they seem committed to making sport or rifles. But riffles are
used by hunters and Indigenous communities. By making these prohibited will
drastically be affecting the way of life of many Canadians who live in Rural
Canada. So that’s unfortunate. And that just means that will continue to advocate
for these communities, advocate for sport shooters, advocate for those who
want, who are law abiding Canadians and want to use firearms in a responsible
way, and that the Federal Government instead focuses their energies on
positives.
Yash: Homicides in the province of Alberta are on the rise and many cases
remain unsolved. Do you feel Police need more teeth to nab criminals?
Shandro: Uh, great question. I would also say we have seen gun crime increasing
throughout Canada and homicides fortunately actually are on the decrease is by
small amount in Alberta. But we do need to make sure we are working with Law
Enforcement through the New Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
Investing, making sure that our municipalities as well are investing in policing. We
need to continue to make sure that resources are spent in a thoughtful way,
focused on making sure that the Police can solve these crimes as they happen.
There is a difficulty in the forensics for the RCMP being out of Province and we
end up having our files triaged on a national basis.
Yash: Asian Tribune cater to South Asians of Alberta. Your message for our
community.
Shandro: Well, just to thank you for this interview. Obviously your
audience/readers are very interested in the safety of the community. Our focus as
a Government is has been and will continue to be making sure that all of our
decisions when it comes to Public Safety are focused on reducing crime in a
Community, making sure that people are safe, making sure the decisions and the

justice system are focused on or risk based decisions and focused on those who
are high risk.