As leaders from a group of Northern municipalities get ready to meet again this week, catch and release is once again up for discussion.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) board is meeting in Wawa today. The agenda includes talking about the recent and future catch-and-release meetings, the impacts of Bill 23 (known as the building homes faster legislation) in the North, and school board election funding.
In February, the Northern Task Force to address the impacts of Bill C 75 met for the first time at FONOM. It includes representatives from police services in Sault St. MArie, Timmins, and North Bay.
Timmins Police Chief Dan Foy took part in the initial discussion. He says police chiefs share the public's concern with the current style of catch and release bail that sees people accused of crimes back on the street quickly and often re-offending.
“We’ve seen a lot of comments made by police leaders across Canada in recent months, especially since the end of December when the policing community lost an officer," said Foy after a police services board meeting last week.
"We're going to take part in those discussions, especially when it deals (with) our community and with Northern Ontario."
While FONOM doesn't have the power to change the federal legislation, Foy said the task force can be a voice for Northern communities and share what they think is needed to reform bail.
The next meeting for that task force, said Foy, is in Timmins in April.
For this week's meeting, the FONOM board is also meeting with Wawa Mayor Melanie Pilon and CAO Maury O'Neill.
"It's important for the board to experience and then appreciate how vast the FONOM boundary is," said FONOM president Danny Whalen in a news release. "So when communities speak to their challenges like health care, FONOM will have a better understanding when we try to help."
