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Council votes to send letter to Justice Minister in support of Bill C-14
By Lethbridge Herald on January 21, 2026.
By Alexandra Noad
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter-Lethbridge Herald
Lethbridge city council voted unanimously to send a letter to Sean Fraser, minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to support Bill C-14, the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, introduced by the Alberta government late last year.
This letter is a response to an incident last week where an offender in Lethbridge was released and almost immediately rearrested.
Councilor Rajko Dodic emphasized the decision to post a bail is made by a judge, not a police officer.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen echoed the words of Dodic and reminded citizens to not place blame on the police.
“I just want to make sure we’re considerate of our officers and those in the system trying to push (Bill C-14) forward because it’s not their fault.”
Water infrastructure update
City administration also updated council on the state of the city’s water infrastructure, following a watermain break in Calgary which resulted in unprecedented water conservation efforts due to near critical system levels.
Joel Sanchez, director of infrastructure services for the City of Lethbridge, says the city’s pipeline system was designed to be interconnected so in a transmission main break the remaining reservoirs can maintain the service needed until the repairs are completed.
“We have pipelines that can fill these reservoirs and from those reservoirs we can actually fill or supply water to other areas, depending on the needs.”
While the city does keep an eye on the pipes to ensure the older pipes are replaced as needed, Sanchez confirmed that none of the pipes in the city carry over 35 per cent of the city’s water, which can cause devastating effects if they were to burst.
“We don’t have any pipeline that carries 60 per cent of the capacity which is what happened in other places like Montreal.”
City council’s next meeting will be held on Feb. 10.
15-14
We need reforms across many areas of the justice system and the penal system needs to be tore down and restructured.
Warning bells should be set off when penitentiaries in Canada have supervised drug consumption sites in them! It shows a failure in operating a secure facility! How are the drugs getting into this facility that is supposed to be secure? When a person goes in not addicted and comes addicted it is no longer performing its duties. People should be rehabilitated when they are incarcerated, not drugged!
Both systems need to be addressed! We need to get back to having proper deterents in place with suitable punishment and take the gloves off. Too many bleeding hearts have allowed both systems to become ineffective.
All are to be treated equal under the law, yet we now consider their race, whether they are First Nations or Black in passing down sentencing under the guise, too many First Nations or Blacks are now misrepresented in jails. Sorry, but police are not running around arresting all the First Nations or Black people, and leaving the caucasion people alone. They follow the evidence from the crime and charge those where the evidence of that crime leads!
If the did the crime, then they should do the time! We are not doing them any favors by giving them a break, instead we are saying to them, you can get away with it because of your race!
The Charter says all are to be treated equal! Not the we are to be treated by what race we are!
The Gladue Principle and other considerations are causing abuses of the system and mocks the laws of Canada! If a race is over represented in jails, it isn’t because police falsely charged them and the courts erroneously convicted them. It is because they committed the crimes.
The judicial and penal systems both need to be revamped!
Thank you Council members for sending the letter off, but I am not going to hold my breath! The feds have dragged their feet on this issues and related issues for years. They are more focused on flying around the world telling other countries how to do things, pushing their globalist policies, and gaining friendships with leaders with the worst human rights violations globally, than fixing many of the issues in our own country!
At least your effort is in the right place! I would hope all of his victims come forward and more charges are laid! Sadly, he didn’t act alone and is part of an organized group in this city!
If Atoa was in the US he would be looking at being incarcerated for over 10 years minimum before chance of parole! I wonder if race will be factor in giving him a light sentence in this case?
2 months from now, most people will have forgotten about this guy and not much will be done to improve the system!