A Bolton, Ont., father says he is angry and disappointed after his son was critically injured in a Brampton crash allegedly caused by a five-time repeat impaired driver, who has been released on bail.
Riz Arshad, father of Gabriel Arshad, 21, said he would like people to reach out to their MPs to demand bail reform.
Peel Regional Police said the accused, a 58-year-old Mississauga man, was released on bail on the condition that he not drive a motor vehicle. At the time of the crash on July 5, police said, he had five previous impaired driving convictions dating back to 2010 and was on three separate lifetime driving bans.
Arshad said he couldn’t believe the accused was released on bail. He said what happened to his son was terrible enough but when he learned about the bail, he felt it added “insult to injury” because the man most likely shouldn’t have been on the road.
“I don’t understand what the thinking there was. My son’s going to be here for probably months, if we’re lucky. And this guy was out the next day, enjoying his family, doing what he does every day and potentially putting his little incident behind him. We were very disappointed,” he said.
“We are very angry that he had this opportunity to potentially do it again. It’s very discouraging.”
“We need to keep these guys in jail and show them that we’re serious. This is a serious thing that they are doing. They are taking people’s lives in their hands…. The justice system has to realize that by letting this guy out, he’s putting other people at risk now.”
The accused has been charged with one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm, one count of driving with excess blood alcohol and three counts of prohibited driving.
Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, accused people in Canada have the right to bail unless there is a very compelling reason to keep them in custody. Granting them bail means they can remain out of jail, often with specific conditions, while their case moves through the justice system — a process that can take many months.
Several provincial governments and police associations have been calling upon the federal government to re-examine and revise the bail system. Advocates have pointed out the vast majority of people in Ontario jails have been denied bail and are awaiting trial.
Gabriel has been at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre since the crash. He was driving on Highway 50 between Brampton and Bolton when he was struck. The crash, involving four vehicles, happened at the intersection of Highway 50 and Coleraine Drive around 4:15 p.m.
In a news release on July 10, Peel Regional Police said Gabriel is likely to have “long-term life-altering injuries.” Two other people were injured.
Arshad said he is hoping for the best and his son remains in a coma and has had three surgeries already to fix the damage to his stomach.
“But he’s still got a bunch of stuff to go. He’s got a bunch of broken bones and, unfortunately, some serious head injury that he has to try to get overcome.”
Arshad said his son, his third child, is a “good kid” with lots of friends and a generous person. He was a volunteer soccer coach and has dreams of being a plumber.
“Hopefully, he’s going to get to live some of those dreams he had. I hope he gets his second and third chance as well.”
The family meanwhile is still in shock, said Arshad. He said the first two days were “very, very scary,” but Gabriel’s condition seems to have slightly improved. He said he and his wife have been by his son’s side in the intensive care unit every day. Gabriel has two older sisters and a younger brother.
“I strongly feel I’m going to take my son home. You know, it’s not going to happen overnight… but I feel like we’re going to take him home,” he said.
Steve Sullivan, CEO of MADD Canada, said on Monday the decision to release the accused was “quite surprising” to the organization.
“The assumption is always that people will get bail because everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but we do know, practically, that some people shouldn’t be released,” he said.
In Canada, it’s up to police and prosecutors to make the case against granting bail, although murder and certain other offences have a “reverse onus,” meaning the accused has to convince the court to release them.
In early 2024, the federal government’s amendments to bail provisions under the Criminal Code came into effect, focusing on repeat violent offenders who used weapons. The changes also broadened the reverse onus targeting repeat offenders of intimate partner violence, but did not focus on offenders repeatedly convicted of impaired driving.
According to the government’s website, however, the changes do “require courts to state on the record for any bail decision that they have considered the safety and security of the community in relation to the alleged offence, thereby increasing accountability to the public.”
Sullivan said it is a challenge for the criminal justice system to deal with individuals who keep repeating behaviour that puts others at risk.
“Sadly, allegedly in this case, we’ve now seen this person continue his behaviour until he’s caused someone else serious harm, again respecting the right to be presumed innocent. This is what you don’t want to happen,” he said.
“I think our system struggles sometimes with those people who you just can’t get the message through and how do you deal with that ongoing risk?”
Sullivan said he assumes the accused has a drinking problem and hopes he has been offered rehabilitation.
He said better solution to a lifetime driving prohibition is the installation of a lifetime ignition interlock device — a screening device that can prevent an engine from starting if it detects a driver has alcohol in their system.
It is illegal in Canada for a driver to operate a vehicle if impaired by alcohol, drugs or both. Drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 per cent are considered impaired under the Criminal Code and subject to potential charges. For young, novice or commercial drivers, no alcohol can be present in the system while operating a vehicle.
