Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a session discussing Canada's bail system and what changes may be in the offing.

The Bail Conundrum

Our talk is meant to help people better understand the Canadian bail system and to explain the newest changes the government is proposing.  We also hope to provoke a discussion as to whether, when we tinker with these systems, we are really achieving the intended goals of the changes. Will the public really be safer? Are the proposed changes going to make a real difference in terms of public safety? Will there be other ramifications that might be unfortunate from a public policy perspective?

Speaker:  Ingrid Hess and James Rouleau

Moderator:  Violet Meekma

Ingrid Hess is a Lethbridge lawyer who grew up on a farm in the Sunnyside area, between Lethbridge and Coaldale. She is a first generation Canadian born to a mother from the Netherlands and a father from Germany. She left the area at 19 to study at UBC and later to go on adventures around the world, living in Germany, Japan, Toronto and Montreal during her twenties. Ingrid came home to Canada to study law at the University of Calgary with the dream of doing international human rights law, concluding her legal studies in the Netherlands at the University of Leiden. But the draw to home was strong and once she started a family, she decided to postpone her dream. She has three grown sons whom she raised as a single parent.

Ingrid has practiced law in Lethbridge for 28 years, focused primarily on criminal defense work. Her most important and memorable cases involved representing people with serious intellectual disabilities in criminal cases. Her career took a detour for seven years while she represented over 350 claimants from across Canada in the Residential School lawsuit claims process. In that process, Residential School survivors participated in hearings to determine the appropriate compensation for the abuse they experienced and the harms they suffered. This work took Ingrid across Canada, including Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. This experience has shaped her as a lawyer and a human in many ways for which she is extremely grateful. In her free time, Ingrid gardens, knits, walks her dog and cooks.

James Rouleau is a Crown Prosecutor. 

Date/time: Thursday, June 8, 2023.  Presentation begins at 12 & concludes at 1 p.m. 
Cost: Free, but donations are gratefully accepted
Location: Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization (LSCO) Dining Room, 500-11 Street S, Lethbridge, AB 
Lunch & Refreshments: The Atrium Dining Room will be available by 11:15 a.m. Please arrive early before the start of the Presentation to patronize the LSCO cafeteria and enjoy their excellent variety of good value food options.

For further information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, visit the SACPA website.