Sohi implores Ottawa to fast-track bail reform bill following spate of Edmonton murders

Edmonton’s mayor is asking the federal government for “immediate action” on bail reform in the wake of the stabbing death of a father of seven at a city LRT station.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, in a letter Thursday to Justice Minister David Lametti, says he “struggles to understand why someone who could be a risk to others” was in breach of bail conditions when the fatal attack occurred on Sunday.

Rukinisha Nkundabatware, 52, was found stabbed to death at the Belvedere transit hub in Edmonton’s northeast.

Police arrested Jamal Joshua Malik Wheeler, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. Court records show the 27-year-old has a long criminal history, including convictions for robbery and assault.

The federal government introduced new legislation in May aimed at making it harder for repeat violent offenders to be granted bail through targeted Criminal Code reforms.

Lametti, in a statement given to CTV News Edmonton, said he is doing “everything” he can “to ensure this bill passes when the House of Commons returns in September.”

“My priority over the last several months has been to work closely and in good faith with provinces, territories, mayors, national Indigenous organizations and law enforcement on bail reform,” Lametti said.

“(Bill C-48) has been met with approval by premiers of all party stripes, as well as Canada’s major police associations. I have been equally pleased to see provincial governments, who are responsible for the administration of justice, step up and provide much needed resources to improve bail enforcement.” 

At the time of Nkundabatware's death, police say Wheeler was out on bail and “living rough” on city streets. In addition to a second-degree murder charge, they said he was also charged with three counts of breaching conditions for failing to abide by conditions of a house arrest, possessing a weapon, and to stay away from any LRT station.

Police say Nkundabatware, whose children range in age from 14 to 27, was not a “primary actor” in the events that led to his death.

Sohi also detailed in the letter other recent murders in Edmonton allegedly tied to people who were out on bail, including the May stabbing deaths of a mother and daughter outside a Mill Woods school, and the killings of two men in Chinatown in May 2022.

Beyond the immediate need for bail reform, Sohi says he believes the entire system surrounding the health and safety of people accessing services through it needs an overhaul.

“I think we need to have a system in place that allows people to integrate back into the system, but that system is failing, too, in this case and the case of the Chinatown murders or in the case of the two murders in Mill Woods,” Sohi said Friday morning to media. “People facing mental-health issues are not getting the necessary support in place, so we need to rebuild that system to allow people to get better and be a part of the community. Until that system is in place, we are having people released back into the community that are re-committing crimes.”

Mike Ellis, the province’s Public Safety and Emergency Services minister, said his government is, in the meantime, doing “what it can to protect the citizens of Edmonton, Calgary and the rest of Alberta” while officials examine “a very, very complex problem” that includes drug-dependency and mental-health crises.

“Part of the recovery-oriented system of care is making sure we have evidence-based medication available as part of the opioid dependency program … but that’s specific to opioids,” said Ellis, who talked with Sohi Friday about the mayor’s plea to Ottawa.

“When we’re talking about some of these violent offenders, let’s say, there are many reasons, some of which have to do with crystal meth. Crystal meth, which is not an opioid, is something where you’re seeing people doing erratic things or the violence you might see on the streets of any city in Canada, quite frankly, and you combine that with the possibility of that person also having complex mental-health needs, there’s no solution to that very complex problem.”

with files from CTV News Edmonton's Karyn Mulcahy