Beyond the sadness of a young officer being killed in the line of duty, Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard tells a story about the day he attended the procession for Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala, who grew up here in the city.
Brassard recalls he was pulled aside that day by another OPP officer who showed him a picture of an illegal, modified gun that the officer had seized from a vehicle near Orillia not long before Pierzchala’s funeral in Barrie in January 2023.
“The (accused) was out on bail later that day,” Brassard said.
The story is telling, and especially tragic, because one of the accused in Pierzchala’s death, Randall Mackenzie, was out on bail, living under strict conditions and was the subject to a lifetime weapons ban. The case remains before the courts.
Pierzchala, 28, grew up in Barrie and was a former standout athlete before embarking on a career in policing. He had just progressed through his probationary OPP period at his detachment in southwest Ontario.
Pierzchala was shot dead after attending a call for a vehicle that had gone into the ditch two days after Christmas in 2022. It was Pierzchala’s first solo call as a regular officer.
The Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA), which is based on Ferris Lane in Barrie, recently issued a call for tougher bail conditions for those accused of violent offences.
Mackenzie had been granted bail after being charged with weapons offences six months prior to Pierzchala's death. He's in jail awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge in Pierzchala’s death.
“We call on the federal government to take immediate, decisive action to bolster community safety by reforming bail laws to prevent repeat offenders from returning to our streets,” OPPA president John Cerasuolo said in a news release, adding it is critical for changes to be made to restore the public’s faith in the justice system.
Cerasuolo was unavailable for an interview whe contacted the OPPA.
Brassard, echoing remarks made by Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Doug Shipley, said the main cause is to the current situation is Bill C-75, which both of the local Conservative MPs said makes it much easier for people with criminal records who are accused of violent crimes to be released on bail.
“Criminals are unafraid,” Brassard said in a phone interview.
For his part, Shipley, who serves on the public safety committee in Ottawa, voiced a similar refrain.
“Everyone is fed up,” said Shipley. “A Conservative government is going to reform the bail system (currently) in place."
There are other recent cases both locally and farther afield that have brought the issue into focus, even after Pierzchala’s death.
Last week, Nick Vassilodimitrakis pleaded guilty in a case that saw Barrie police officer Jim Peters cut with an edged weapon while making an arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant on Bayfield Street in late September.
Vassilodimitrakis had a long criminal record and was on probation at the time.
He was sentenced to 18 months, but was credited for 71 days. Notably, he had been denied bail in that case.
Speaking before Vassilodimitrakis pleaded guilty, Shipley made the incident a central part of his remarks on the floor of the House of Commons in Ottawa, because he said Vassilodimitrakis “should not have been out in the first place.”
A recent shootout in Toronto resulted in the arrest of 23 individuals in a neighbourhood not known for gun violence – it’s near where fans gather before and after football and soccer matches at BMO Field. It turned out that a handful of those arrested in that case were out on bail. Another, a youth, was wanted on murder charges.
Quoting from a federal government-issued report, Brassard said 256 people were killed in Canada in 2022, the last year from which statistics were available, by “people out on bail or some other form of release.”
That body count has increased progressively year-over-year since 2019 and accounts for between a quarter and one-third of all homicides in Canada that took place during 2022, according to the report Brassard was quoting.
Citing Bill C-75 that was passed in 2019 as the chief cause, Brassard, like Shipley, was clear in his position now and what a future Conservative government, if elected, would do.
“The bail system has completely failed … and blame goes to where it lies, Bill C-75 and, to a degree, C-5,” said Shipley, citing another piece of legislation that did away with mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of crimes involving guns.
“We will repeal them both,” he added, referring to both C-5 and C-75.
In September, a park in Barrie's south end was renamed in honour of Pierzchala. It's located across from St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School on Mapleton Avenue. Pierzchala often used Batteaux Park, located at 443 Mapleton Ave., to train.
In his memory, a new fitness circuit has also been installed at the park, inspired by the Ontario Police College fitness test.
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