Justin Bone case illustrates gaps in Alberta's social services, lawyers and addictions specialists say

Lawyers, community workers and addictions therapists say the case of Justin Bone highlights the need for offenders released from incarceration to have quicker access to addictions treatment – and better post-release support.

Bone, 36, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the May 18 deaths of Hung Trang, 64, and Ban Phuc Hoang, 61, in Edmonton's Chinatown neighbourhood.

Bone had been released from the Edmonton Remand Centre in late April. Bail conditions prohibited him from using drugs or alcohol, and from being in Edmonton unsupervised.

He was ordered to attend a 90-day addictions treatment program in the city, but it had a backlog of patients and was not accepting direct transfers from correctional facilities. Instead, he was living with a family friend in Alberta Beach.

After Bone began abusing drugs and alcohol and threatened the family friend, the friend said he went to Parkland RCMP for help and told officers he wanted Bone out of his house.

On May 15, RCMP dropped Bone off in west Edmonton.

Three days later, Bone was arrested after Trang and Hoang were fatally beaten at separate businesses on 98th Street in Chinatown.

In a statement last week, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said Bone had been offered space in another addictions treatment facility — one without a waitlist — but he has not answered follow-up questions about the timing of that offer.

The series of events has prompted official reviews of police actions and criticism from experts about what police could have done differently. 

It's also raising questions about access to addictions treatment and social services for individuals released from correctional facilities. 

"We're setting people up to relapse," said Mark Cherrington with the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights, a non-profit that helps marginalized people in the Edmonton area.

Fifteen of Cherrington's clients — seven of them are homeless —  are waiting for beds in addictions treatment facilities. Cherrington said he has been observing wait times of six weeks.

Cherrington said it is "extremely common" for people granted bail with a condition of attending treatment to be dropped off in Edmonton, usually downtown and late at night, if they do not have a place to stay.

"We're putting stressors on these people that may make them act in a way that could be dangerous to themselves or others, and it's indicative of just not having the resources available," he said.