The federal government announced new bail measures Thursday aimed at cracking down on repeat offences.

A “reverse onus” is expected to make it tougher for suspects charged with serious crimes to get bail, said federal Emergency Management and Community Resilience Minister Eleanor Oleszewski.

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“We want to tighten bail rules for repeat violent offenders in particular, and for some very serious crimes, crimes of violence, crimes like extortion, will be implementing a reverse onus,” the Edmonton Centre MP said. “Reversing that onus will be really important in terms of how a judge makes a decision about bail based on the evidence before that judge.”

When an individual is charged with a serious crime — violent assault, sexual assault, human trafficking, break and enter, and

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