The Carney government’s landmark bail reform bill is widely expected to return to the Senate after the Liberals rejected two changes passed by the Upper Chamber.

A government motion placed on the notice paper earlier this week said it opposed a Senate amendment requiring the courts to disclose if they considered whether the accused is Indigenous or belonged to a group overrepresented in the prison population.

Under the Criminal Code, the courts must take these factors under consideration during bail deliberations.

In the motion, the government said the Senate amendment was “unnecessary” because the courts are already required to disclose on the record how this provision in the Code was applied.

As the Liberals have a majority, it’s expected the motion will pass in the House. If that happens, the Senate will be asked to either accept the government’s message or insist on the rejected amendments.

This continues until both chambers agree on the same version of the bill, though the Senate rarely insists on amendments rejected by the House.

When asked by iPolitics, Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon’s office couldn’t offer a comment on when the motion would be introduced in the House.

The bill’s path through Parliament has drawn the ire of the Carney government.

As iPolitics exclusively reported earlier this year, senior Liberal government sources have expressed frustration with the Senate’s refusal to speed up review of the bill, noting that it was a direct response to calls from premiers and municipal police chiefs.

READ MORE: Liberals question Senate’s handling of bail reform bill

The bill would expand the use of reverse-onus provisions in bail hearings for cases involving violent auto-theft, break and enter, human trafficking and smuggling, assault and sexual assault, and extortion involving violence or violent threats.

In most cases, Crown prosecutors have to convince a judge to continue detaining an accused person while awaiting trial. But for serious crimes like murder and armed robbery, the onus is reversed and the accused has to argue for why they should be released.

The Liberals have said the bill was a direct response from calls from premiers, who are upset with repeated offenders quickly returning to the streets after arrests.

The other Senate amendment rejected by the Liberals related to the conditions for an annual report on bail in Canada.

Bill C-14 requires that report to be tabled by the justice minister in the House and Senate “on any of the first 15 sitting days of that House after January 1.”

It must include data on bail outcomes, including accessibility among different groups and compliance and recidivism rates.

The Senate amendment would require the minister to consult with stakeholders that have “specific expertise in data collection in the criminal justice system” and coordinate data collection with Statistics Canada.

In rejecting this amendment, the government said “engagement with relevant partners and stakeholders is already permitted, and the additional statutory consultation requirement could limit flexibility in the preparation and tabling of the report.”

The Liberals accepted the other amendments made by the Senate legal affairs committee, including permitting the courts to name someone convicted of indictable offence within the past ten years to serve as a surety if no other person is available and that “doing so is in the interests of justice.”

The courts would also have to explain on the record their reasons for naming such a person a surety.

A surety is someone who promises the court to supervise a person out on bail. The surety must also promise to pay the court if the person fails to appear or violates their bail conditions.

There is no current ban on people convicted of indictable offences from serving as a surety.

A government source, who isn’t being identified to discuss internal matters, said it was accepted because it “reflects challenges in different jurisdictions across the country,” and the amendment “provides flexibility where it may be required.”

The amendment passed over the objections of Conservative Sen. Denise Batters, who said it “effectively neutered the limitation on who could serve as a surety, or guarantor, for an accused in a bail proceeding.”

Another amendment that was accepted required the justice minister’s annual report to include data on recidivism by those on release orders and rates of detention in custody before trial.

The other amendments related to when sections of the bill would come into force.