Boisvenu on convicted murderers: give them a rope

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 1:14 PM - 0 Comments

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu has some ideas on reducing prison expenses.

“Basically, every killer should (have) the right to his own rope in his cell. They can decide whether to live,” Sen. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu told reporters Wednesday.

A victims’ rights advocate and now a senator, Boisvenu also says the death penalty should be considered in certain cases when there’s no hope of rehabilitation. He says limited use of capital punishment could save money. He cited the case of the Shafias — the Montrealers who were convicted this week of killing four female family members. Boisvenu estimates that it will cost Canadian taxpayers $10 million to keep them locked up.

In the case of the Shafias, Mr. Boisvenu apparently said “returning them to their country might be a tougher sentence than to keep them here, where our prisons are a lot more comfortable.”

Update 3:46pm. A statement (en francais) from Mr. Boisvenu. Continue…

The cost of federalism

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 23, 2012 at 4:34 PM - 0 Comments

The Ontario government figures the Harper government’s crime bill will cost the province $1 billion.

Now that it has passed, the McGuinty government says it has determined that the changes could add as many as 1,500 additional inmates to provincial correctional facilities by 2016 and may require a new 1,000-bed facility to be built. Ontario also believes that police officers will spending much more time in court instead of patrolling Ontario neighbourhoods.

The Ontario government says it intends to call on the federal government to help cover the extra costs at the upcoming meeting of federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers in Prince Edward Island.

See previously: Who pays for what?

Police blotter: drive-by paintball and illicit barbequing

By Kristy Hutter - Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:50 AM - 0 Comments

Nova Scotia: An 18-year-old was arrested after a Halifax homeowner awoke to find smoke pouring from his barbecue. The accused had allegedly cooked up some ribs he’d found in a freezer, then fled when they began to burn. The police, with the help of a dog unit, found him hiding in a nearby yard, wielding a knife.

Prince Edward Island: Police are investigating a series of drive-by paintball shootings in Charlottetown. Two men in a Volkswagen Golf drove through the capital at night aiming at businesses and homes, hitting a dog walker and patrons outside Razzy’s Roadhouse with rounds of colourful paint. “Young fellas got nothing better to do I guess,” said the restaurant manager.

New Brunswick: Warrants are out for the arrest of a woman who resigned from the Moncton charity she founded after it emerged she’d defrauded a charity in the past and was accused of stealing from another. In 2005, she was convicted of embezzling $52,000 from Victim Services, an Ontario charity she ran. She was charged in 2008 with stealing almost $400,000 from the Canadian Progress Club in Alberta.

Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: the good news

By Ken MacQueen, Patricia Treble and Alex Ballingall - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

Longest without a murder: Lévis, Que.

The last time anyone was murdered in this city of 137,000, which sits just across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, was 2002. That’s the longest stretch of any big metropolitan area. Fortunately, there are many other places in Canada where homicide detectives are also as underemployed as the proverbial Maytag repairman. Some 38 of Canada’s 100 largest cities—from Windsor, Ont. (pop. 221,000) to West Vancouver (pop. 50,000)—recorded a homicide-free year. Canada even has a homicide-free province. In 2010, Prince Edward Island recorded not a single murder among its 142, 000 residents, for the second year in a row. Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous city: Prince George

By Ken MacQueen and Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

Most days, after Doug Leslie is back from work at the molybdenum mine in tiny Fraser Lake, B.C., he sits at his computer and writes a chatty little note to his 15-year-old daughter Loren. It’s a catch-up on the day, and maybe a bleat about those times he pulls the night shift, or about the cold of a northern B.C. winter, or about how quickly days fly by now that he shoulders the destiny Loren has inspired. “Loren, can you do anything about this weather?” he asked her recently. “It’s snowing and I hate winter, it’s cold and damp, and you are not here to warm up the room.” Invariably, he tells Loren how much he misses her, before signing off, “Love Dad.”

The notes grew increasingly plaintive as Nov. 27 approached. The pills weren’t helping him sleep, and the gulf separating father from daughter seemed impossibly wide, although he’d like to believe she reads every one of his messages. “That has been my sanity,” he says of his missives to a daughter who will forever be 15. Nov. 27 was the first anniversary of her murder.

Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Newfoundland’s other boom

By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

One would love to have been a fly on the wall in November 2009, when 21-year-old Bradley Kavanagh landed at Vancouver airport after a cross-country flight from St. John’s, Nfld. He’d left the island province with $195,000 cash in vacuum-sealed bags in his checked-in luggage. When he landed in B.C., the airline said the luggage was lost, which just had to ruin his day. The money, quietly seized by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) before it left St. John’s, was part of a major drug and money laundering ring operating in Newfoundland, but largely run by criminals from Victoria.

The boom in offshore oil and construction is drawing Newfoundlanders and come-from-aways to the provincial capital, but the prosperity is also a magnet for criminals. “When you have economic growth you attract legitimate business and you also attract illegal business,” says RNC Chief Robert Johnston. “Supply and demand.”

Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Vancouver’s crackdown on crime is paying off

By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

For all of Vancouver’s über-green, laid-back urban vibe, it has a Wild West attitude toward crime. Gangs, drugs and troublemakers from the East account for the occasional shootouts and alcohol-fuelled riots, and they certainly explain why the city’s violent crime score last year was 55 per cent above the national average. That said, Vancouver is actually a crime-fighting success story. It has gone in the span of a decade from having some of the worst violent and non-violent crime scores in Canada to become one of its most improved. Its overall crime score plunged 49 per cent in 10 years, more than twice the rate of improvement of the country as a whole. Only the historically peaceful communities of Kawartha Lakes, Ont., Quebec City, and Roussillon, Que., south of Montreal, fared better or as well. Among the keys to Vancouver’s success are a series of crime-busting initiatives. Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu was happy to explain:

ConAir

Think of “Get outta Dodge” taken to the jet age. Fugitives with outstanding warrants in other provinces or cities have a habit of fleeing west to start their criminal careers afresh. Unless the warrant is for murder or other major mayhem, their home jurisdictions are often happy to saddle Vancouver with the problem. A plan was hatched to give cons with outstanding warrants an all-expenses-paid, escorted flight back to the scene of their crimes to face justice. Some of the cost of airfare comes, appropriately enough, from provincial funds forfeited from proceeds of crime.

To date, 96 people have been transported out of province: 37 to Ontario, 33 to Alberta, 11 to Manitoba, seven to Nova Scotia, four to Saskatchewan, three to Quebec and one to the Yukon. As an example of the payoff, Chu cites a con with a drug habit of about $300 a day. Assume he gets 10 cents on the dollar for the goods he steals to support his habit, says Chu. “So, 15 grand a week is not out of the question for the kinds of crimes that guy had to commit.”

Ganging up on gangsters

When hunting high-value gangbangers, it often pays to aim lower than charges for murder or drug importation. Sometimes the entry point into a gang bust is turning their source of guns, or their customers for drugs, or, in one case, promising an abused girlfriend protection in exchange for co-operation. “We would get them for any crime we could,” says Chu. New provincial anti-gang laws are another tool. One prohibits retrofitting vehicles with hidden compartments, armour and bullet-proof glass. Another law requires health care facilities to report gun and stab wounds. Civil forfeiture laws have streamlined seizure of proceeds of crime. And Bar and Restaurant Watch programs use bouncers, backed by a police squad, to keep gang members out of the hot night spots and high-end restaurants they favour. “It’s making it less fun to be a gang member, which is good,” says Chu.

Crime analysis and public flogging

Chu remembers when crime analysts were “really old cops who put pins on maps.” Today those in the department have advanced degrees. They do real-time analysis, adding statistical performance measures for investigators, redeploying resources to hot spots and even predicting where crimes may occur. The bottom-line performances of commanders and patrol team leaders are compared against other districts at regular meetings, he says. “It’s not completely a public flogging but it’s powerful accountability.” He credits crime analysts mining data for playing a huge role in the arrest in December 2010 of Ibata Noric Hexamer, a Vancouver political organizer charged with a string of violent sexual assaults against girls as young as six.

Try a little tenderness

Property crime, much of it fuelled by addiction, has been a plague in Vancouver. Surveilling chronic offenders and gathering evidence of “the full nature of their offences” to present to judges is the first step to gaining longer sentences. The next move is more social worker than beat cop. Detectives visit offenders in jail and discuss the needs for their release, whether it be detox, housing or other social support to stop their cycle of crime. “We’ve got some very creative, compassionate detectives who build up a rapport with these guys. I’ve gotten emails and letters saying, ‘Hey chief, detective so-and-so was just great with me. First guy that cared about me in years. I’m doing better now because of what he did for me.’ ”

Bridge building

Vancouver police launched SisterWatch with groups representing vulnerable women in the Downtown Eastside. Improved relations are gradually overcoming a belief among women there—born of tragedies like the missing women’s case—that predators operate with near impunity. More women report assaults or provide tips now that they have evidence their claims are taken seriously. “It’s the legacy of Robert Pickton,” Chu says of SisterWatch.

Wanted Posters

It worked in the Old West, it works today. On a wet November day, Vancouver police and a corps of volunteers distributed 35,000 posters with photos of 104 unidentified people wanted in connection with the Stanley Cup riot last June. “Of 104 we got good tips on pretty much half of them,” says Chu. (His determination to see hundreds of rioters face charges will likely boost Vancouver’s 2011 crime rate.) The department also reaped a harvest with the latest ConAir 10 Most Wanted poster displayed on its website and elsewhere. Nine have been arrested. As for No. 10? Harold Richard Lambert, wanted for uttering death threats and other breaches, your ticket to Ottawa awaits.

Canada’s most dangerous cities: robbery

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Winnipeg, Manitoba

In 2010 Winnipeggers endured 2,000 robberies. Consider the holdups of just one night in February. Two men skulked into a business on Notre Dame Avenue and confronted the 22-year-old girl working behind the counter. They grabbed a fistful of cash and ran. An hour later, two others burst into a Westminster Avenue store wielding a gun and stole money. Just after midnight, another business was robbed at gunpoint. Then at 1:10 a.m., several men attempted to rob a Manitoba Avenue home.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Winnipeg (228%)

2. Saskatoon (164%)

3. Montreal (153%)

4. Regina (141%)

5. Victoria (137%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. Rimouski, Que. (100%)

2. Stormont/Dundas/Glengarry, Ont (97%)

3. Lac-Saint-Jean-Est, Que. (96%)

4. Arthabaska Region, Que. (90%)

5. St. Clair, Ont. (89%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: homicide

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Prince George, British Columbia

Seven murders gave the city top spot in 2010, well above the national rate. Prince George, B.C., consistently has a high homicide rate: in 2009, its rate was 121 per cent above the national rate, exactly where it was in 2000.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Prince George, B.C. (486%)

2. Wood Buffalo, Alta (202%)

3. Saskatoon (168%)

4. Thunder Bay, Ont. (163%)

5. Regina (148%)

Best cities* (% lower than national average)

1. Joliette, Que. (100%)

2. Sarnia, Ont. (100%)

3. Windsor, Ont. (100%)

4. Red Deer, Alta. (100%)

5. Richmond, B.C. (100%)

*38 cities reported zero murders in 2010

Canada’s most dangerous cities: aggravated assault

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Saskatoon

Aggravated assault is as bad as it gets before the charge is attempted murder. The Criminal Code charge of aggravated assault is laid against anyone who “wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant.” It’s a world of hurt that’s best avoided, so eschew dingy bars, dark alleys, harsh words, and all jokes about Saskatchewan. Yes, Saskatoon and Regina top the list, while Edmonton is right behind. In fact, seven of the 10 worst cities for aggravated assault are in Manitoba or points west. Not that we’re picking a fight or anything.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

Saskatoon (258%)

Regina (187%)

Edmonton (185%)

Kamloops, B.C. (156%)

Winnipeg (147%)

Best cities* (% lower than national average)

Châteauguay, Que. (100%

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. (100%)

Montcalm MRC, Que. (100%)

Caledon, Ont. (100%)

South Simcoe, Ont. (100%)

*38 cities reported zero aggravated assaults in 2010

Canada’s most dangerous cities: auto theft

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Joliette, Quebec

Nowhere in Canada are you more likely to have your car jacked than in Joliette, Que., a region of roughly 60,000 just outside Montreal. Boomerang, a company that sells tracking devices to pinpoint stolen vehicles, recovered its 5,000th car there a few years ago. “It is known as a place where you recover stolen vehicles,” says Michael Lendick, Boomerang’s national security director. “You’re going to find some chop shops; you’re going to find places where they sell car parts that are stolen.”

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Joliette, Que. (184%)

2. Langley Township, B.C. (177%)

3. Surrey, B.C. (154%)

4. Wood Buffalo, Alta. (147%)

5. Montcalm MRC, Que. (138%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. St. Clair, Ont. (75%)

2. Nottawasaga, Ont. (73%)

3. City of Kawartha Lakes, Ont. (70%)

4. South Simcoe, Ont. (69%)

5. Caledon, Ont. (68%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: sexual assault

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Saint John, New Brunswick

There is some progress on this front. Last year, about 65 Canadians out of every 100,000 suffered a sexual assault—down from more than 78 victims per 100,000 in 2000. Of course, these are police-reported incidents, and few doubt this remains a much under-reported crime. Based on what was reported to police in 2010, Saint John, N.B., tops the list. North of the 60th parallel, however, the rates of sexual assault are particularly horrific. In the Yukon, one person in every 515 was sexually assaulted last year. In Nunavut, there was one for every 164 people.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Saint John, N.B. (132%)

2. Belleville, Ont. (122%)

3. Fredericton (88%)

4. Prince George, B.C. (84%)

5. Shawinigan Region, Que. (65%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. Caledon, Ont. (72%)

2. West Vancouver (69%)

3. Vaudreuil-Soulanges Region, Que. (65%)

4. North Vancouver (64%)

5. Richmond, B.C. (59%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: breaking and entering

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Belleville, Ontario

The lakeside city of Belleville, Ont.—population 50,000—had the highest rate of breaking and entering in Canada for 2010. Given the horrid crime spree of theft and murder by former colonel Russell Williams, one might suspect the city experienced a statistical blip. But while Williams committed more than 80 break-ins, only two of them were handled by Belleville police. That means break-ins were already a severe problem. To tackle such crimes, police created the Project Recover task force late last year, says Sgt. Julie Forestell. Since then, she says, the rate of break-ins has declined. “We’ve done something right,” she says. “The response was appropriate and ongoing.” The evidence of that, of course, will be in 2011’s statistics.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Belleville, Ont. (102%)

2. Prince George, B.C. (89%)

3. Langley Township, B.C. (76%)

4. Chilliwack, B.C. (72%)

5. Kelowna, B.C. (68%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. South Simcoe, Ont. (66%)

2. Caledon, Ont. (65%)

3. York Region, Ont. (58%)

4. Halton Region, Ont. (57%)

5. Durham Region, Ont. (51%)

What you don’t know

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 9, 2011 at 10:03 AM - 0 Comments

A former Progressive Conservative MP and Justice Department advisor says the government’s crime legislation will lead to worsening conditions in prisons.

Mr. Daubney said that, since the mid-2000s, the Justice Department has asked for less and less research to be undertaken and typically ignores recommendations against policies such as mandatory minimum sentences or prison expansion. “It is kind of sad that I have to do this, but somebody has to take the risk of talking,” Mr. Daubney said. “I feel sad for my colleagues who are still there. It was clear the government wasn’t interested in what the research said or in evidence that was quite convincingly set out.”

The prison ombudsman adds his concerns. A study by the Quebec Institute for Socio-economic Research and Information projects a total cost of $19 billion to build and expand prisons.

No rush

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 10:36 AM - 0 Comments

While the omnibus crime bill was rushed through the House so fast even the Public Safety Minister couldn’t keep up, the Conservative-controlled Senate will now take its time before passing it.

“The commitment that the government made was to pass the crime bill within 100 sitting days,” LeBreton said. “It’s sometime in mid-March. ”We fully expect it will be debated in the Senate, and will go to committee, legal and constitutional affairs, and it will be there I expect for quite some time.”

On the other hand, maybe this Parliament thing could be useful

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

Kady O’Malley reviews how the government failed to amend its own bill.

What makes the government’s eleventh hour effort to amend its own bill even more puzzling, however, is what the speaker didn’t mention, perhaps out of politeness, but more likely because he simply didn’t know: namely, the fact that similar amendments had, in fact, been brought forward at committee, by Liberal MP — and former justice minister — Irwin Cotler, whereupon the Conservative majority on the other side of the table voted down each and every one.

The dog ate the minister’s homework

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

The omnibus crime bill is apparently being rushed through the House too fast for the Public Safety Minister.

In a strange twist Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews tried to change the government’s own omnibus crime legislation by introducing a number of amendments, only to have the Speaker of the House rule them as inadmissible.

Speaker Andrew Scheer said the six amendments, all related to victims of terrorism suing perpetrators and foreign states that sponsor such acts, should have been introduced at the committee level instead of during the final stages of approval.

No consequence, no accountability

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 28, 2011 at 2:42 PM - 0 Comments

The government’s crime bill will pass Parliament without an accounting of its cost.

Opposition politicians voted to find Prime Minister Harper and his government in contempt of Parliament last March – this was a historic first – for not giving up the full costs of its so-called tough on crime legislation. Now, it is poised to pass the bill and Canadians are still no wiser. “It is a travesty that the Conservatives have told neither the Canadian people nor the provinces what all this is going to cost – with the slowing economy and big financial pressures all ’round this is even more irresponsible,” Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae told The Globe Monday morning. “Both the jets and the jails put the lie to the Conservative line about being the party of ‘fiscal prudence.’ Ridiculous.”

Prison is so passé

By Jesse Brown - Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 2:36 PM - 0 Comments

There are so many things to dislike about Stephen Harper’s unnecessary, anachronistic, ruinously expensive, and mean-spirited omnibus crime bill that at least one of them has been largely overlooked: the bill will bring an end to the option of house arrest as a “conditional sentence” for a large range of offences. What that means is that many small time crooks, including grow-op gardeners, joy-riders and laptop thieves may find themselves behind bars, whereas they might have otherwise been constrained to their homes and places of work.

This is a shame, and not just because prison is, as Elizabeth May pointed out, “crime school” for minor hoodlums who might otherwise have found their way.

An end to house arrest will also mean that the Canadian justice system will be unable to make use of technologies that make it cheaper and more effective than ever to keep an eye on criminals without locking them up. I speak specifically of a new generation of GPS-enabled tracking devices.

House arrest was once a difficult thing to enforce- corrections officers would have to randomly and sporadically check in on convicts to make sure they were following the rules. Later, ankle monitors were introduced that could measure the distance between a wearer and a receiving unit placed in his or her home. The unit used radio signals to measure distance, and then used phone lines to relay the data to the authorities.

Today, GPS units on cellular networks allow for a much more sophisticated approach to house arrest. Convicts can move between their homes and workplaces  and other pre-ordained locations without triggering false alarms. Any small deviation goes recorded, and major deviations—like, say, a drug dealer approaching a schoolyard, can set off instant alarms. Additional devices can constantly monitor blood-alcohol levels.

If left completely unmonitored by actual humans, these devices would likely be circumvented. Cunning criminals will adapt and find ways to break their sentences without triggering alerts. But coupled with human oversight and random in-person check-ups, modern house arrest can be pretty difficult to outsmart.  If crimes are committed while a monitoring device is worn, alibis will have to match perfect digital records of a convicts’ whereabouts.

In the U.S., the ballooning prison population resulting from the war on drugs has pushed these technologies forward.  It would be nice if Canada could benefit from them without repeating American history.

Jesse Brown is the host of TVO.org’s Search Engine podcast. He is on Twitter @jessebrown

[Main article image: Tim Pearce/Flickr]

Police blotter

By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 10:45 AM - 0 Comments

British Columbia: RCMP in North Vancouver arrested an 18-year-old man they found in the trunk of a car he allegedly broke into. After receiving reports of a smashed car window, the Mounties searched the area with a canine unit, but didn’t come up with anything. It wasn’t until police brought the car back to its owner that they opened the trunk and found the man hiding inside.

Manitoba: A 37-year-old man was arrested in Winnipeg after he allegedly conned six families out of a total of $5,000. Police say he posed as a furnace repairman, making cold calls to offer his services. In most instances he didn’t do any tinkering and simply took people’s money. But in one case, police say he installed a faulty valve that could have caused a carbon monoxide leak.

Ontario: A 24-year-old Toronto drug smuggler was banished from Windsor and surrounding Essex County after he was convicted of travelling with crack cocaine shoved into his rectum. A judge in Windsor concluded that her city doesn’t need any more drug mules. “Drugs, guns—we have it up to here,” she said.

Continue…

Kids in prison

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 21, 2011 at 12:18 PM - 0 Comments

Chris Cobb looks at one of the implications of the government’s crime legislation.

“It is badly drafted legislation,” says University of Toronto criminologist Anthony Doob. “The government has a role to make good laws and this isn’t good law. We should penalize according to the harm caused and I don’t think that the 18-year-old who gives his 17-year-old friend marijuana deserves a penitentiary sentence. How did kids sharing marijuana suddenly become organized criminals?”

To the list of those with concerns about the government’s direction, you can the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, who see a looming crisis in the justice system.

With statistics

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 18, 2011 at 2:08 PM - 0 Comments

Rob Nicholson, July 2008. “We don’t govern by statistics in our government.”

Rob Nicholson, July 2009. “We don’t govern on the latest statistics.”

Stockwell Day, August 2010. “We’re very concerned . . . about the increase in the amount of unreported crimes that surveys clearly show are happening. People simply aren’t reporting the same way they used to.”

Rob Nicholson, September 2011. “We’re not governing on the basis of the latest statistics.”

Jeff Watson, this morning in the House. “Madam Speaker, with our tackling violent crime act, measures to strengthen parole, pardons and sentences for violent criminals, funds for more frontline police and to prevent at-risk youth from a life of crime, only this Conservative government is making our communities and streets safer. According to StatsCan’s just released 2010 crime severity index, Windsor–Essex is the safest region in Canada. Among the safest Canadian communities over 10,000 people, the town of LaSalle ranks 2nd, Tecumseh 4th, Kingsville 7th, Lakeshore 8th, Essex 12th. Windsor is the 7th safest big city of 32, and topping the list of 238 safest towns and cities is my hometown, Amherstburg. Thanks to our dedicated police, strong community involvement, our government’s investments to prevent crime and tough laws to crack down on criminals, Windsor–Essex is the safest region in Canada.”

Local officials in Windsor and Essex County have cited a number of possible explanations for the recent success there, including shifting demographics, community assistance, police involvement in schools and “luck.”

With feeling

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 12:30 PM - 0 Comments

Stephen Harper, June 6, 2008. It’s one thing that they, the criminals do not get it, but if you don’t mind me saying, another part of the problem for the past generation has been those, also a small part of our society, who are not criminals themselves, but who are always making excuses for them, and when they aren’t making excuses, they are denying that crime is even a problem: the ivory tower experts, the tut-tutting commentators, the out-of-touch politicians. “Your personal experiences and impressions are wrong,” they say. “Crime is not really a problem.” I don’t know how you say that. 

Rob Nicholson, Sept. 20, 2011. We’re not governing on the basis of the latest statistics. We’re governing on the basis of what’s right to better protect victims and law-abiding Canadians … Canadians want and deserve to feel safe in their homes and in their communities.

Kevin Sorenson, yesterday. At the committee the Minister of Public Safety had to explain to the NDP that there is a difference between feeling safe and actually being safe. It is irresponsible to continue pouring tax dollars into the long gun registry because it feels like the right thing to do or the safe thing to do. The NDP proved again that it is unfit to lead.

The real federalism problem with crime legislation

By Brendan van Niejenhuis - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 2:18 PM - 0 Comments

Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press

In November 1983, Elijah Askov and three others were charged in connection with a plot to extort money from a man who ran a business supplying exotic dancers to Ontario strip clubs. Their case was plagued by delays from the start; nearly three years after the men’s arrest, and two years after their preliminary hearing, Askov and his co-defendants had not yet had their day in court. The Supreme Court of Canada was eventually asked to interpret the Charter guarantee to “be tried within a reasonable time.” And in its then-controversial Askov decision, the Court put a stop to the proceedings, giving birth to the modern and frequently employed practice of throwing out criminal charges based on unreasonable delay.

That Askov didn’t mean an end to unreasonable delays makes it hard for the provinces to mount a credible case against the federal government as it proposes sweeping changes to the Criminal Code. The Conservatives’ controversial omnibus crime bill has sparked a flurry of attacks for its substance, including its introduction of American-style mandatory-minimum sentencing. Quebec, Ontario and now Newfoundland have also introduced a new ground of opposition—the impact the federal government’s “tough new measures” will have on provincial balance sheets. It’s not clear, though, why voters should believe Ottawa is doing anything worse than adding to a problem the provinces had a hand in creating. Continue…