Juno News - September 12, 2025


Criminal gets off easy over skin colour


Episode Stats

Length

45 minutes

Words per Minute

167.44135

Word Count

7,577

Sentence Count

490

Misogynist Sentences

14

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is The Crime Report with Ron Chinzer, and on today's episode, we're going to get
00:00:08.580 straight into it.
00:00:11.280 Millions of people around the world have now seen the murder of Charlie Kirk, and whether
00:00:16.720 you agreed with him or not, the overwhelming majority of us know the truth.
00:00:20.380 This has no place in any society.
00:00:23.280 Charlie Kirk was more than just a political personality.
00:00:25.420 He was the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, a voice that stood firmly for American
00:00:31.280 conservative values, a husband since 2021, and a father of two young children.
00:00:37.260 For him, family, faith, and freedom weren't just talking points.
00:00:40.580 They were a part of how he lived.
00:00:42.600 And for that, he did not deserve the injustice carried out against him, nor the pain now borne
00:00:48.480 by his wife, his children, and his loved ones.
00:00:51.260 On September 10th, he was speaking at an event in Utah, on a college campus, when it happened.
00:00:56.580 A shot rang out.
00:00:57.680 Witnesses saw him collapse as blood poured from his neck.
00:01:01.040 Some screamed.
00:01:02.400 Others ducked for cover.
00:01:03.920 Many frozen horror.
00:01:05.960 Others laughed and celebrated.
00:01:07.780 As disgusting as that is.
00:01:10.280 It was all caught in video, and the world saw it live or on social media.
00:01:14.280 And here's the truth.
00:01:15.820 This is what it looks like when someone is shot.
00:01:18.480 It's not Hollywood, it's not TV drama, it's violent, it's chaotic, it's life-shattering.
00:01:24.320 Newsflash, the next time you hear about an innocent victim of a homicide in Canada from
00:01:28.480 a shooting, sadly, this is what it looks like.
00:01:32.100 This is the reality that families are left with.
00:01:34.600 I say this as someone who spent 20 years in policing.
00:01:38.000 I've seen death, I've investigated shootings, I've stood in blood-stained living rooms,
00:01:42.580 I've shared in the grief of parents, spouses, even children, when I had to knock on their
00:01:48.360 doors and tell them that their loved ones were murdered.
00:01:51.440 I can tell you, it never leaves you.
00:01:53.940 It scars families forever, and it scars the people who have to deliver that news.
00:01:59.000 Now, add to the horror of Charlie Kirk's murder the reality of how some people reacted.
00:02:04.840 Teachers, academics, social workers, journalists, even here in Canada, celebrated.
00:02:10.260 They mocked, they danced on his grave because they disagreed with his politics.
00:02:16.500 Two teachers in Massachusetts are already suspended.
00:02:19.480 A student leader at Oxford has been condemned for his celebratory posts.
00:02:23.820 An MSNBC analyst was fired after downplaying the murder.
00:02:28.380 And here at home, Canadians who posted gleeful comments about his death may not yet have faced
00:02:33.900 consequences, but they've revealed who they really are.
00:02:36.960 The lowest of the low in society.
00:02:40.140 Because celebrating a murder, celebrating the death of a father and a husband, simply because
00:02:45.680 you didn't share his views, especially when you've propped up yourself as someone advocating
00:02:51.220 for global peace and the end of suffering, that's not democracy, that's not freedom, that's
00:02:55.760 not justice.
00:02:56.660 That's hate, that's ignorance, and that's hypocrisy.
00:03:00.440 And Canadians should pay attention.
00:03:01.940 Because political violence doesn't stop at the border.
00:03:05.700 What happened in Utah could happen here.
00:03:07.760 We've already seen politicians threatened in their homes, candidates attacked on a campaign
00:03:12.420 trail, and communities divided by rhetoric that gets uglier and uglier every year.
00:03:17.540 Our justice system here at home, it's already crippled by weak bail laws, and repeat violent
00:03:22.740 offenders cycling in and out of custody only makes us more vulnerable.
00:03:27.120 If we shrug this off as their problem, we're lying to ourselves.
00:03:32.700 We must move past saying enough is enough.
00:03:35.460 It's time to actually see those in positions of authority act.
00:03:39.800 Not tomorrow, not next month, but right now.
00:03:44.020 May Charlie Kirk rest in peace.
00:03:45.940 May justice be served swiftly and fully, and may Canada wake up before we find ourselves living
00:03:51.800 through this same nightmare.
00:03:53.200 If that's the cost of looking the other way on violence, here's what it looks like when
00:03:57.540 the courts here in Canada look the other way on guns.
00:04:01.180 If a man under a weapons ban keeps a loaded Glock with two extended magazines and more than
00:04:06.160 200 rounds beside the laundry, then walks out of the court with barely 17 months, what does
00:04:12.080 that say to the families living here in Canada with gunfire outside of their windows?
00:04:16.600 For this story, we're back in Toronto, tracking the case of Mohamed Riaji, 28 years old.
00:04:21.640 Police had been looking for him since 2019 after a shooting near Lawrence and Dufferin.
00:04:27.200 When the emergency task force, which is the SWAT officers, finally hit a North York apartment
00:04:32.380 on Singercourt in June of 2022, they found a Glock 27 Gen 5, a prohibited handgun, loaded
00:04:38.660 with one in the chamber ready to go, plus two 24-round extended magazines and about 210
00:04:44.720 rounds of ammunition.
00:04:45.680 Riaji was already under a court-ordered prohibition for weapons from an earlier conviction, including
00:04:52.080 drug trafficking and dangerous driving in 2018.
00:04:55.180 That's not a paperwork slip.
00:04:56.680 That's a direct, knowing breach of a ban meant to protect the public.
00:05:01.340 Prosecutors also laid trafficking counts after officers seized several small quantities of
00:05:06.260 fentanyl, carfentanil, cocaine, crystal meth, heroin, oxycodone, and hydromorphine that
00:05:12.120 same day of his arrest.
00:05:13.580 Now, those drug charges didn't stick in court.
00:05:16.240 The gun and ammo did.
00:05:17.760 Attempted murder charges tied to the 2019 shooting incident were also withdrawn.
00:05:22.020 Now, the trial judge here, Justice Sandro Nishikawa, convicted him for possessing the prohibited
00:05:26.820 loaded handgun with ammunition while under a ban.
00:05:29.940 Now, here's where the sentence shrank.
00:05:31.960 The defense argued charter breaches during the takedown.
00:05:35.320 An ETF officer stomped on Riaji's head, splitting his lip, requiring snitches, and an unlawful
00:05:41.780 backpack search.
00:05:42.880 Now, the judge agreed those were violations, but declined to throw out the gun evidence.
00:05:47.740 Even so, she discounted time for the charter breach and then discounted more for harsh conditions
00:05:53.060 at Toronto's self-detention center, which multiple reports and decisions have called deplorable,
00:05:58.140 with overcrowding, frequent lockdowns, and prisoners sleeping on the floor.
00:06:02.220 Now, I know corrections officers, and for years, they've been telling me that the prisoners
00:06:06.940 know what to do and to say to get their sentence reduced, and in some cases, they're voluntarily
00:06:12.440 sleeping on the floor to reduce their sentence.
00:06:15.600 Now, if you've worked in or around the Toronto Self-Detention Center, none of that should surprise
00:06:19.960 you.
00:06:21.160 Add another major credit, an impact of race and culture assessment, IRCA, that documented
00:06:27.700 anti-black racism in his life.
00:06:29.880 The violence in his community growing up, and how that shaped his fear and distrust of
00:06:35.340 police.
00:06:36.640 Now, Ontario courts do use the IRCA reports at sentencing to understand the background and
00:06:41.780 the pathways that lead people into the system.
00:06:44.160 Similar in the concept of the Gladue Report, an appellate court that sets it out for judges.
00:06:50.180 Now, they can consider these reports.
00:06:51.820 And in this case here, the judge found systemic anti-black racism reduced his moral blameworthiness,
00:06:58.400 and pointed toward rehabilitation.
00:07:00.860 That analysis isn't new.
00:07:02.660 It's built on cases like R v. Morris from 2021, and later guidance from courts.
00:07:08.160 So, here's the bottom line.
00:07:09.460 The judge started at four years, then subtracted over a year for pre-sentence custody, took off
00:07:15.600 more for the charter violation and the Toronto South conditions, and applied an additional
00:07:20.240 reduction for the IRCA report findings, landing at 17 months total.
00:07:25.660 14 months for the gun, three for the breach of the weapons ban.
00:07:28.460 Now, with standard remission, what that actually can look like is well under six months of actual
00:07:34.780 serve time.
00:07:35.860 So, let's talk about the victims of this.
00:07:37.220 Because in gun possession case, the victim is often the community we all expect to be safe.
00:07:42.260 The people who hear shots outside their kids' bedrooms, the families who avoid their balconies,
00:07:47.920 the small businesses that close early because repeat offenders carry guns despite court orders.
00:07:53.380 When someone already banned from a weapon is found with a loaded, prohibited handgun and
00:07:57.860 extended magazines, the community expects a sentence that deters, incapacitates, and signals
00:08:04.340 zero tolerance.
00:08:06.300 Especially after years of risking fear and headlines that make people feel like they're on their
00:08:11.860 own.
00:08:12.720 Now, here's the tension the public feels.
00:08:14.780 We keep hearing that gun crime is serious, but we also keep seeing deep discounts in court
00:08:20.120 for poor jail conditions, for charter breaches, and for social context of the accused that
00:08:25.320 explains a life story but doesn't erase the danger walking around with a loaded, prohibited
00:08:30.000 glock.
00:08:30.900 Now, people see that and they think the system bends over backwards for the accused while the
00:08:35.280 neighborhood lives with the risk.
00:08:36.800 And when you layer this on top of Canada's broader bail and sentencing debate since Bill
00:08:42.360 C-75 in 2019, it feeds that narrative.
00:08:46.120 Fair or not, the system favors offenders over public safety.
00:08:50.060 That's the actual conversation Canadians are having at coffee shops, not just in the courtroom.
00:08:55.060 So, where does that leave us right now?
00:08:57.700 Accountability has to be real.
00:08:59.820 Respect charter rights.
00:09:01.240 Fix the jails.
00:09:01.780 Absolutely, yes.
00:09:03.460 But don't water down the message that carrying a loaded, prohibited handgun, under a ban,
00:09:08.100 by the way, is a hard line.
00:09:10.240 If we keep treating the community impact as theoretical, we'll keep losing trust where
00:09:15.560 it matters most, on the blocks where moms and dads put their kids to bed and hope the
00:09:20.400 night stays quiet.
00:09:21.860 We're told gun crime is serious, yet sentences shrink.
00:09:25.980 And while they shrink, Ottawa spends billions going after licensed donors and cuts the RCMP
00:09:32.040 funding.
00:09:32.660 Now, let's lay that one out.
00:09:34.640 Now, this all started when I was provided with confidential information directly from
00:09:39.000 RCMP members.
00:09:40.340 They were frustrated.
00:09:41.800 They were worried.
00:09:42.740 And they are wanting Canadians to know the truth.
00:09:45.820 That tip that officers didn't have vests, didn't have magazines, didn't have their training
00:09:52.180 because it was shut down, and we're told that they're going to reduce their public service
00:09:56.240 turned into what's now a national story.
00:09:59.060 Because the federal government is pushing ahead with a multi-billion dollar firearm confiscation
00:10:04.420 program while, at the very same time, cutting the RCMP's budget by $98 million a year.
00:10:11.900 Now, think about that.
00:10:12.660 We're told the government is serious about gun crime, yet they've poured billions into
00:10:17.800 a forced seizure program that targets licensed law-abiding owners while starving the very
00:10:22.820 police services tasked with actually protecting Canadians.
00:10:26.080 Now, Tracy Wilson from the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights called the contrast stunning.
00:10:32.340 And she's right.
00:10:33.640 She pointed out the hypocrisy billions spent on a gun grab that does nothing to tackle crime
00:10:39.620 while pulling nearly $100 million out of our RCMP's operating budget every year.
00:10:46.260 Now, internal RCMP emails back that up.
00:10:49.500 Commissioner Mike Duem confirmed the force has been ordered to cut 2% across the board
00:10:54.000 as part of Ottawa's spending reductions.
00:10:56.560 Now, those cuts will hit programs and frontline capacity, and they're expected to be formalized
00:11:01.780 in the 2026-27 estimates coming up in just a few months.
00:11:05.620 Meanwhile, the so-called buyback launched in 2020 is still nowhere near finished.
00:11:11.580 Over 2,500 models of once-legal firearms were banned by cabinet orders.
00:11:16.200 Yet, five years later, they're still sitting locked up in the homes of licensed owners,
00:11:21.120 unused and unusable.
00:11:22.900 The program has been delayed again and again, but Ottawa now says it'll be wrapped up by the
00:11:28.280 end of 2026.
00:11:29.720 The price tag for this, nearly $2 billion.
00:11:33.340 Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangari has doubled down, insisting this is voluntary.
00:11:38.940 Owners will be forced to surrender their property, though the government promises compensation,
00:11:44.140 which is the buyback.
00:11:45.360 Now, police on the ground say it's a complete waste.
00:11:47.960 Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell couldn't have been clearer.
00:11:52.600 He said nearly 90% of the gun seats in Toronto come from the United States,
00:11:56.960 and legal Canadian firearms are almost never used in a crime.
00:12:01.380 His words,
00:12:02.440 I can't think of a time when a legal gun has been used in a crime in the city, not one.
00:12:07.840 For me, I have the exact same experience.
00:12:10.080 Now, Campbell warned the seizure plan could actually weaken policing capacity,
00:12:13.960 forcing officers to track down thousands of firearms scattered across the country
00:12:18.260 instead of focusing on what they should be doing, violent offenders and border smuggling.
00:12:23.020 He's right.
00:12:23.640 Most of these firearms are unrestricted, which means police don't even know where they are.
00:12:28.720 Despite all of this, the Liberals press on.
00:12:31.760 They say this is a campaign promise Canadians expect to see delivered,
00:12:36.000 but here's the reality.
00:12:37.120 Licensed gun owners are being targeted.
00:12:39.780 Criminals with smuggled handguns and rifles are barely touched,
00:12:44.080 and the RCMP is left scrambling to figure out which programs, which units,
00:12:48.480 and which frontline officers are going to take the hit from those budget cuts.
00:12:53.640 Now, the people who tipped me off knew this would become a national conversation,
00:12:58.280 and it has.
00:12:59.640 Because when you put the facts side by side,
00:13:01.900 the RCMP losing $98 million a year,
00:13:04.060 while Ottawa spends billions chasing the legally owned property of Canadians,
00:13:09.160 it exposes a government that looks more interested in headlines
00:13:14.040 than keeping families like yours and mine safe.
00:13:18.000 Now, policy has real-world consequences.
00:13:21.820 In Toronto, the bill came due for a family sleeping at the home.
00:13:25.300 A story well-known to it, the country now, Javeh Roy, just eight years old.
00:13:28.980 He was a little boy, just eight years old again,
00:13:31.020 sleeping with his mom in his bed when a stray bullet
00:13:33.420 tore through the walls of his Toronto home and ended his life.
00:13:37.260 Think about it.
00:13:39.140 He wasn't outside on the street.
00:13:40.860 He wasn't involved in anything.
00:13:42.600 He was in the safest place a child should ever be,
00:13:45.420 in their bed at home.
00:13:46.760 And yet, Javeh Roy never woke up again.
00:13:49.920 Police say it happened just after midnight on August 16th,
00:13:52.820 inside a community housing unit near Martha Eaton Way in Trithui Drive,
00:13:56.420 a place I'm very familiar with.
00:13:58.640 Javeh was rushed to the hospital after being shot,
00:14:00.840 but the injury was fatal.
00:14:02.880 It's the kind of tragedy that leaves an entire community hollowed out,
00:14:05.980 because if a child isn't safe sleeping under his own roof,
00:14:09.720 then no one feels safe anywhere.
00:14:12.660 Now, let's go to the suspects,
00:14:14.280 because police have charged a 16-year-old with first-degree murder
00:14:17.360 and multiple firearm offenses.
00:14:19.360 Now, because of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act,
00:14:21.720 we can't share his name,
00:14:22.920 even though he's accused of one of the most serious and heinous crimes
00:14:26.360 in the criminal code.
00:14:27.860 Now, what we do know is this.
00:14:29.500 When the police arrested him on September 5th,
00:14:32.520 he was carrying a loaded, prohibited handgun.
00:14:36.800 Investigators then executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence
00:14:40.300 and seized more evidence.
00:14:42.040 Now, he appeared in bail court the very next day.
00:14:44.920 Whether he was held or released,
00:14:46.500 the public isn't allowed to know,
00:14:47.880 but I'm willing to bet he's released.
00:14:50.100 Now, police aren't just stopping there.
00:14:51.540 They've also identified two other suspects connected to the same murder.
00:14:55.540 Both of them face first-degree murder charges as well.
00:14:58.260 Police took the unusual steps
00:14:59.760 of releasing their names and photos publicly.
00:15:02.020 That's a move that absolutely requires judicial authorization.
00:15:04.940 Authorization that actually expires on September 12th.
00:15:08.020 Now, it's rare,
00:15:09.180 but it shows just how seriously investigators are treating this case.
00:15:13.920 Now, here's where the public sentiment boils completely over.
00:15:17.240 Families are asking,
00:15:18.280 how is it possible that minors barely in their teens
00:15:21.240 are carrying out illegal guns modified to fire automatically
00:15:24.540 and pulling triggers that destroy innocent lives?
00:15:27.160 Under Bill C-75 and the way the Youth Criminal Justice Act works right now,
00:15:31.960 Canadians have grown used to seeing young offenders shielded, protected,
00:15:35.480 and often recycled right back into the communities in which they victimized.
00:15:39.660 But where's the protection for the children
00:15:41.340 and those who never got a chance to grow up?
00:15:43.640 Where's the justice for parents now forced to bury an eight-year-old
00:15:46.720 who did nothing but go to bed?
00:15:49.740 Toronto's Police Chief Myron Demkew
00:15:51.640 says the investigation is far from over
00:15:54.300 and they need the public's help to track down the remaining suspects.
00:15:58.660 But you can feel it on the streets.
00:16:00.600 People are angry, people are afraid,
00:16:02.660 and people are tired of hearing enough is enough as I am
00:16:05.580 when nothing changes.
00:16:07.820 At the center of the story is Javeh Roy.
00:16:10.740 He wasn't a statistic.
00:16:12.340 He wasn't just a headline.
00:16:13.940 He was a little boy with a future that was stolen
00:16:16.680 in the middle of the night by monsters.
00:16:18.800 And until we start seeing real accountability
00:16:21.260 for those who pull the trigger,
00:16:22.980 Canadians are going to keep asking
00:16:24.520 whether or not the system cares more about the rights
00:16:27.060 of these monsters than the rights of the victims like Javeh Roy.
00:16:31.220 And when a child's name becomes a headline,
00:16:34.460 families don't want sympathy.
00:16:36.520 They want change and they want justice.
00:16:39.000 That's the press conference I was a part of
00:16:41.260 in Woodbridge, Ontario just a few days ago.
00:16:44.420 When I stood in that press conference this week,
00:16:47.400 I wasn't alone.
00:16:49.160 I brought with me victims of violent crime,
00:16:52.400 people who've lived through the nightmares
00:16:53.980 of losing family members,
00:16:56.280 of surviving attempted murder,
00:16:58.700 of being stabbed in their own homes during home invasions,
00:17:02.040 of watching loved ones taken
00:17:03.680 by repeat violent offenders
00:17:05.600 who should have never been out in the first place.
00:17:09.200 Now they stood shoulder to shoulder
00:17:11.240 with other families broken by violent crime,
00:17:13.700 with police associations,
00:17:15.180 with advocacy groups and with politicians.
00:17:17.680 And for once, their voices weren't silenced.
00:17:20.240 They had the chance to tell their stories
00:17:21.760 and not just to me, but to the country.
00:17:24.240 And it was in that setting
00:17:25.240 that conservative leader Pierre Polyev
00:17:27.160 unveiled what he's calling the Jail Not Bail Act.
00:17:30.940 And make no mistake,
00:17:31.780 this wasn't a sterile political announcement.
00:17:34.680 This was framed by the raw emotion
00:17:36.760 of parents, widows and survivors
00:17:38.760 who've had their lives shattered
00:17:40.040 by crimes that never needed to happen.
00:17:43.600 Polyev put the blame squarely
00:17:45.560 on the liberal government
00:17:46.600 and specifically on Bill C-75,
00:17:49.080 which since 2019 has directed judges
00:17:51.640 to release accused offenders
00:17:53.340 at the earliest opportunity
00:17:55.340 under the least onerous conditions.
00:17:57.920 He called it exactly what it feels like
00:17:59.960 in communities across the country,
00:18:01.580 a revolving door,
00:18:03.360 catch and release justice system.
00:18:05.740 Now the numbers back it up.
00:18:07.360 Since the liberals came into power,
00:18:09.220 violent crime is up 55%.
00:18:11.740 Sexual assaults are up 76%.
00:18:13.900 Extortion is up 330%.
00:18:15.900 These aren't partisan talking points.
00:18:18.060 Those are Statistics Canada figures.
00:18:20.260 And in families told the same story
00:18:22.580 at the press conferences.
00:18:24.140 Crimes that should have never happened
00:18:25.660 if the system had kept violent repeat offenders
00:18:28.260 where they belonged, in custody.
00:18:31.360 Now the Jail Not Bail Act,
00:18:32.720 championed by Arpin Kanna,
00:18:34.660 aims to change that.
00:18:35.820 It would repeal the liberal principle of restraint
00:18:38.440 and make public safety
00:18:39.820 the top priority in bail decisions.
00:18:42.600 It creates a new major offenses category
00:18:44.440 covering crimes like sexual assault,
00:18:47.280 firearms offenses, kidnapping, human trafficking,
00:18:50.320 home invasions, robbery, extortion and arson,
00:18:53.100 where the onus is flipped
00:18:54.420 and the accused has to prove
00:18:56.660 that they're safe to release.
00:18:58.380 Judges would be required
00:18:59.680 to look at a person's entire criminal history
00:19:02.420 before making a bail decision
00:19:03.760 and repeat offenders would no longer
00:19:05.840 be able to walk out of the courtrooms
00:19:07.480 only to re-offend days later.
00:19:10.180 Now the legislation also bars anyone
00:19:12.440 with a serious conviction
00:19:14.020 from serving as a guarantor on bail.
00:19:17.000 It requires non-residents accused of major crimes
00:19:19.460 to surrender their passport
00:19:21.060 and sets a three-strike rule
00:19:23.160 that denies bail, parole or probation
00:19:25.460 to repeat offenders.
00:19:27.500 On top of that,
00:19:28.460 Polyev pledged to repeal liberal laws
00:19:30.340 C5 and C75,
00:19:32.680 impose mandatory jail time
00:19:34.120 for intimate partner violence
00:19:35.200 and ban organized crime gangs
00:19:37.220 like the Bishno gang
00:19:38.540 by designating them as terrorist groups.
00:19:41.680 Polyev's words were pretty blunt.
00:19:43.960 Crime is raging out of control.
00:19:45.520 All of these crimes were avoidable
00:19:47.400 if the criminals had been kept
00:19:48.960 where they belonged,
00:19:49.900 in jail and not released.
00:19:51.720 He spoke about a young mother,
00:19:53.340 Bailey McCourt,
00:19:54.020 who we've covered in this show,
00:19:55.540 murdered by a man
00:19:56.380 who should have never been free,
00:19:58.160 and about the horrifying case
00:19:59.220 of a three-year-old child
00:20:00.620 sexually assaulted and raped
00:20:02.100 by a convicted pedophile in Welland
00:20:04.760 who was released early.
00:20:06.720 These tragedies are avoidable
00:20:08.380 and that's what's fueling this bill.
00:20:10.520 And I could tell you,
00:20:11.280 standing there beside these victims
00:20:12.660 and survivors,
00:20:13.900 there was nothing abstract about it.
00:20:16.320 This wasn't about politics.
00:20:18.060 It was about real Canadians
00:20:19.540 crying through their words,
00:20:21.520 begging for change,
00:20:22.420 demanding a justice system
00:20:24.140 that protects victims first.
00:20:26.880 Polyev said it best,
00:20:28.460 this isn't about a hatred for criminals,
00:20:30.460 it's about the love for the victims.
00:20:32.600 And if you were in that room,
00:20:34.140 in that press conference,
00:20:35.140 watching families finally being heard,
00:20:37.980 you would know exactly why
00:20:39.180 that moment matters.
00:20:41.040 The victims are asking for actions
00:20:42.820 and here's why.
00:20:44.080 A convicted predator was free
00:20:45.680 and a toddler paid the price in Welland
00:20:47.960 as we've already discussed in length.
00:20:50.420 And that next story takes us back
00:20:51.940 to St. Catharines, Ontario,
00:20:53.580 where crowds in St. Catharines this week
00:20:55.500 chanted pedo scum outside the courthouse.
00:20:58.920 They weren't chanting at rumors.
00:21:00.560 They were there because a convicted sex offender
00:21:02.740 with a long history,
00:21:04.140 Daniel Senecal,
00:21:05.080 is now accused of breaking into a home
00:21:07.180 and violently raping
00:21:08.680 and sexually assaulting
00:21:09.820 a toddler under the age of three
00:21:11.680 while the child's parents slept
00:21:13.760 in the same house.
00:21:15.120 Now Senecal,
00:21:15.860 he's not new to the courts.
00:21:17.080 He was a convicted sex offender,
00:21:19.760 convicted of sexual assault in 2021
00:21:21.520 and again in 2023.
00:21:23.920 And despite those convictions,
00:21:25.220 he walked free in March of 2024
00:21:26.560 under conditions that were supposed
00:21:28.160 to protect the public.
00:21:29.680 Instead, by the end of summer,
00:21:30.960 police allege he was back at it,
00:21:32.840 this time targeting a three-year-old child
00:21:35.000 in their own bed in their own home.
00:21:36.400 Now think about that,
00:21:37.160 a toddler assaulted, raped,
00:21:39.140 sexually assaulted in their sleep
00:21:40.360 by a repeat offender
00:21:41.700 who should have never been released
00:21:42.960 and he was free to strike again.
00:21:45.280 Now here's where the public's outrage grows
00:21:46.940 even hotter
00:21:47.960 and this made international news.
00:21:50.040 Sources close to this case
00:21:51.300 say Senecal has been identifying
00:21:52.680 as transgender
00:21:53.740 and has allegedly sought to be transferred
00:21:55.760 into a woman's facility.
00:21:57.140 I also received that information.
00:21:58.800 Now on social media,
00:21:59.840 he lists she, her pronouns,
00:22:01.940 but when he appeared in court,
00:22:03.840 both the judge and his counsel
00:22:05.340 referred to him as Sir and Mr. Senecal
00:22:07.380 and he didn't correct them.
00:22:09.040 Protesters and even corrections insiders
00:22:10.760 believe this isn't about identity,
00:22:12.440 it's about playing the system.
00:22:14.420 Because right now,
00:22:15.700 while in custody,
00:22:17.020 Senecal is being kept in segregation
00:22:18.600 and under current policies,
00:22:20.640 prolonged time in segregation
00:22:22.240 can be used later by defense counsel
00:22:24.660 to argue for a reduced overall sentencing.
00:22:27.760 If that's the case,
00:22:29.040 then what we're watching
00:22:29.960 isn't just a sexual predator
00:22:31.540 raping children,
00:22:32.960 it's a predator manipulating loopholes
00:22:34.920 and broken corrections policies
00:22:36.500 to try to shave down time behind bars.
00:22:39.660 And this isn't theoretical,
00:22:42.200 it's real.
00:22:43.080 Canada's correctional policy
00:22:44.280 allows inmates to self-declare
00:22:46.060 gender identity
00:22:47.000 and request housing
00:22:48.120 consistent with that identity.
00:22:50.060 We've seen dangerous offenders
00:22:51.640 attempt to use this
00:22:52.560 as leverage to move
00:22:53.480 into women's facilities,
00:22:55.440 where the risk to female inmates
00:22:56.860 is obvious.
00:22:58.600 In Senecal's case,
00:22:59.920 even if the transfer never happens,
00:23:01.900 simply being in segregation
00:23:03.360 linked to his trans claim
00:23:04.820 creates yet another angle
00:23:06.660 his lawyers could exploit
00:23:07.800 to cut his sentence.
00:23:08.880 Now that's not justice,
00:23:10.200 that's gaming the system.
00:23:12.000 So picture this,
00:23:13.040 a registered sex offender
00:23:14.320 already convicted twice
00:23:15.980 walks free,
00:23:17.160 then allegedly assaults a toddler.
00:23:19.400 Now the public rallied
00:23:20.680 by the hundreds
00:23:21.700 demanding jail, not bail.
00:23:24.240 Yet behind the courthouse walls,
00:23:26.200 the conversations turned
00:23:27.240 into gender identity pronouns
00:23:28.900 and custody placement,
00:23:30.580 while the actual victim,
00:23:32.240 a infant, a toddler, a child,
00:23:34.440 recovers from a nightmare
00:23:35.720 no child should ever live through.
00:23:38.180 Now Welland's mayor
00:23:38.980 stood outside that courthouse
00:23:40.240 and said what so many Canadians feel.
00:23:43.560 This is about protecting the people
00:23:44.880 who can't protect themselves.
00:23:46.460 But under this government,
00:23:47.920 under these laws,
00:23:49.060 we're protecting the predators instead.
00:23:52.020 Senecal should be facing
00:23:53.600 the harshest sentence
00:23:55.180 this law allows.
00:23:56.740 No loopholes, no games,
00:23:57.980 no segregation credit,
00:24:00.100 no gender identity shields.
00:24:02.600 And the people who gathered outside
00:24:04.060 chanting, protect kids,
00:24:06.120 have it right.
00:24:07.180 Because until our justice system
00:24:08.680 stops bending over backwards
00:24:10.160 for repeat violent offenders,
00:24:12.200 toddlers will keep paying the price
00:24:14.400 while predators like Senecal
00:24:15.820 work the system to their own advantage.
00:24:18.620 And if that doesn't make you sick,
00:24:20.220 then nothing will.
00:24:22.020 Now one case is a warning.
00:24:24.980 A city in crisis is a siren
00:24:26.940 and Barry just pulled the alarm.
00:24:29.580 The state of emergency
00:24:30.460 over encampments.
00:24:31.740 Now when a mayor has to stand
00:24:34.260 in front of a camera
00:24:35.180 and declare a state of emergency
00:24:36.880 over homeless encampments,
00:24:38.840 you know the situation
00:24:40.160 has spun out of control.
00:24:42.060 And that's exactly what happened
00:24:43.220 this week in Barry, Ontario,
00:24:45.380 where Mayor Alex Nuttall
00:24:46.940 told residents bluntly,
00:24:49.260 we are reclaiming our streets,
00:24:50.780 our parks, our schools,
00:24:51.980 and our sense of safety.
00:24:54.240 Now this isn't about people
00:24:56.060 quietly sleeping in their tents.
00:24:57.880 It's about nearly two dozen encampments
00:25:00.720 scattered across the city,
00:25:02.940 set up in playgrounds,
00:25:04.480 along waterways,
00:25:05.600 even near schools,
00:25:07.060 where police, firefighters,
00:25:08.940 and paramedics
00:25:09.640 are now responding regularly to
00:25:11.560 for fires, overdoses,
00:25:14.440 thefts, and assaults.
00:25:15.820 Now one of Barry's largest encampments
00:25:17.680 turned into a scene
00:25:18.680 of a double homicide
00:25:19.920 and dismemberment earlier this summer.
00:25:23.360 Cleaning it up cost the city millions
00:25:25.200 because of hazardous waste left behind.
00:25:27.460 At another site,
00:25:28.540 water testing in Diamonds Creek
00:25:30.080 showed E. coli levels
00:25:31.540 five times higher than the safe limit,
00:25:34.440 forcing bans on swimming.
00:25:36.480 Families in Barry
00:25:37.440 aren't even imagining the risk.
00:25:40.060 They're living it.
00:25:40.980 Parents no longer feel safe
00:25:42.280 taking their kids to local parks.
00:25:44.260 Residents are watching
00:25:45.300 once quiet neighborhoods
00:25:46.800 turn into hubs of drug trafficking,
00:25:49.280 weapons, and violence.
00:25:50.400 In fact, the mayor spelled it out.
00:25:52.180 Encampments have been used
00:25:53.480 to store crossbows and pistols
00:25:56.320 while doubling down
00:25:57.860 his open-air drug markets.
00:25:59.540 Now, Mayor Nuttall says
00:26:01.380 that the city isn't abandoning
00:26:03.020 people who need help.
00:26:04.380 Shelter spaces and support programs
00:26:06.040 exist for those willing to accept them.
00:26:08.920 But he drew a hard line
00:26:10.380 for those refusing services
00:26:11.640 while bringing danger to public spaces.
00:26:14.880 If you refuse help,
00:26:16.320 you cannot stay in these encampments.
00:26:18.200 If you come to Barry
00:26:19.180 to put up a tent,
00:26:20.340 use drugs,
00:26:20.920 carry weapons,
00:26:21.760 and deal narcotics,
00:26:23.800 go somewhere else.
00:26:25.100 Now, that declaration of emergency
00:26:26.620 gives city staff new power
00:26:28.700 to dismantle high-risk sites,
00:26:31.320 bring in outside contractors
00:26:32.580 for cleanup,
00:26:33.360 and push the county of Simcoe
00:26:35.100 into the province
00:26:36.060 to expand funding
00:26:37.460 for shelters and addiction treatments.
00:26:39.200 Now, Mayor Nuttall stressed
00:26:40.700 the problem has worsened
00:26:42.160 dramatically since the pandemic,
00:26:44.380 with many unhoused individuals
00:26:46.100 coming from outside Barry
00:26:47.520 to set up camp in the city.
00:26:48.720 And here's the bigger point
00:26:51.120 that every city is feeling
00:26:52.440 that's experiencing something like this.
00:26:53.980 Communities are hitting a breaking point.
00:26:55.520 Residents feel they're losing control
00:26:56.940 of their public spaces
00:26:57.960 while violent crime and lawlessness
00:26:59.560 are tolerated under the banner of compassion.
00:27:03.240 Barry's mayor made it clear,
00:27:04.820 compassion doesn't mean chaos,
00:27:06.620 and empathy doesn't mean
00:27:08.240 turning a blind eye
00:27:09.400 to murder scenes in public parks.
00:27:12.260 Now, the city has now drawn a line.
00:27:13.960 Barry will help those who want help,
00:27:16.260 but it will no longer let lawlessness
00:27:18.540 replace community safety.
00:27:21.100 And the truth is,
00:27:22.080 many other Canadian cities
00:27:23.520 are watching Barry closely
00:27:25.460 because that same crisis
00:27:27.300 is playing out everywhere,
00:27:29.300 even in my own community.
00:27:30.800 And communities are drawing hard lines.
00:27:33.000 Now, the police are too.
00:27:34.640 In Edmonton,
00:27:35.580 officers did something
00:27:36.740 almost unheard of.
00:27:38.900 They challenged the Crown prosecution.
00:27:42.040 Now, this is completely rare.
00:27:43.460 It's almost unheard of
00:27:44.380 for a police service
00:27:45.160 to publicly challenge Crown prosecutors,
00:27:48.000 but this week in Edmonton,
00:27:49.580 police did exactly that
00:27:51.100 and they were right to do it.
00:27:53.260 The case involved
00:27:54.200 the horrific killing
00:27:55.300 of an eight-year-old
00:27:56.140 indigenous girl in 2023.
00:27:58.860 She disappeared from her home
00:28:00.500 and later her small body
00:28:02.240 was stuffed in a hockey bag
00:28:03.740 and abandoned
00:28:04.240 in the bed of a pickup truck
00:28:05.900 in a place that I can't even pronounce
00:28:08.540 in near Edmonton.
00:28:09.860 Now, police charged her mother
00:28:10.940 with first degree murder
00:28:11.920 and that charge should mean
00:28:12.860 the harshest penalty
00:28:13.800 our laws allowed life
00:28:15.460 with no parole for 25 years.
00:28:17.060 And when I say 25 years,
00:28:18.300 I mean the full 25.
00:28:19.720 But prosecutors
00:28:20.440 had now offered her a deal
00:28:21.800 downgrading the charge
00:28:23.220 to manslaughter
00:28:23.880 in exchange for just
00:28:24.960 eight years behind bars.
00:28:27.040 Eight years
00:28:27.480 for the killing of a child.
00:28:30.060 Edmonton police responded
00:28:31.260 with words not often heard
00:28:32.400 from law enforcement in public.
00:28:34.400 They called the plea deal
00:28:35.640 a miscarriage of justice
00:28:37.900 that would bring
00:28:38.800 the administration of justice
00:28:40.020 into disrepute.
00:28:41.500 Interim Chief Warren Dreichel
00:28:43.260 and his executive team
00:28:45.140 signed a letter
00:28:46.040 to Alberta's assistant
00:28:47.000 deputy justice minister
00:28:48.000 demanding the plea be scrapped
00:28:50.160 and the case be reviewed.
00:28:51.620 Now, they invoked their duty
00:28:52.960 to the victim,
00:28:54.120 to the public,
00:28:54.680 and to the justice itself.
00:28:56.200 And they made it clear
00:28:57.100 if this deal goes through,
00:28:59.400 they're prepared to release
00:29:00.440 details from the investigation
00:29:01.500 so the public can see
00:29:03.100 exactly why this deal is wrong.
00:29:05.820 Now, that is a bold move,
00:29:07.440 unprecedented,
00:29:08.740 in Edmonton police services history
00:29:10.300 and one that deserves
00:29:12.520 absolute respect
00:29:13.540 because here's the truth,
00:29:15.060 too often we see care seats
00:29:16.540 where victims,
00:29:17.400 especially children,
00:29:18.300 are forgotten
00:29:18.800 while deals are struck
00:29:20.180 to make the system run smoother.
00:29:21.940 The public is told
00:29:22.840 about litigation risk
00:29:24.220 or about managing caseloads.
00:29:26.260 What about the risk
00:29:27.200 to the integrity of justice
00:29:28.560 as we know it
00:29:29.280 and as we demand from it?
00:29:30.580 What about the risk
00:29:31.120 to every Canadian's faith
00:29:32.280 that the life
00:29:33.080 of an eight-year-old child
00:29:34.040 matters more
00:29:34.740 than a quick plea?
00:29:36.500 The defense lawyers,
00:29:37.600 they're furious
00:29:38.260 at Edmonton police service
00:29:39.680 for speaking out,
00:29:40.780 accusing them of overstepping.
00:29:42.620 But the police are right,
00:29:43.780 so who cares?
00:29:44.540 Their job is to investigate
00:29:45.980 and when they see justice
00:29:47.200 about to be gutted,
00:29:48.360 their duty doesn't end
00:29:49.380 with handing over the file.
00:29:51.060 Their duty is also
00:29:52.220 to stand for the victims.
00:29:54.540 Now, this case,
00:29:55.360 it's about more than one accused
00:29:57.200 and one plea deal.
00:29:58.420 It's about a justice system
00:29:59.800 in Canada that bends over
00:30:00.860 backwards for the accused
00:30:02.060 and forgets that a little girl
00:30:03.860 was murdered and left in a bag.
00:30:06.080 Now, the Edmonton police service
00:30:07.160 stood up and said,
00:30:08.560 not this time.
00:30:09.640 They knew they would
00:30:10.380 take heat for it,
00:30:11.140 but they did it anyways
00:30:12.500 and that should be applauded
00:30:14.040 for putting the rights
00:30:15.220 of victims
00:30:15.620 and the credibility
00:30:16.260 of justice in Canada
00:30:17.180 ahead of politics and process.
00:30:20.380 Because if an eight-year-old child's death
00:30:22.680 doesn't demand
00:30:23.440 the full weight of justice,
00:30:24.940 it begs the question
00:30:25.920 of what actually does.
00:30:27.500 And that pushback
00:30:28.880 isn't isolated.
00:30:29.760 Across Ontario,
00:30:30.980 police leaders are saying
00:30:32.300 the quiet part out loud
00:30:33.680 again and again.
00:30:35.400 The system is broken
00:30:36.580 and their prescription,
00:30:38.140 let's talk about it.
00:30:39.380 When the chiefs of police
00:30:40.560 across Ontario stood up
00:30:41.940 and say flat out
00:30:42.840 that our justice system
00:30:44.000 is broken,
00:30:44.860 you better believe
00:30:45.600 they're not exaggerating.
00:30:46.980 They're sounding the alarm again
00:30:48.980 because the people
00:30:50.200 who deal with violent
00:30:51.180 repeat offenders
00:30:52.300 every single day
00:30:53.560 know the rest of us
00:30:54.880 are already feeling it.
00:30:56.560 and Canadians are less safe today
00:30:58.320 than we were a decade ago.
00:31:00.440 Now, the Ontario Association
00:31:01.780 of Chiefs of Police
00:31:02.660 released a statement this week
00:31:04.700 pointing to a surge
00:31:06.380 in home invasions
00:31:07.560 and violent crimes
00:31:08.780 and let's be honest,
00:31:10.520 home is supposed to be
00:31:11.600 the safest place we have
00:31:12.980 when people are getting
00:31:14.220 stabbed in their rooms
00:31:15.720 or shot in their driveways
00:31:17.140 by offenders
00:31:17.740 who are out on bail.
00:31:19.280 Something has gone deeply wrong
00:31:20.500 and we already know what it is.
00:31:21.740 It's crystal clear.
00:31:23.200 But here's the chief's messages
00:31:24.540 in plain terms.
00:31:25.340 We need a justice system
00:31:26.540 with teeth.
00:31:27.720 Not one where bail
00:31:28.580 is handed out like candy.
00:31:29.780 Not one where kids
00:31:30.560 manipulated by gangs
00:31:31.520 get a free pass
00:31:32.240 into the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
00:31:34.180 And not one where
00:31:34.800 convicted violent offenders
00:31:35.960 keep walking out of jail
00:31:36.880 to re-offend.
00:31:37.840 They're calling for real reform.
00:31:39.520 Bail reform specifically.
00:31:41.260 Corrections reform.
00:31:42.280 Sentencing with meaningful consequences
00:31:43.860 and resources for police,
00:31:46.000 courts and corrections
00:31:46.900 so that bail conditions
00:31:47.900 can actually be enforced.
00:31:50.200 Now, they pointed out
00:31:51.060 right to the core
00:31:52.080 of the problem.
00:31:53.340 The balance is off.
00:31:55.360 Reasonable bail
00:31:56.000 is a charter right, yes.
00:31:58.000 But the safety of Canadians
00:31:59.320 has to carry equal weight.
00:32:01.260 Right now, it doesn't.
00:32:02.660 And the chiefs are blunt.
00:32:04.120 Repeat violent offenders
00:32:05.120 know the system is weak
00:32:06.480 and they use that weakness
00:32:07.800 to their advantage.
00:32:09.140 They even noted
00:32:09.800 that the Youth Criminal Justice Act
00:32:11.160 is being exploited
00:32:12.200 by organized crime groups
00:32:13.540 who push teenagers
00:32:14.780 into committing adult crimes
00:32:16.360 like murder
00:32:16.900 because they know
00:32:17.940 the YCGA shields them.
00:32:20.380 Now, the chiefs also talked
00:32:21.620 about mandatory minimums
00:32:22.860 for repeat violent offenders.
00:32:24.320 That's not being tough
00:32:25.700 on crime for headlines.
00:32:27.080 It's about ensuring
00:32:27.880 there are real,
00:32:29.180 predictable consequences
00:32:30.160 for people who keep
00:32:31.180 terrorizing families
00:32:32.180 because without certainty,
00:32:34.000 there's no deterrence.
00:32:34.860 And without deterrence,
00:32:35.680 communities keep getting victimized.
00:32:38.000 Now, this isn't just rhetoric.
00:32:40.300 All right?
00:32:40.500 Police leaders say it plainly.
00:32:42.460 Canadians cannot accept
00:32:44.180 a situation
00:32:45.120 where violent repeat offenders
00:32:47.040 are routinely granted parole.
00:32:49.080 And for those of you
00:32:50.120 watching at home,
00:32:51.240 how many more times
00:32:52.040 do you want to hear
00:32:52.540 about something terrible
00:32:53.400 only to see this be the case?
00:32:55.760 And let's applaud them
00:32:56.880 for finally putting it in writing.
00:32:59.560 For too long,
00:33:00.680 chiefs and frontline officers
00:33:01.800 have been expected
00:33:03.040 to stay quiet
00:33:03.800 while politicians push
00:33:05.140 catch and release policies
00:33:06.460 under Bill 75.
00:33:08.180 Now, Ontario's top
00:33:09.940 law enforcement leaders
00:33:11.180 are united
00:33:11.960 in saying that Canadians
00:33:13.220 have known for years.
00:33:14.800 The justice system
00:33:15.780 is failing the very people
00:33:17.040 it's supposed to protect.
00:33:17.980 And now the question
00:33:19.400 is now whether
00:33:20.080 Ottawa will listen
00:33:21.340 or whether it keeps
00:33:22.480 prioritizing the rights
00:33:23.600 of repeat offenders
00:33:24.420 over the safety
00:33:25.580 of law-abiding families.
00:33:28.280 Now, when you hear
00:33:29.000 a system with teeth,
00:33:30.720 it sounds abstract
00:33:31.700 until a convicted sex offender
00:33:33.420 cuts off a GPS
00:33:34.220 and vanishes.
00:33:36.220 And sadly,
00:33:36.900 we've seen this
00:33:37.580 in multiple stories
00:33:39.000 throughout the country
00:33:39.640 where a really bad person
00:33:41.560 is left with a GPS
00:33:42.400 vehicle monitor
00:33:43.060 and they come back
00:33:43.940 and they do something horrible.
00:33:45.340 And York Legion
00:33:45.960 is living that reality
00:33:47.240 right now.
00:33:48.300 Now, imagine this
00:33:49.100 for a second here.
00:33:50.300 A convicted sex offender
00:33:51.640 guilty of exploiting
00:33:52.660 a minor, by the way,
00:33:54.180 just disappears
00:33:54.940 into the wind
00:33:55.520 after cutting off
00:33:56.100 his GPS ankle monitor.
00:33:57.760 It's just a monitor
00:33:58.380 around his foot
00:33:59.120 that he can cut off.
00:33:59.920 Now, that's not hypothetical.
00:34:01.400 That's happening
00:34:02.000 and it actually happened
00:34:02.900 in Ontario.
00:34:04.180 York Regional Police
00:34:05.040 are asking for the public's help
00:34:06.100 in finding a 27-year-old
00:34:07.620 Chang-Gwen Chad Lee.
00:34:10.060 He was convicted
00:34:10.800 back in May
00:34:11.540 of obtaining sexual services
00:34:12.980 from a minor,
00:34:14.080 breaching release conditions.
00:34:15.500 Surprise, surprise,
00:34:16.160 he was out on bail
00:34:17.200 and mischief.
00:34:18.920 Instead of being held,
00:34:20.060 he was allowed
00:34:20.700 to stay in the community
00:34:21.620 under electronic monitoring
00:34:23.000 while he waited
00:34:23.800 to be sentenced.
00:34:24.960 So convicted,
00:34:25.640 waiting to be sentenced,
00:34:26.360 here's your ankle monitor.
00:34:27.620 And on July 22nd,
00:34:28.760 police say he simply
00:34:29.620 cut off the device
00:34:30.480 and just vanished.
00:34:31.760 Since then,
00:34:32.440 the courts have sentenced
00:34:33.180 to 5 years in prison.
00:34:34.780 But here's the problem.
00:34:35.880 He's not in prison.
00:34:37.320 He's on the run
00:34:38.000 and police don't know
00:34:38.780 where he is.
00:34:39.720 Now, they've warned
00:34:40.620 that anyone helping him
00:34:41.880 could face criminal charges
00:34:43.180 and they've even encouraged him
00:34:45.120 to turn himself in.
00:34:46.220 But let's be blunt again.
00:34:48.260 How often does this happen?
00:34:49.860 This isn't an isolated failure.
00:34:52.260 Just a few months earlier,
00:34:53.700 out in Edmonton,
00:34:54.660 another man accused
00:34:55.700 of sexual offense
00:34:56.900 involving a minor
00:34:57.600 also removed his GPS monitor
00:34:59.680 and disappeared.
00:35:01.140 And law enforcement sources
00:35:02.440 estimate there could be
00:35:03.700 as many as 600
00:35:05.100 missing foreign criminal offenders
00:35:07.280 currently living freely
00:35:08.740 in Canada
00:35:09.260 after dodging
00:35:10.500 the justice system.
00:35:12.160 600.
00:35:13.480 Now, that's not oversight.
00:35:14.760 That's a collapse.
00:35:16.160 Now, think about the victims
00:35:17.100 in these cases.
00:35:18.060 In Lee's case,
00:35:19.160 the child was exploited.
00:35:20.540 That child's family
00:35:21.380 now watches the news
00:35:22.840 knowing that the man
00:35:23.740 who preyed on their daughter,
00:35:25.420 who was convicted,
00:35:26.840 sentenced to 5 years in prison
00:35:28.320 and is yet still to be found
00:35:30.520 and be put behind bars.
00:35:32.160 That's trauma stacked on trauma.
00:35:34.380 And for the community,
00:35:35.500 for the country,
00:35:36.600 every parent is left asking,
00:35:38.360 what's the point of a conviction
00:35:39.620 if offenders can just walk away?
00:35:41.640 This is where the public's
00:35:42.820 frustration boils over.
00:35:43.920 We have GPS technology
00:35:45.120 that can be cut off
00:35:46.000 with a pair of scissors.
00:35:46.900 We have courts
00:35:47.780 that keep releasing
00:35:48.720 repeat violent offenders
00:35:49.780 under Bill C-75,
00:35:51.060 so-called principle of restraint.
00:35:53.560 And we have police
00:35:54.320 scrambling to clean up the mess
00:35:55.740 after offenders disappear,
00:35:56.920 all while telling the public
00:35:58.300 to keep their eyes peeled.
00:36:00.420 Now, here's the hard truth.
00:36:01.800 Until Canada treats breaches
00:36:03.420 like these
00:36:04.180 with immediate
00:36:04.840 and serious consequences,
00:36:07.020 the message
00:36:08.220 and the stories
00:36:09.200 with offenders is simple.
00:36:11.000 Cut it off,
00:36:11.840 run, and roll the dice.
00:36:13.200 And the message to victims
00:36:14.400 that their safety,
00:36:15.760 your safety,
00:36:16.440 my safety,
00:36:16.980 and their pain
00:36:17.900 takes a backseat,
00:36:19.600 once again,
00:36:21.220 to high-risk offenders
00:36:22.920 instead of protecting us.
00:36:25.080 Now, York Police
00:36:25.620 deserve credit for going public
00:36:26.940 and sounding the alarm,
00:36:28.400 but Canadians deserve more
00:36:29.640 than warnings after the fact.
00:36:31.880 They deserve a justice system
00:36:33.020 that keeps convicted predators
00:36:34.280 exactly where they belong,
00:36:36.360 locked up,
00:36:37.220 not loose,
00:36:37.860 in our communities.
00:36:39.460 And while some offenders run,
00:36:41.620 other offenders,
00:36:42.720 in plain sight,
00:36:44.360 continue to commit crime.
00:36:45.700 And this takes us back
00:36:46.560 to downtown Vancouver
00:36:47.580 at 6 a.m.,
00:36:48.960 where a woman
00:36:49.500 was attacked
00:36:50.620 on her way to work.
00:36:52.180 Now, picture this.
00:36:53.340 It's 6 o'clock in the morning
00:36:54.520 in downtown Vancouver.
00:36:55.700 People are heading to work,
00:36:57.080 grabbing coffee,
00:36:57.820 starting their day.
00:36:58.880 And the woman walking
00:36:59.980 near West Pender
00:37:01.320 and Beattie Street
00:37:02.340 is suddenly attacked
00:37:04.080 by a naked man
00:37:05.340 on top of a parked car.
00:37:07.020 Now, police say the suspect,
00:37:08.280 the man in his 20s,
00:37:09.480 jumped down,
00:37:10.940 started yelling,
00:37:12.080 charged at the 31-year-old woman,
00:37:14.560 knocked her to the ground,
00:37:15.600 and then humiliated her
00:37:17.940 even further
00:37:18.580 by urinating on her.
00:37:19.880 Now, strangers luckily
00:37:21.180 stepped in the street
00:37:22.800 and they stepped in
00:37:23.740 and restrained him
00:37:24.340 until the police arrived.
00:37:25.300 Now, imagine being that victim,
00:37:26.980 blindsided,
00:37:27.900 assaulted, degraded,
00:37:28.960 and left traumatized
00:37:29.760 in front of bystanders.
00:37:31.420 The suspect was arrested
00:37:32.800 and then taken to the hospital
00:37:33.920 under the Mental Health Act,
00:37:35.240 which is where
00:37:35.720 he may have a variety of issues
00:37:37.400 and there needs to be
00:37:38.160 a psychiatric assessment.
00:37:39.940 Now, he's still in secure custody,
00:37:41.400 but police have not released his name
00:37:42.820 and they haven't confirmed
00:37:43.980 his criminal history.
00:37:44.960 And instead of saying
00:37:45.780 they'll be forwarding a report
00:37:47.180 to the Crown Council
00:37:48.020 to see if charges are laid,
00:37:49.900 they're not doing it.
00:37:50.740 They're just putting him
00:37:51.400 into the hospital.
00:37:52.580 Now, Constable Tanya Vicentin
00:37:54.120 called the incident
00:37:55.260 very disgusting
00:37:56.380 and very unfortunate.
00:37:58.100 And while those words are true,
00:37:59.820 they don't capture the full reality.
00:38:01.580 A young woman,
00:38:02.640 alone on her morning walk,
00:38:04.160 was victimized
00:38:04.980 in one of Canada's busiest cities,
00:38:07.360 while the rest of us
00:38:08.300 are left asking
00:38:08.980 how something this vile
00:38:10.340 can happen so casually
00:38:12.060 in broad daylight.
00:38:13.220 Now, the real issue here
00:38:14.440 is bigger than one man's behavior.
00:38:15.980 Canadians are watching
00:38:17.340 as assaults,
00:38:18.940 random attacks,
00:38:19.740 and violent mental health crises
00:38:20.980 spill into all of our streets.
00:38:23.420 Just look back at Barry.
00:38:24.740 And too often,
00:38:25.380 suspects are shielded
00:38:26.200 by privacy rules,
00:38:27.440 shuffled into hospital custody,
00:38:29.000 or released back
00:38:30.000 into the street days later.
00:38:31.280 And victims,
00:38:32.380 they're left carrying the trauma.
00:38:34.000 Again,
00:38:34.640 they're the ones
00:38:35.240 who pay the price
00:38:35.960 while the public is told
00:38:36.960 it's under investigation.
00:38:39.120 And this is where
00:38:39.780 the justice system
00:38:40.600 again keeps losing trust
00:38:42.100 because people want to know,
00:38:43.720 will this man face
00:38:44.620 serious criminal charges
00:38:45.780 or will this be chalked up
00:38:46.920 to another unfortunate incident
00:38:48.900 brushed aside
00:38:49.600 by mental health defenses
00:38:50.760 and a system more interested
00:38:52.460 in managing offenders
00:38:53.620 than protecting women
00:38:54.980 on our streets?
00:38:56.460 Now, let's not forget
00:38:57.280 the bystanders who stepped in
00:38:58.860 did what was right,
00:39:00.660 but they also did
00:39:01.640 what too many Canadians
00:39:02.940 are being forced to do,
00:39:04.960 protect one another
00:39:06.140 because the system
00:39:07.100 can't or won't.
00:39:09.200 Now, that should be
00:39:10.660 the job of our laws,
00:39:11.760 our courts,
00:39:12.340 and our law enforcement,
00:39:13.560 not random strangers
00:39:14.720 forced to intervene
00:39:15.720 against a naked man
00:39:16.960 attacking a woman at sunrise.
00:39:18.980 At the center of the story
00:39:20.060 is the victim,
00:39:20.780 a woman who was simply
00:39:21.900 trying to walk to work
00:39:23.380 where she needed to be.
00:39:25.000 Now, she deserves more
00:39:26.080 than to be labeled
00:39:26.980 as part of a disgusting incident.
00:39:29.200 She deserves justice
00:39:30.640 and so do the rest of us
00:39:32.200 who are tired
00:39:32.920 of seeing our streets
00:39:34.220 turned into stages
00:39:35.220 for crimes
00:39:36.240 that should have never happened
00:39:37.620 in the first place.
00:39:39.200 Now, Canadians see this
00:39:40.980 and ask why target
00:39:42.400 the law-abiding
00:39:43.160 when streets feel less safe.
00:39:45.420 Then, Prime Minister
00:39:46.280 calls the grungab voluntary.
00:39:48.240 Now, let's clear up that fog
00:39:49.580 as we wrap up this episode
00:39:51.940 of the Crime Report.
00:39:52.760 The Prime Minister of Canada
00:39:54.240 just called his own government's
00:39:55.440 gun confiscation
00:39:56.240 a plan voluntarily.
00:39:58.920 Yeah, you heard it.
00:39:59.640 He said it was voluntary.
00:40:01.020 After five years
00:40:01.900 of telling Canadians
00:40:02.820 this was mandatory,
00:40:04.540 after billions budgeted
00:40:05.960 to force people
00:40:06.640 to surrender
00:40:07.260 their legally purchased property,
00:40:08.600 Mark Carney now says
00:40:10.360 it's optional
00:40:11.300 and opportunity.
00:40:13.620 In an interview,
00:40:14.360 Carney said,
00:40:15.200 this is not about confiscation.
00:40:17.080 This is about voluntary
00:40:18.120 return of firearms
00:40:19.220 for compensation.
00:40:20.740 But that directly contradicts
00:40:22.360 what his own
00:40:23.240 public safety minister,
00:40:24.380 Gary Anandasangari,
00:40:25.880 said just weeks ago
00:40:27.260 that enforcement
00:40:28.120 would not be voluntary,
00:40:29.720 that people would have
00:40:30.620 no choice
00:40:31.280 but to hand over firearms
00:40:33.120 banned under
00:40:33.700 2020's cabinet order.
00:40:35.760 So, which is it?
00:40:36.720 Canadians aren't stupid.
00:40:37.740 They know the so-called
00:40:39.000 buyback bans
00:40:40.380 by more than
00:40:42.120 2,500 models of firearms,
00:40:43.940 most of them
00:40:44.600 hunting rifles
00:40:45.260 and sports shooting firearms
00:40:46.440 that were legal
00:40:47.100 for decades.
00:40:48.740 Licensed gun owners
00:40:49.760 bought them lawfully,
00:40:51.560 were screened by the RCMP
00:40:52.860 and passed safety training.
00:40:54.900 Now,
00:40:56.280 they face the threat
00:40:57.260 of criminal charges
00:40:58.020 in up to five years
00:40:59.000 in prison
00:40:59.400 if they keep them.
00:41:00.400 That's not voluntary FYI,
00:41:02.420 that's confiscation.
00:41:03.860 Now,
00:41:04.240 Rod Giltaka
00:41:04.960 from the Canadian Coalition
00:41:06.080 for Firearms Rights
00:41:08.120 called Carney out
00:41:09.000 saying flatly,
00:41:10.600 there were no
00:41:11.360 assault weapons banned.
00:41:12.800 Every one of these firearms
00:41:14.020 was for hunting
00:41:14.880 or sports shooting.
00:41:16.700 That's why they were
00:41:17.560 legal in the first place.
00:41:19.260 The lies are outrageous.
00:41:20.680 Tracy Wilson
00:41:21.260 from the CCFR
00:41:22.560 said it even plainer,
00:41:23.920 this isn't an opportunity,
00:41:25.360 it's a confiscation
00:41:26.300 under threat
00:41:27.080 of imprisonment.
00:41:28.360 Meanwhile,
00:41:28.860 provinces like Alberta
00:41:29.780 have already said
00:41:30.640 they won't allow
00:41:32.180 their police
00:41:33.860 or sheriffs
00:41:35.000 to participate
00:41:35.980 in seizing firearms.
00:41:37.200 And that matters
00:41:38.220 because the liberals
00:41:39.000 know most guns
00:41:39.940 used in crimes
00:41:40.580 aren't coming
00:41:41.400 from legal owners.
00:41:42.940 Mark Carney said it himself
00:41:44.000 after a homicide
00:41:45.440 in Hamilton.
00:41:46.660 They're smuggled
00:41:47.180 across the U.S. border.
00:41:48.680 Toronto Police Association
00:41:49.680 President Clayton Campbell
00:41:50.600 said it bluntly,
00:41:51.520 I can't think of a time
00:41:52.480 where a legal gun
00:41:53.100 has been used
00:41:53.640 in a crime
00:41:54.180 in this city,
00:41:55.240 not one,
00:41:56.040 nor can I,
00:41:57.060 being a former
00:41:57.580 Toronto police officer.
00:41:58.880 Now,
00:41:59.080 polls show most Canadians agree.
00:42:00.420 55% want Ottawa
00:42:02.100 to crack down
00:42:02.760 on smuggling
00:42:03.480 while just 28%
00:42:05.200 support five-backs.
00:42:06.280 Yet,
00:42:06.820 this government
00:42:07.280 continues to pour
00:42:08.120 billions into a program
00:42:09.200 that targets
00:42:09.680 law-abiding citizens
00:42:10.580 while violent gang members
00:42:11.880 walk the streets
00:42:13.100 with illegal handguns
00:42:14.400 and rifles
00:42:14.780 trafficked
00:42:15.160 from the United States.
00:42:16.460 Now,
00:42:16.560 Carney's flip-flop
00:42:17.360 only fuels
00:42:17.920 more confusion.
00:42:19.420 Is this really
00:42:20.100 about public safety
00:42:21.080 or is it,
00:42:21.820 as Galatica
00:42:22.680 pulled that out,
00:42:23.740 cold,
00:42:24.320 cynical politics
00:42:25.260 aimed at punishing
00:42:26.060 Canadians who are
00:42:26.860 unlikely to vote liberal?
00:42:28.820 Because while
00:42:29.320 Ottawa plays games
00:42:30.300 with definitions,
00:42:31.600 taxpayers are on the hook
00:42:32.760 for a program
00:42:33.300 expected to cost
00:42:34.140 nearly $2 billion.
00:42:36.160 And let's not lose sight
00:42:37.020 of what matters most.
00:42:38.420 Communities across Canada
00:42:39.540 are facing rising
00:42:40.480 violent crime,
00:42:41.200 shootings,
00:42:41.600 and home invasions.
00:42:42.940 Crimes committed
00:42:43.880 by repeat violent offenders
00:42:45.140 already out on bail.
00:42:46.860 Instead of fixing bail,
00:42:48.000 instead of securing
00:42:48.840 the border,
00:42:49.780 the Liberals are focused
00:42:50.740 on the safest,
00:42:52.080 most vetted group
00:42:53.140 in this country,
00:42:54.320 licensed gun owners.
00:42:55.560 Now,
00:42:56.240 that is not
00:42:57.720 in the interest
00:42:58.300 of public safety.
00:42:59.140 That's politics
00:42:59.920 dressed up as policy.
00:43:01.920 And Canadians
00:43:02.620 know the difference.
00:43:04.140 Now,
00:43:04.400 on this episode,
00:43:05.240 you heard the pattern,
00:43:06.560 not just the headlines.
00:43:07.720 A political killing
00:43:09.360 watched around the world.
00:43:11.360 A convicted offender
00:43:12.480 with a loaded,
00:43:13.500 prohibited Glock
00:43:14.080 getting deep discounts
00:43:15.780 in court.
00:43:16.660 A federal government
00:43:17.640 pouring billions
00:43:18.740 into the gun grab
00:43:19.600 while cutting the RCMP.
00:43:21.320 An eight-year-old boy
00:43:22.220 shot in his own bed.
00:43:23.400 Families and survivors
00:43:25.220 demanding change
00:43:26.020 as Parliament debates
00:43:27.040 jail-not bail.
00:43:28.520 A convicted predator
00:43:29.860 allegedly gaming corrections
00:43:31.580 while a toddler recovers.
00:43:34.040 A Canadian city
00:43:34.920 forced to declare
00:43:35.840 a state of emergency
00:43:36.700 over encampments.
00:43:38.280 Edmonton police
00:43:39.120 breaking the precedent
00:43:40.360 to stop an eight-year-old's death
00:43:42.040 from being bargained down.
00:43:44.040 Chiefs of police
00:43:44.860 saying the system is broken.
00:43:46.400 A convicted sex offender
00:43:47.860 cuts off a GPS
00:43:48.680 and vanishes.
00:43:49.960 And a woman attacked
00:43:50.780 at sunrise
00:43:51.320 in downtown Vancouver
00:43:52.280 while the rest of us
00:43:53.560 ask why
00:43:54.620 this keeps happening.
00:43:56.860 Now, different places,
00:43:58.400 same story.
00:43:59.680 And a justice system
00:44:00.580 that too often protects
00:44:01.900 offenders first
00:44:02.720 and communities last.
00:44:04.800 Look, if we want
00:44:05.940 safe streets,
00:44:06.800 we need clear lines.
00:44:08.200 Bail with teeth.
00:44:09.500 Sentencing that means
00:44:10.480 what they say.
00:44:11.560 Borders that are enforced.
00:44:13.620 And policies that
00:44:14.620 target criminals,
00:44:15.620 not the law abiding.
00:44:17.200 Victims first.
00:44:18.500 Public safety first.
00:44:19.660 Now, if you value
00:44:21.940 straight talk
00:44:22.660 and fact-based reporting,
00:44:24.660 help us keep this going.
00:44:26.040 Visit junonews.com
00:44:27.320 forward slash Ron
00:44:28.160 to sign up,
00:44:29.220 subscribe,
00:44:29.660 and save 20% off
00:44:30.700 of your subscription.
00:44:31.900 When you support
00:44:32.740 independent journalism,
00:44:34.100 you make this show possible
00:44:35.780 and you make it harder
00:44:37.360 for anyone to look away.
00:44:39.360 For the Crime Report,
00:44:40.700 I'm Ron Chinzer.
00:44:42.100 Stay safe,
00:44:43.260 look out for each other,
00:44:44.500 and we'll see you next time.
00:44:46.120 Bye-bye.
00:44:48.740 Bye-bye.
00:44:50.900 Bye-bye.
00:44:52.100 Bye-bye.
00:44:53.420 Bye-bye.
00:44:53.580 Bye-bye.
00:44:54.940 Bye-bye.
00:44:55.740 Bye-bye.
00:44:56.540 Bye-bye.
00:45:02.120 Bye-bye.
00:45:02.820 Bye-bye.
00:45:03.840 Bye-bye.
00:45:07.420 Bye-bye.
00:45:14.040 Bye-bye.
00:45:14.260 Bye-bye.