Juno News - Criminal gets off easy over skin colour

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 0.99

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. 0.98

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. 0.94

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 1.00

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 1.00

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 1.00

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. 1.00

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 1.00

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, 0.95

00:24:06.120 have it right.

00:24:07.180 Because until our justice system 0.99

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 0.89

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 0.95

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 0.97

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 0.92

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 0.97

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 0.99

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 0.90

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 1.00

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 0.99

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 0.95

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 1.00

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. 0.94

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. 1.00

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.

Juno News - September 12, 2025

Criminal gets off easy over skin colour

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