TLDR: Businesses in downtown areas across Canada are urging the federal government to reform the bail system and address rising crime, homelessness, and mental health crises, which worsened due to the pandemic. They argue that repeat offenders and inadequate support for vulnerable populations are hurting urban communities and businesses. The International Downtown Association Canada (IDA Canada) is calling for stricter bail conditions for repeat offenders and more funding for homelessness, addiction, and mental health support. Business leaders emphasize that collaborative government action is needed to address these issues effectively.
Realistic_Towel_5534 on
How about we make all drugs legal instead, I’m sure that’s going to help with the crime, the mentally insane and homeless people everywhere.
Key_Mongoose223 on
Look I know 3 strike sentencing is a slippery slope but surely we can agree on a 3 strikes and you lose bail privileges?
And actual enforcement of probation violations would be nice too.
Hicalibre on
They made it the way it is because “it violates their rights”.
Good luck with a solution. Another prediction came true on my end. One I hoped I was wrong on.
BumbleStinger on
I’m Law Enforcement in the GTA.
I’ll touch base on this because it gets brought up a lot, especially with the homeless basically breaking laws and doing whatever they want.
The reason you rarely see these people arrested is because it’s straight up a waste of time for Police. If we arrest someone we have to do hours of paperwork afterwards, attend court and deal with the liability these drug addicts die of an overdose in cells or in your cruiser.
Our Justice System is such a joke that Law Enforcement across Canada is so demoralized it’s stopped us from being proactive. Everyone we arrest gets released, and once we do go to Court the legal consequences RARELY result in the person going to jail.
No one goes to jail in Canada, if you’re going to jail it’s because you murdered someone, killed someone by some other means or seriously harmed someone somehow.
Lastly, there are no consequences for breaching your conditions of release. I arrested someone a few months ago for breaching their conditions of release (bail). It was their 9th time breaching these conditions, I held them for bail and the next morning the judge released them ON THE SAME CONDITIONS.
Our Justice system is a joke, criminals know it and they abuse it.
Minute-League-1002 on
Most of these people have mental health issues and refuse to take meds to help. I would support a clean up program that forces the homeless into a camp shelter with forced detox and recovery and mental health assessments.
They could be given work from those camps that would help their resume.
Bushwhacker42 on
In Winnipeg a few years ago, there was a huge issue with people robbing liquor stores. The MLCC came out and made a statement basically saying employees have been instructed to stay out of the way and let it happen so nobody gets hurts. Guess what? That escalated the situation. It came to the point of a group of teenagers robbing a liquor store and got chased by the cops. A teenage girl ended up getting shot.
This could have been a turning point. If the police came out and said: do stupid shit, earn yourself a bullet hole, problem solved. Instead, we now treat every customer as a criminal. You have to show ID to get past the vestibule, which sucks in winter or rainy days. Let’s treat everyone as a criminal, because we don’t have the balls to tell criminals their actions have consequences
IndependenceGood1835 on
People will just stop going downtown. In Toronto it will be interesting how successful the 50k temporary stadium is at Downsview park……
It may be a sign of a movement to the suburbs for other attractions
Nash13 on
Bail reform will not do anything. 60%+ of people in jail are there on bail already. The whole system needs reform.
HanSolo5643 on
Something needs to change here. The slap on the wrist and asking nicely and no consequences approaches have been tried, and the results speak for themselves. I am all for giving people second chances, but we aren’t talking about people on their first or second or even third chance. We have people out on the streets with 50 plus convictions. Some with even more than that. The victims of crime and the general public should be able to feel and be safe in their communities and know that violent criminals and chronic repeat offenders will be held accountable.
Brendan11204 on
It’s the lack of consequences to breaching bail conditions that gets me. If you are accused of a crime and waiting trial out on bail, you should be behaving like a saint.
If someone accused of auto theft gets caught stealing cars again while on bail, it should be instant remand. Same thing with breach of conditions. Change the federal laws, change the charter, I don’t care. Keep the repeat Offenders behind bars.
Grumpy_bunny1234 on
So basically be a law abiding citizen and try to get by and skip meals and don’t turn the heat up and try survive vs walking into a grocery store grabbing what I need without paying and if anyone gets to stop me put out a machete and be on my way crime free?
Windatar on
Homeless people that are addicts and suffer from mental problems keeping them on the street don’t need prison. They need help, which is why we need to have institutions to house these people and force them to get better.
To be honest, we should create a Prison+Industry style situation however. Take the work that’s been outsourced to make certain products for industry like the stuff that gets shipped to China and have them built in Canada housed and staffed by prison workers. (But that’s slavery!?!?) No, because they should get paid. However, they should be paid a “prison” wage. Have it at 1$ per hour, then have that 1$ per hour put into certain stock or bond options for that inmate to grow it.
They are paid a wage, they are productive in prison, the prison will pay for itself, if they server time say 10 years by the time they come out of prison they will have a huge nest egg of finance to start a new life after serving their time.
We pull the jobs away from outsourcing.
Yes, this should be regulated to hell and high water. Yes this should be a “PUBLIC” situation since private prisons tend to end up shitty.
mercedez64 on
Please please!!! Do something! As THESE KILLERS ARE GETTING OUT! And these animals are getting away with repeating crimes over over again in our cities daily lock them up & HELP OUR POLICE AS THEY FEEL LIKE THEY ARE NOT BEING HEARD WITH THE JUDGES AND PLEASE start building more PRISONS the government has the money to BUILD THEM ROGHT NOW Justin Trudeau you need to do this make the ppl love you again! Make the changes! Now!
Laval09 on
Yeah “bail reform” should fix all the problems. You guys seen the mother and child killed in Montreal earlier this week? Surely it must have been done by crackheads who steal lawn gnomes for their encampment no?
Spoiler alert: It wasnt. It was hired muscle that set the housing on fire in the middle of the night. Hired by one of the protagonists in the ongoing feud between organized crime—>street gangs—>realtors over protection rackets and other turfs. Each of these factions has publicly visible members who are treated by the authorities and politicians as esteemed and respected members of society.
All the intentional fires and flooding and other property destruction that these groups have done to eachother over the past few years has come with a death toll and has ruined countless lives. But a vagrant takes a dump on the sidewalk and now we have to throw the book at him and build 10 jails to save this country.
Makes one think if the real problem is he didnt pay protection money for the sidewalk he shit on.
15 Comments
TLDR: Businesses in downtown areas across Canada are urging the federal government to reform the bail system and address rising crime, homelessness, and mental health crises, which worsened due to the pandemic. They argue that repeat offenders and inadequate support for vulnerable populations are hurting urban communities and businesses. The International Downtown Association Canada (IDA Canada) is calling for stricter bail conditions for repeat offenders and more funding for homelessness, addiction, and mental health support. Business leaders emphasize that collaborative government action is needed to address these issues effectively.
How about we make all drugs legal instead, I’m sure that’s going to help with the crime, the mentally insane and homeless people everywhere.
Look I know 3 strike sentencing is a slippery slope but surely we can agree on a 3 strikes and you lose bail privileges?
And actual enforcement of probation violations would be nice too.
They made it the way it is because “it violates their rights”.
Good luck with a solution. Another prediction came true on my end. One I hoped I was wrong on.
I’m Law Enforcement in the GTA.
I’ll touch base on this because it gets brought up a lot, especially with the homeless basically breaking laws and doing whatever they want.
The reason you rarely see these people arrested is because it’s straight up a waste of time for Police. If we arrest someone we have to do hours of paperwork afterwards, attend court and deal with the liability these drug addicts die of an overdose in cells or in your cruiser.
Our Justice System is such a joke that Law Enforcement across Canada is so demoralized it’s stopped us from being proactive. Everyone we arrest gets released, and once we do go to Court the legal consequences RARELY result in the person going to jail.
No one goes to jail in Canada, if you’re going to jail it’s because you murdered someone, killed someone by some other means or seriously harmed someone somehow.
Lastly, there are no consequences for breaching your conditions of release. I arrested someone a few months ago for breaching their conditions of release (bail). It was their 9th time breaching these conditions, I held them for bail and the next morning the judge released them ON THE SAME CONDITIONS.
Our Justice system is a joke, criminals know it and they abuse it.
Most of these people have mental health issues and refuse to take meds to help. I would support a clean up program that forces the homeless into a camp shelter with forced detox and recovery and mental health assessments.
They could be given work from those camps that would help their resume.
In Winnipeg a few years ago, there was a huge issue with people robbing liquor stores. The MLCC came out and made a statement basically saying employees have been instructed to stay out of the way and let it happen so nobody gets hurts. Guess what? That escalated the situation. It came to the point of a group of teenagers robbing a liquor store and got chased by the cops. A teenage girl ended up getting shot.
This could have been a turning point. If the police came out and said: do stupid shit, earn yourself a bullet hole, problem solved. Instead, we now treat every customer as a criminal. You have to show ID to get past the vestibule, which sucks in winter or rainy days. Let’s treat everyone as a criminal, because we don’t have the balls to tell criminals their actions have consequences
People will just stop going downtown. In Toronto it will be interesting how successful the 50k temporary stadium is at Downsview park……
It may be a sign of a movement to the suburbs for other attractions
Bail reform will not do anything. 60%+ of people in jail are there on bail already. The whole system needs reform.
Something needs to change here. The slap on the wrist and asking nicely and no consequences approaches have been tried, and the results speak for themselves. I am all for giving people second chances, but we aren’t talking about people on their first or second or even third chance. We have people out on the streets with 50 plus convictions. Some with even more than that. The victims of crime and the general public should be able to feel and be safe in their communities and know that violent criminals and chronic repeat offenders will be held accountable.
It’s the lack of consequences to breaching bail conditions that gets me. If you are accused of a crime and waiting trial out on bail, you should be behaving like a saint.
If someone accused of auto theft gets caught stealing cars again while on bail, it should be instant remand. Same thing with breach of conditions. Change the federal laws, change the charter, I don’t care. Keep the repeat Offenders behind bars.
So basically be a law abiding citizen and try to get by and skip meals and don’t turn the heat up and try survive vs walking into a grocery store grabbing what I need without paying and if anyone gets to stop me put out a machete and be on my way crime free?
Homeless people that are addicts and suffer from mental problems keeping them on the street don’t need prison. They need help, which is why we need to have institutions to house these people and force them to get better.
To be honest, we should create a Prison+Industry style situation however. Take the work that’s been outsourced to make certain products for industry like the stuff that gets shipped to China and have them built in Canada housed and staffed by prison workers. (But that’s slavery!?!?) No, because they should get paid. However, they should be paid a “prison” wage. Have it at 1$ per hour, then have that 1$ per hour put into certain stock or bond options for that inmate to grow it.
They are paid a wage, they are productive in prison, the prison will pay for itself, if they server time say 10 years by the time they come out of prison they will have a huge nest egg of finance to start a new life after serving their time.
We pull the jobs away from outsourcing.
Yes, this should be regulated to hell and high water. Yes this should be a “PUBLIC” situation since private prisons tend to end up shitty.
Please please!!! Do something! As THESE KILLERS ARE GETTING OUT! And these animals are getting away with repeating crimes over over again in our cities daily lock them up & HELP OUR POLICE AS THEY FEEL LIKE THEY ARE NOT BEING HEARD WITH THE JUDGES AND PLEASE start building more PRISONS the government has the money to BUILD THEM ROGHT NOW Justin Trudeau you need to do this make the ppl love you again! Make the changes! Now!
Yeah “bail reform” should fix all the problems. You guys seen the mother and child killed in Montreal earlier this week? Surely it must have been done by crackheads who steal lawn gnomes for their encampment no?
Spoiler alert: It wasnt. It was hired muscle that set the housing on fire in the middle of the night. Hired by one of the protagonists in the ongoing feud between organized crime—>street gangs—>realtors over protection rackets and other turfs. Each of these factions has publicly visible members who are treated by the authorities and politicians as esteemed and respected members of society.
All the intentional fires and flooding and other property destruction that these groups have done to eachother over the past few years has come with a death toll and has ruined countless lives. But a vagrant takes a dump on the sidewalk and now we have to throw the book at him and build 10 jails to save this country.
Makes one think if the real problem is he didnt pay protection money for the sidewalk he shit on.