The numbers don’t lie: Violent crime has surged nationwide

And while urban areas in Quebec and Ontario tend to have the lowest rates compared to other CMAs, many have experienced enormous spikes in violent crime: Over the last decade, the violent crime severity index is up 71 percent in Kitchener, 63 percent in Quebec City, and 61 percent in St. Catharines. This evidence should put an end to any lingering narrative that violent crime is improving. Canadians have too often been gaslit by politicians, advocacy groups, and media reports repeating the familiar refrain that “crime rates have declined since a peak in 1992.” It is cold comfort to tell Canadians that life was more dangerous before 40 percent of them were born. The data from the last decade show Canadians are right to be increasingly concerned about the level of violent crime in their communities. For policymakers, the challenge is immense. The growth in violent crime has emerged amidst other crises of criminal justice: rising property crime, dropping clearance rates, increasing criminal trial delay, more cases stayed or withdrawn, and growing public sentiment that our bail system is too lenient. Meanwhile, our highest court has decided that consecutive life sentences for mass murderers and one-year mandatory minimums for possessing child pornography constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” There is much about the criminal justice system that needs fixing. The federal government seems to be slowly waking up to the scale of the problem, introducing legislation to extend the reverse onus on bail for repeat offenders and permitting more consecutive sentences (it even cited rising violent crime rates in its press release). Yet tougher bail laws and consecutive sentences for certain crimes will not be sufficient to meet the scope of the challenge. As Peter Copeland has written, “our problems are bigger than bail.” Better data collection on recidivism, a focus on organized crime, investment in police and judicial capacity, and tougher sentencing for repeat violent offenders are all necessary steps to stem the tide. It will also require challenging a legal and judicial culture that too often mistakes leniency for compassion. It is time that criminal justice reform moved to the top of the national agenda. Addressing this crisis will require buy-in—and money—from all levels of government. But Canadians ought to feel safe in their communities, and they deserve leaders who take violent crime seriously. We should begin by facing the facts: The numbers don’t lie.