Top officer says Canada’s laws ’inadequate’ to fight cross-border crime

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VICTORIA — The head of the Canada’s police chiefs association says they are guided by “outdated and inadequate” laws that were never designed to take on the current criminal landscape that no longer respects international borders.

Thomas Carrique, president of the Association of Chiefs of Police, said police would have been in a better place to “disrupt” transnational crime, if the federal government had listened to his group in 2001, when it last proposed legislative changes.

“Across Canada, police are confronting the domestic fallout of international disorder, but we are being asked to do so using tools, and authorities built for a different era, guided by outdated and inadequate legislation that was never designed to address today’s criminal landscape,” he said on Tuesday.

Carrique said “geopolitical instability and social unrest” around the world are driving what he called “a new wave of public safety threats” as Canadian police confront transnational organized crime, extremism, drug trafficking and exploitation through the internet.

“Whether it’s human smuggling as well as illicit exportation and importation of drugs, precursors, and firearms, organized crime groups are taking advantage of systematic blind spots, outdated statues, and digital platforms to victimize Canadians,” he said.

While geopolitics and social unrest might be beyond the control of Canadians and their government, their level of preparation and response is not, he said.

The current Strong Borders Act legislation proposed by the federal governments gives police many — but not all necessary — tools to confront globalized crime, he said.

The government said the bill would help authorities combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of fentanyl, crack down on money laundering and bolster police response to criminal networks.

Carrique, who’s the commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, made the comments during a news conference in Victoria, where the association is holding its annual conference.

He said the federal government’s legislation aligns closely with several resolutions the group has passed during the conference this week.

Carrique said there are a “number of loopholes” that must be closed to reflect the realities of 21st century crime, such as the inability of police to get a search warrant for any Canada Post package under 500 grams.

“So, a judge cannot even issue a search warrant for a package of that size that may contain enough fentanyl to kill a number of people.”

Carrique also repeated calls for bail reform.

“The federal government has promised a crime bill this fall, introducing tougher bail sentencing provisions,” he said. “This will be critical.”

Victoria Police Chief Del Manak agreed on the need for tougher release conditions.

Manak said police made 16 arrests during a two-day-long project to disrupt disorder in the city’s downtown core.

“But what was telling was the number of rearrests that we made,” he said.

An individual arrested in one block was re-arrested the next day not far from his first arrest following his release on conditions, Manak added.

“What we’re really asking for here is the criminal justice system to be strengthened,” Manak said. “There must be consequences, and a deterrence for those that are carrying out criminal activity every single day,” Manak said.

Carrique acknowledged 2024 statistics that show crime rates trending down. The Crime Severity Index, for example, dropped by 4.1% in 2024.

“We attribute that to some amazing work being done by police officers across the country, as well as other social services,” Carrique said.

“But we need to balance that against … the perception of crime, and it doesn’t do us any good as police leaders in building trust, and confidence, or legitimacy, when we simply cite statistics to say, ‘property crimes are down 5%, or the homicide rate dropped 10%,’ because there are still people being victimized,” he said.