Federal Freeze on Importing Firearms ‘Does Nothing’ to Curb Gun Crime: Toronto Police Association President

Light sentences and lenient parole, bail decisions part of the problem, Jon Reid says

Police and SIU investigators gather at the scene where two police officers were killed in Innisfil, Ont., on Oct. 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/Arlyn McAdorey

On the heels of the fatal shooting of two police officers in Innisfil, Ont., the president of the Toronto Police Association (TPA) says firearms trafficking and violence are increasing and Ottawa’s efforts to curb gun violence are missing the mark.

“The proliferation of firearms up here in Canada from the U.S.—it is out of control in my opinion,” Jon Reid told The Epoch Times.

“The volume of guns here in Toronto, it’s prolific. There’s so many firearms out there right now that it concerns me.”

Const. Morgan Russell, one of two officers fatally shot in the line of duty in Innisfil, Ont., on Oct. 12, 2022, is shown in a South Simcoe Police Service handout photo. The Canadian Press/South Simcoe Police Service

Reid said that an overwhelming majority of guns used to commit crimes in Canada are illegally smuggled into the country from the United States. He says the federal government’s move to freeze the importation of handguns starting Aug. 19 was “pointless.”

“Freezing the importation of legal firearms does nothing to stop the flow of the illegal ones, so that’s the first problem there,” he said.

When Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced the handgun freeze, he said the measure will stop “nearly all individuals and businesses in Canada” from importing handguns.

On Oct. 12, two police officers were fatally shot while responding to an evening disturbance call in Innisfil, less than an hour north of Toronto.

Prior to that in September, Toronto police officer Andrew Hong was shot and killed in what was described as an “ambush attack,” with related shootings spanning three Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area cities in a single afternoon.

Meanwhile, there have been 320 shootings in Toronto so far this year, based on data available up to Oct. 9, according to the Toronto Police Service.

The fact that Toronto’s police force has not kept pace with the city’s growing population and higher crime rates adds to the problem, Reid says.

“We’re down 400 officers over the last 10 years.”

Reid noted that the TPA, which represents almost 8,000 uniform and civilian members of the Toronto Police Service, has “offset some of that loss” with civilian personnel, but he said the city needs more police.

Gun Trafficking

In February, Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, told the House of Commons public safety committee that just “one-millionth of all rail cargo” is inspected before crossing the Canadian border.

“In other words, there’s almost a zero percent chance that any illegal weapons entering the country via rail will ever be found,” Weber said on Feb. 1.

“As things stand, not only is Canada’s ability to prevent smuggling lacking, but its capacity to gather reliable and sound data is also inadequate.”

Mendicino said in August that 2021 was a record year for seizing illegal firearms at the border. Federal data shows that the Canadian Border Services Agency seized over 1,200 firearms at the border in 2021, which is more than double the number seized in 2020.

However, Reid said such massive numbers of illegal firearms have been pouring over Canada’s border for years and their full effect is now being felt.

“What you need is increased enforcement at the border, increased scrutiny, increased powers to search,” he said.

Jenny Hong, wife of Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong, and her children Mia and Alex bow at his casket during his funeral service in Toronto on Sept. 21, 2022. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

Part of the problem, Reid said, is that far too many perpetrators of gun crimes get easy sentences, allowing them to get out of jail sooner and repeat similar crimes. He called the government’s rolling back of certain mandatory minimum sentences “inexcusable.”

The Senate is currently reviewing Bill C-5, the Liberal government’s proposed legislation that aims to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in order to repeal 20 mandatory minimum sentences, mostly for certain drug and gun offences.

Bill C-5, which passed third reading in the House of Commons in June, would also give judges the power to grant more conditional sentences, meaning that those convicted of the certain drug and gun offences targeted by the legislation will have a greater chance of serving time outside of prison, on bail.

“If somebody’s involved in trafficking firearms, they need to go to jail for a long, long time,” Reid said. “The public’s rights should be the priority—not the rights of these people that are committing these criminal offences.”

Bail reform is sorely needed, he said, noting that even some gun criminals who receive relatively tough sentences are granted parole far too easily.

“We had one recently,” he said. “A young male was caught doing carjacking with a firearm. Caught, released on bail. Once he’s released on bail, he then goes and cuts his ankle bracelet.”

“I don’t know if he’s been apprehended yet.”

Reid said far too many unreformed criminals receive bail, which then increases the chance of innocent civilians suffering the consequences.

“If you’re caught with a loaded illegal firearm, you [should] not be getting bail,” he said.

Underlying Factors

Darryl Davies, a criminology professor at Carleton University, thinks the cause of rising gun crime in Toronto runs far deeper than cross-border smuggling.

An expert in the areas of youth gangs, policing, and criminal justice policy, Davies says the combination of broken families and low-quality education brings about more inner-city gangs, noting that some gangs consist of just two or three young members.

“We’re talking about kids who are out of school, kids who have no parental supervision, kids who are basically being ignored by society or they’re on the streets or doing drugs,” he said.

“We are seeing young offenders act out violently in ways we’ve never seen before.”

Davies says gun-control legislation completely misunderstands the underlying factors that cause crime.

“You cannot legislate away gun violence, it is impossible,” he said. “More importantly, it doesn’t recognize the systemic, or what I call the etiology, of crime, and that is the root causes, which governments have always politically ignored.”

He says the only way to solve the problem is to focus on reviving strong family units.

“The only avenue in criminology that empirical evidence shows is effective is investing in families, dysfunctional families—improving housing, improving education,” he said.

The Canadian Press and Lee Harding contributed to this report.