Last Sunday, 46-year-old
was shot to death in his Vaughan home just after midnight. The shooter was part of a band of armed, masked intruders seeking to rob the house.
Farooqi was protecting his family when he died, and his children are now left without a father, and his wife without a husband.
On the same day in
, 25-year-old Daniel Senecal is alleged to have broken into another home and sexually abused a toddler while the parents slept. He was known to the police.
Senecal was
in March after serving time for a similar offence, and he may very well get out early again considering the
of our bail laws.
Both were unspeakably horrific crimes that will scar innocent children and parents for their entire lives. The worst part is that the families are unlikely to get true justice given the atmosphere of permissiveness that pervades the legal system.
Criminals need to become afraid in Canada, but right now, they are brazen. They have become emboldened by a broken bail system and gutless politicians who prefer to champion
criminal justice reform, rather than punishing wrongdoers.
These so-called leaders actively endanger Canadians by equivocating and refusing to treat this crisis for what it is.
If the authorities cannot step up to help foster a culture of law and order, the least they can do is get out of the way and empower good Canadians to do it themselves when their safety is at risk.
In order to function, a free society demands public safety. That does not exist when tragedies like the death of
become normalized. The eight-year-old died in August after stray bullets fired in North York entered his bedroom and hit him while he slept.
As of 2024,
data show that violent Criminal Code violations had increased by nearly 50 per cent since 2015. It is true that Canada is still statistically safer than the United States, but nobody should be taking this as an excuse or indicator that the status quo is acceptable.
The most notable action taken by the Liberal government in the name of fighting crime has been to pick on legal gun owners. Police say that
seized in Ontario following violent crimes were traced to the U.S., not the local firearms shop.
Far from rising crime only being solely a phenomenon of the Greater Toronto Area, cities like
top the Canadian list for violent crime. Even smaller cities like
and
, which are top
for
families, are national leaders in property crime.
One of the most infuriating and preventable aspects in the decline of public safety has been the gentle attitude towards lawbreakers, including those who sexually abuse children.
Child sex offenders should never get out of prison, let alone be granted early release or parole. It is perversely fortunate for them that Canada
capital punishment in 1976.
A poll conducted by Research Co. in 2024 found that
of Canadians support the death penalty for murder. More surveys on the question of capital punishment for other heinous crimes should be commissioned.
Canadians should rightfully feel like they are on their own, and they deserve the right to defend themselves and their families without fear of prosecution. At least one politician will be championing this in the fall session of Parliament.
has proposed a “Stand on Guard” law, which would amend the law so that it is presumed that the use of force in defending one’s home was reasonable.
“As long as people are going to engage in criminal activity, the people who live in their homes and are suffering that kind of violence need to have the opportunity to defend themselves and to use whatever force necessary to do so,”
lawyer Robert Karrass, commenting on the proposal. “It’s absolutely appropriate for the law to be changed.”
This would be a good start, but is only one piece of the solution.
Unfortunately, Canadians should not bet on a transformative effort from the government as the Liberals have signalled they will not vote for the “Stand on Guard” law.
Following Poilievre’s announcement, Attorney General Sean Fraser
on X that “This isn’t the Wild West, this is Canada.”
Fraser was deservedly panned for such a callous, flippant response, but it shows that the Liberals remain more concerned with lecturing about tone, rather than curbing crime.
At least in the Wild West, few batted an eye when law-abiding citizens formed up posses and dealt with bandits and other threats permanently.
In Canada, a country that is seemingly more
every year, there is no reason for the public to have full confidence in the authorities to keep them safe.
Children are shot and assaulted in their beds, innocent civilians are stabbed on busy streets, illegal guns
, and repeat offenders walk free with ease with toddlers being subjected to the consequences.
Encountering a good, law-abiding citizen who is empowered to protect themselves and others should terrify criminals. Every would-be burglar, carjacker, and abuser should know that he is taking his life into his own hands the moment he violates a family’s home.
Far from being vigilante justice, this is a civilized presumption that the law will always protect innocent first and foremost.
National Post
