Canada's Social Crime Rate Soaring

New Toronto crime statistics revealed which neighbourhoods had the highest break-in rates last year. Christopher Eng Wong | Dreamstime 

"Incidents that were once rare, now frequently interrupt operations, put staff and customers at risk, and strain already limited resources."

"Many businesses have adopted informal safety protocols including having a buddy system, rules about who works late, who handles certain situations, and decisions about when to lock their doors." 

"In some cases, businesses keep their doors locked all day, allowing entry only by doorbell or appointment."

"[Nearly one-third of Canadian Federation of Independent Business members -- 29 percent -- informed poll surveyors] they do not report crimes because the process feels futile, time-consuming, or unlikely to result in meaningful followup."  

Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses crime survey 

Country-wide, there has been a steady increase, reported to police agencies, of incidents of organized shoplifting where  brazen groups of thieves stroll into stores  unmasked, take their time to fill baskets with thousands of dollars in merchandise, then calmly walk back out the door as though what they are doing is not unusual and there will be no penalties for outright theft. Often enough, they're right; such thefts are no longer unusual; their frequency and the panache and entitlement with which they're carried out, while leaving store personnel open-mouthed and customers scandalized, thieves fail to be apprehended.

 

The Your Independent Grocer on Bank Street in Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood. Ottawa police say 12 people were arrested during 'Project Pantry' at the store in January. (Brad Quinn/CTV News Ottawa)

 

From store, laden down with stolen goods, to parking lot, to waiting vehicle and an orderly removal from shopping cart to open trunk, followed by a drive-away with pilfered goods. The CFIB report points out as well that retail staff are now increasingly exposed to personal threats, physical assaults and even confrontation with lethal weapons. Business employees, for their safety, are informed by their employers that it would be best not to confront the thieves, so they stand by, witness to thefts that defy the very essence of the social order.

 

The tragic, sobering encounter by Montreal depanneur owner Chong Woo Kim was a dangerously acute example of what outraged confrontation of a theft could lead to. Xavier Gellatly who stabbed the business owner to death, and held in his murder, was discovered to have committed an earlier murder in 2012, the result of a random stabbing. He was out of prison on full parole when his encounter with Chong Woo Kim made him a murderer two times over.

 

Handguns are pictured near recovered stolen cars during a Toronto Police Service press conference in Toronto, Ontario on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Police say the surge in auto thefts has led to rises in home invasions, violent robberies and gun violence throughout the Greater Toronto Area. (Greg Bruce/CBC)

 

A January Angus Reid Institute poll concluded that businesses were the front lines of a broad apprehension among Canadians in general, of diminished security and safety in Canada. "For those working in retail, shoplifting, verbal abuse, and physical threats have become the norm", read the poll conclusion. 

 

This, in a criminal justice system where overworked police forces make arrests, and when trials eventually take place, they witness with exasperation the justice system using a Liberal-government penal formula that allows for lax bail conditions, leading to frequently charged serial offenders who are streamed through an equally overworked justice system, are given paltry sentences barely reflecting the gravity of the crime committed and early release means that offenders feel free to continue their criminal activity with no penalizing incentives to cease and desist.

 

Private security details are now a common sight at retailers, banks and any number of businesses on high alert either because they've already suffered theft, or because of the general aura of apprehension among businesses in recognition of the splurge among criminal elements exercising their modus operandi with the assurance that penalties that accrue will be manageable as balanced against their gain. Grocers across Canada are equipping staff with body-cameras to help crack down on shoplifting and identification of employee assailants. 

 

Corporate Protection and Investigative Services President Ken Vongkham showing the lawn signs that they provide for their clients. Photo by PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON /National Post

 

And nor are private homes exempt from these crime sprees. One of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Toronto, Rosedale, has been experiencing a rash of property crimes in recent years, with cars stolen from driveways, armed home invasions, families disturbed at night by sounds of breaking glass and housebreaking men shouting their intentions along with threats of compliance. Armed home invasions have become common occurrences. Perhaps there's a kind of irony in the fact that these wealthy urban communities are solidly politically Liberal.

 

They've taken to paying for private security patrols at night. One security company specializes in private K9 patrols: "Our use of canine accompaniment for all daily foot patrols enhances crime prevention by creating an obvious and natural deterrent", the website promises. Spiking levels of crime and street disorder is not confined to Toronto. Canada has become a country of high walls, bars on windows, security cameras at every doorway and private security patrols.

 

Manitoba, through the course of a year, added 900 new licensed private security guards. The number of licensed private security guards surged in Ontario by75 percent in the last six years. 92,615 licensed Ontario security guards in 2020, swelled to 162,320 by 2025. In North Battleford, Saskatchewan, a plan to hire teams of private security to patrol the downtown was approved by city councillors. 

 

In Kelowna, British Columbia, according to a 2025 Statistics Canada report on crime severity, the city was ranked as the fifth-highest-crime city in the country. To which designation, the city produced a detailed analysis of 2024 crime figures finding that 1,335 police files had been opened for only 15 repeat criminals. "The pattern of persistent criminality by this select group is staggering and relentless", the report pointed out.   

 

Ontario Provincial Police and the Canada Border Services Agency said they've seized 598 stolen cars that were destined for export at the Port of Montreal, during a news conference on April 3. The vehicles had an estimated value of $35.5 million dollars. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)