A spate of recent stabbing assaults and murders in Toronto[i], Vancouver[ii], Edmonton[iii], Calgary[iv], Regina[v], Saskatoon[vi], Winnipeg[vii], Montreal[viii], Halifax[ix] and other Canadian cities have ordinary citizens extremely concerned for their safety.
This government has been warned repeatedly, yet public calls for action from CBC in 2019[x], The Vancouver Sun in 2021[xi], and The Canadian Press in 2022[xii] went unheeded.
Shootings with illegal guns get prime-time coverage, yet stabbings are an equally concerning issue – one that has yet to be addressed by the parade of Public Safety Ministers appointed by Justin Trudeau since 2015.
Data from Statistics Canada reflects an unpleasant reality. From 2016 through 2022, the latest year statistics are available, murder by stabbing increased year after year.
The lone exception, 2018, saw stabbing murders drop slightly, but they remained higher than 2016, Justin Trudeau’s first full year in office.[xiii]
It’s not a statistic to be proud of, yet neither Justin Trudeau nor his parade of Public Safety Ministers appear capable of stopping the violence.
Ralph Goodale held the position from November 4, 2015, until he was defeated in the 2019 federal election. While the small dip in stabbing murders happened on his watch, there is no evidence that Goodale’s policies were responsible for it.
Since then, Bill Blair lasted only 23 months, Marco Mendicino only 21 months, and Dominic LeBlanc, Trudeau’s current Public Safety Minister is at ten months and counting.
Without exception, stabbing murders increased on each of their watches.
Statistics Canada shows that stabbing is the second-most common method for murder, trailing shooting slightly.
SOURCE: Statistics Canada. Table 35-10-0069-01 Number of homicide victims, by method used to commit the homicide
In September 2023, we wrote:[xiv]
Both Justin Trudeau and his shiny new Public Safety Minister remain silent on September’s epidemic of violence committed with knives.
News reports detail 16 stabbings with 24 victims across Canada in the past seven days alone. The offenders in these stabbings range from 12-year-old girls (three of them) to men in their sixties.
If these were shootings, Justin Trudeau would hold non-stop press conferences decrying the violence and slap round after round of new restrictions on licensed firearm owners.
But guns aren’t involved, so neither Justin Trudeau nor Dominic LeBlanc show the slightest interest in these stabbings or protecting Canadians from them.
Our conclusion then is just as relevant today.
While we would like to mock Trudeau and LeBlanc with a tongue-in-cheek demand for a “knife registry” there is no point.
Lists of people who own a specific item of private property are useless and a gross waste of public money.
The cause of violent crimes like assault and murder are not the fault of the knife or the gun, but the depravity of the human heart.
Many individuals simply don’t care who they hurt or kill to get what they want.
Another government list won’t change that, nor will another feel-good funding announcement from Justin Trudeau or Dominic LeBlanc.[xv]
Public Safety Canada – no matter who heads the ministry – is woefully short on ideas and are hyper-focused on guns alone. Even in that arena they admit they have no answers.[xvi]
“Canadian reports have demonstrated that most firearms used in crimes in Canada were not legally purchased by the offender. Currently, however, there exists no systematic analysis that documents the sources for illegal guns.”
Justin Trudeau “governs” by press conference and press release. The same funding announcement is repeated for months, sometimes years, yet the money – unlike the press releases – never seems to flow.
There is a solution to the violence we see across our country, but it will not come from Justin Trudeau’s government.
That solution will only come from a government willing to protect Canadians, regardless of the political optics of the medicine required.
Is that even a possibility, given our current political climate, and the one we get a hint of as we stare into our foggy and uncertain future?
Yes, it can be, but only if we, individually and consistently, are willing to face our fears, grab onto our courage, and get involved politically at every level of government: municipal, provincial and federal.
If you don’t like the policies being put forward by your elected “representatives” then you must do something about it.The world is run by those who show up.
[i] https://www.bing.com/search?q=toronto+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[ii] https://www.bing.com/search?q=vancouver+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[iii] https://www.bing.com/search?q=edmonton+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[iv] https://www.bing.com/search?pc=GD08&ptag=13001&form=GDCCSB&conlogo=&q=calgary+stabbing+2024
[v] https://www.bing.com/search?q=regina+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[vi] https://www.bing.com/search?q=Saskatoon+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[vii] https://www.bing.com/search?q=winnipeg+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[viii] https://www.bing.com/search?q=montreal+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[ix] https://www.bing.com/search?q=halifax+stabbing+2024&pc=GD08&form=GDCCSB&ptag=13001
[x] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/stabbing-injuries-crime-assaults-nova-scotia-health-authority-1.5332363
[xi] https://vancouversun.com/news/daphne-bramham-knife-violence-is-increasing-its-time-to-do-something-about-it
[xii] https://globalnews.ca/news/8543353/alberta-homelessness-violence-advocates/
[xiii] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006901&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2016&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2022&referencePeriods=20160101%2C20220101
[xiv] https://cssa-cila.org/september-is-stabbing-month/
[xv] https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20220914/30-en.aspx
[xvi] https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/rdcng-gn-vlnc/index-en.aspx#s28
