Canada’s justice minister ‘actively exploring’ options for tougher car theft penalties

Auto thefts as you probably know are on the rise right across the country it is a crime police say has become highly profitable with very low risk for the offenders and Ottawa is under pressure to take action last week politicians met with law enforcement border officials and the Auto industry for a national

Summit with some suggesting harsher penalties should be on the way earlier I spoke with Canada’s Minister of Justice Minister Veron thank you for making the time appreciate it thank you for having me uh the Prime Minister said this week that he wants to see harsher uh measures for auto theft you’ve said

As well that you’re looking at it especially for repeat offenders um what kinds of things would you consider then that you don’t have on the books well Rosie you know we had an auto theft Summit this week and I think it was really important for us to hear uh from various sectors various

Stakeholders various elected leaders law enforcement about what it takes to address this problem my job as Minister of Justice is to keep Canadians safe I’m very keen to do exactly that my job is the criminal code it’s a statute I’m directly responsible for so I’m taking a

Deep dive into that legislation I know that there are very significant penalties that are on the books right now so I want to make sure Canadians know that auto theft is a crime it has a a mandatory minimum penalty there’s also a maximum penalty we actually increased that maximum penalty in Parliament in

2019 something that the opposition voted against at the time there’s also where you combine auto theft with organized criminality there aiona sentence there so increas penalty in that there’s lots of tools there but I guess what struck me the aoff summit Rosie was this this idea about the level

Of organized criminality and their involvement the level of violence that we’re seeing weapons people’s doors being broken into and even carjackings yeah so let’s let’s talk about that because I mean you you’ve laid out some of the things you’ve done uh but but I think you would also agree more needs to

Be done because we are seeing an increase in this kind of thing so talk to me about carjacking in particular because you said that that there are offenses that deal with theft and then there are offenses that deal with organized crime does that mean that you need a new offense that deals

Specifically with carjacking well that’s something that we’re actively exploring to be honest with you uh Rosie is that this idea that when you bridge the two right now you’ve got sort of combination aspects in the criminal code with these thefts but the actual Act of an act of carjacking

Involving a hostile interaction with an individual you know at a stop sign street light on on a street in Canada at a at a parking lot that’s pretty invasive and quite troubling and having one of the principal aspects of the criminal code is acting as a deterrent

Uh for uh for criminal behavior and we need to be understanding that and how we can improve the tools that are in the code uh to emphasize that deterrent effect uh people have also talked to me about potentially raising the maximum penalty and also looking at when weapons

Are involved so these are all factors that I’m considering quite closely I’ve heard from different Attorneys General around the country I’ve definitely heard from law enforcement people like Chief demq here in Toronto Chief Dera and Peele about these issues I’m I’m working with my officials quite closely and

Quite quickly to see what we can do to complement the suite of uh of what is available in the code to really demonstrate that deterrent effect but always keeping in mind that you know sometimes the quick reaction is to go after sometimes the person who’s as young as 16 who’s engaging in these

Stfts but they’re being orch ated and masterminded by a criminal operation well so yeah so I I if I can interrupt you for a moment just because I did want to ask you very specifically about that because it does seem as though there are sometimes very young people who are

Being uh paid to do the the actual car theft the auto theft as you point out but it’s organized crime that is behind them so how do you make sure that the the the young person uh committing this offense so certainly it’s a crime isn’t the person the only person uh being held

Responsible for this well I think we make sure that that’s not the only people that we’re targeting right we want to we want to obviously make sure that criminal behavior is corrected on Canadian streets and that’s part of my job but the key part of getting at the

Root of the problem that’s when you get Beyond slogans and you get to sort of rolling up your sleeves and actually doing P creating a purposeful solution is when you target the people that are masterminding that 16-year-old and the people that are behind the scenes the people that are getting that car from

Toronto to Montreal through the port of Montreal and off to a destination were in West Africa and what I get troubled by Rosie if I’m being frank with you is that we know that there’s organized criminality we know that from hearing from law enforcement we also know that organized crime operates best when

There’s money laundering and when there’s things like cryptocurrencies and and digital assets are being transferred within Canada or around the world we actually have legislation on the floor of the House of Commons right now to Target exactly that how we deal with digital currency how we deal with

Seizing the pro seizing the proceeds of crime and stopping moneya laundering and that legislation notwithstanding Mr IV’s uh Grand standing on this issue he’s actually obstructing that legislation and declared that he’s going to vote against it so that’s when I question the the the bonafides of people that are

Other members of parliament and other leaders of parties in terms of how willing they are to do the that’s necessary to stop this crime because tools are already being debated independent of the other tools that I may put on the floor of the House of the

Comm Comm uh your your vehicle your your ministerial vehicle was was stolen in November and that was it I mean it was the first time happened to you because you’ve just recently become the minister but it had happened to previous times with the Justice Minister’s car it’s happened to other government officials

What can you tell us about what happened and how it was recovered because unlike a lot of people your car was recovered so what I can say to you is that I mean the lesson for me in that context Rosie is that this is a uh this

Is an issue that’s touching all of us it’s touching communities right around the country and that includes Vehicles the uh the Department of Justice vehicles but what I think it brings home to me is this idea that that you know whether I’m hearing it in terms of my

Neighbors whether I’m hearing it in terms of my constituents or my or my colleagues in different parts of the GT or literally around the country is that we need to be addressing this quickly and fast and there’s a sense of urgency yeah I I I don’t think I don’t think

People would disagree with you but I but I did ask you specifically how what happened with your car and and how it was recovered because some people might say well interesting that the Justice Minister’s car got recovered but mine can’t be and I think to for those people would

Say to individuals what we heard at the auto uh uh Summit is that the recovery of the vehicles is critical and what we need to be doing is changing the tools that are available in order to do that recovery a lot of people are taking steps into their own hands to have

Tracking devices in their vehicles but I think really came out of the of this Summit Rosie is some of the comparative evidence in other parts of the world the United Kingdom has what I understand to be the most stringent vehicle safety and anti- theft standards for vehicles sold

In Britain in in the world and the resulting Auto thefts are some of the lowest in the world and I think there’s a responsibility on Audi manufacturers to to be ensuring that they’re not as stealable and you’re going to see but did your but did your car

Minister have tracking on it is that how it was recovered in terms of the vehicle that the Department of Justice vehicle I I do not have an answer to that Rosie whether there was a vehicle tracking device what I think is is critical for Canadians to understand is that is that people are

Getting frustrated when they know that they’re their car might be on a container on a in a rail yard in Milton or might Port of Montreal and they want to be they want to be able to get it back and get it back quickly and that’s what that funding of $28 million is

Going to help us do it’s G help us scan those containers staff up the borders we can be let me just let me just end on this minister in terms of the other things that you have or considering and putting on the table what what kind of

Timeline are you looking at given as you say the urgency some people feel around this issue well what I’ve said to my officials is that we need to be working in terms of we weeks rather than months certainly the prime minister’s attendance at the AO theft Summit emphasized the importance he places on

This you had four or five other ministers there we’re all seizing this as a as a moment to to take action an immediate action and you’ve seen that in the last 10 days in terms of three different announcements Minister thank you come back anytime appreciate it sir

Thank you very much so while the government’s working on this plan to combat auto theft many Canadians continue to see their cars vanish Megan Walker’s car was stolen right from her driveway Megan good morning to you morning so what happened it was a morning you woke up you looked outside

And car was gone I went to start it and I didn’t hear it start so I went out and my car was gone um I went up to my boyfriend and sister asked them if they had moved my car um they didn’t and then when we looked out there was some gloves

Um and some other items that were in our driveway that weren’t ours um and so we knew that it had been stolen so what have police said to you about uh where it is if they know where it is what what kind of information have you had yeah so

I have heard nothing from the police except for when they came to my house to do the interview um they had said that about nine cars a night in my area get stolen um and I have not heard anything since and and when I tried to get the

Police report to send to insurance they told me it would take 40 days just to get that police report and insurance told me that with the police report it can take up to 12 weeks for it to be deemed a total loss guys okay so you’re you’re in Milton Ontario just so people

Know where which is where a lot of carjacking and car theft is happening in Ontario for sure so what are you doing right now like you’re just are you have you rented a car how are you dealing with your life with without the car yeah so um unfortunately insurance if you

Have Rental Car Coverage it’s not much um so I did need to I ran out of my rental car in coverage so I did need to go and purchase another car and my car still wasn’t deemed a total loss so I then had to carry two car insurances and

Two car payments which is a lot y it is a lot and and it was a nice car right I mean I know not I don’t know if it was your dream car or if it you know you loved it no I really liked my car so I

Was I was sad that it that it was gone um it was only a year old um and you know uh you were talking about them being recovered um I know someone who had their car recovered and there was over $20,000 worth of repairs that were

Needed to it due to the thieves taking equipment out and you know things like that you yeah yeah and so when when when it happened though were you did you believe that it had been stolen were you kind of in shock what was going through your

Head yeah I I tried to convince myself that I just left it at a friend’s house um but you don’t think that stuff will happen to you you hear about it but you don’t think that it’s going to happen to you so I definitely was in shock when it

Was out of my driveway so so this is something now that you know the politicians are talking more about even though it it has been an ongoing issue for some time uh I I don’t know what your thoughts are about what they should be doing but what what would make things

Easier do you think for for people like yourself well I mean I I think so the issue I found it was a lot of um back and forth with insurance um and the police really couldn’t help me at all um but I think I think it just needs to be

Stopped in in general like you know them being at the ports and and looking for cars and everything that’s that’s great cars can get recovered but it how do you find the people who actually did that yeah uh do you will you buy another car are you committed to doing that

And I’m definitely not buying the same car so yeah it was too nice I guess is what you the lesson you’ve learned well and the same person who had um the damage to their car ended up getting the same car again and that one got stolen as well so

Oh wow um yeah okay well I’m sorry that happened to you but as you know it’s happening to a lot of people so thanks for uh telling us your story and and I and I hope it goes smoothly this next part and that you can get a new car

Quickly thank you thanks mean nice to meet you

Justice Minister Arif Virani says he’s considering a range of tougher penalties to clamp down on the growing problem of auto thefts. Plus, Megan Walker of Milton, Ont., discusses her recent experience of having her car stolen.

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