Rise and Reform

Recently, I was driving through Prince Edward County listening to the radio when I heard a really disturbing “message” from The Government of Ontario. The horrifying message included what sounded like a five year old child talking about how Ontario is building more jails to “keep criminals off the streets” and “keep parks safer for kids to play in”. The advertisement ended with an adult saying “visit ontario.ca/saferontario for more information”. Naturally, I was incredibly disturbed by this information. I immediately googled that link, and found that all of my fears were confirmed. 

“Ontario is working to protect our neighbourhoods by tackling auto theft, clearing encampments, shutting down drug injection sites near schools and daycares, building more jails and strengthening the bail system, so criminals stay behind bars”

-A direct quote from the government of Ontario website. 

Here are my immediate concerns with that paragraph. 

1. There is no commitment to relocate the safe drug injection sites in Toronto. In fact, the government has pulled funding for 7 drug injection sites across the province. 
2. Clearing encampments? What are they doing to the people living there? Are they providing these people with employment opportunities and affordable shelters/housing, or are they just expecting them to go somewhere else in the city? The thing about encampments is that areas with high populations of homeless people are often seen as opportunities for connection amongst those people. Many people living in encampments lean on each other for support that they can’t find elsewhere. All the government is doing by “clearing” them is taking away any sense of community these people have. 
3. Building more jails to keep criminals behind bars and off the streets… Are we supposed to believe these “criminals” are just walking themselves on over to jail? Beyond increasing crime rates by removing mental health supports/“clearing” encampments and shutting down supervised injection sites, what is the government actually doing to get these criminals beyond bars? 
4. Strengthening the bail system… upon further inspection on the link above, Doug Ford is enacting
   1. A mandatory minimum sentencing… Meaning for certain crimes committed it will be difficult to advocate for mental health treatment instead of a jail sentence
   2. Legalization for citizens to carry pepper spray. I think a lot of women in particular won’t be too angry about this one… but it still begs the question… how will it keep criminals off the streets? Last I checked, most women aren’t taken seriously when they report violence against them. 
   3. A 3 strike rule, making pre-trial detention mandatory for repeat offenders. This way, they are not allowed back on the streets before their court hearing. Again- what is the government actually doing to track down these “criminals” and make sure they don’t re-offend?
   4. They are making DNA collection mandatory upon arrest for sexual offences with automatic sample destruction upon acquittal or non-conviction. This one really gets to me because as we know, more often than not, sexual offenders do not face any criminal charges or jail time. 
   5. Automatic victim notifications. This means victims will be notified of any status updates when they report sexual violence. 
   6. “Bail reform”- changing the conditions of bail to make it harder to seek. 
   7. How exactly is tackling auto theft going to make it safer for kids to play in parks? I fail to see the corelation in all of this.

There are so many things wrong with this. Just the end of the sentence “…so criminals stay behind bars” is so concerning and disgusting. The website (saferontario) linked above does outline some plans to increase homelessness and addiction recovery hubs, but at first glance there are some issues. They don’t really specify if these “hubs” are going to be replacing recovery sites and if they will be available close to the encampment sites they are clearing. So, when they clear encampment sites, will those people still have access to the same community they had before? Or will they be sent to a different city?

On top of all this, the government is building more jails. They are investing a whopping 3 BILLION DOLLARS (compared to the meek $560 million they’re investing for the “hubs”) to build and expand jails across Ontario. 1,325 beds will be added to jails across Ontario. They also used this tab of the website to advertise jobs available in these jails. 

What this most likely means, in a nutshell, is that people impacted by the clearing of encampments and closing of injection sites will have to serve a mandatory minimum sentence, making it harder to advocate for mental health treatment in a courtroom. 

Doug Ford and The Ontario Government needs to invest in safer communities. This is not how we do it. Strengthening mental health support and community services is the obvious way to go. I, personally, do not want more jails in my community. I want schools, libraries, and affordable housing. I want to buy enough groceries to feed myself this week, and I want accessible mental health care for everyone. 

If you’re like me, and you DO NOT want your tax dollars spent on “keeping criminals in jail” instead of on treatment, please email premier@ontario.ca to voice your concerns.