Violent crime, hate crimes and thefts remain high in Canada, finds think tank's justice report card

OTTAWA — Violent crime and property theft rates remain stubbornly high across multiple provinces and territories, and Canadians are losing confidence in the authorities to do anything about it, finds a new report on the state of criminal justice in Canada. 

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s fourth Justice System Report Card , released this week, gives Canada’s criminal justice system dismal grades on keeping the public safe and maintaining the trust of Canadians.

“Rising crime, mounting delays and inconsistent enforcement have created a widening gap between expectations and performance,” write co-authors Dave Snow and Richard Audas. “Without meaningful reform, Canada risks entrenching failure in its criminal justice system – eroding public safety, weakening accountability and undermining confidence in the rule of law itself.”

Violent crime decreased by about half a per cent across Canada in 2024, the last year for which complete data is available.  However, it rose in the two most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It was also up in the Northwest Territories. The violent crime severity index , which measures changes in the intensity of police-reported incidents, fell by one per cent compared to 2023.

Police-reported hate crimes increased an alarming 85 per cent between 2020 and 2024, with hate crimes against Jews up 178 per cent during this period.

Property crime was up in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the Yukon in 2024 but down across the country by five per cent.

The authors noted that 2024 continued a post-COVID trend of worsening public safety, with violent crime increasing in nine provinces since 2020 and property crime increasing in eight.

The share of Canadians expressing confidence in both the police and the court system fell in 2024. Fewer than half said they trusted the courts to deliver justice.

Snow told National Post that the stubbornly high crime rates and eroding public trust have a common through-line in administrative morass.

“What maybe stuck out to me the most about this year’s report card is that pretty much everything we put under the category of ‘efficiency’ is trending in the wrong direction,” said Snow. “Cases are taking longer to resolve, more of them are getting withdrawn and a growing share of the accused are on remand awaiting trial.”

Snow noted that, while more violent crimes are getting reported, fewer are being solved, with the police clearance rate hitting a five-year low of 53.7 per cent in 2024.

He added that Canada urgently needs better data on criminal recidivism and offences committed while on bail, noting that there’s “more than anecdotal evidence” tying the observed increase in violent crime in the 2020s to Trudeau-era reforms making it easier for violent offenders to get back on the streets.

Public safety was a key issue in last year’s federal election and three major crime bills were tabled in the fall, including a bill that would extend the reverse onus for bail to a range of violent and serious offenses. None of these bills have been passed.

The report says that, even with a stronger focus on bail and sentencing, Prime Minister Mark Carney has largely followed his predecessor Justin Trudeau’s example of “responding – and deferring” to court decisions weakening the administration of justice in Canada.

National Post rmohamed@postmedia.com

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