Vic Toews,- Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada- speech before the CPPA today

.........The Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, and I as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, will share the important responsibility to deliver on the Government of Canada’s priority of making our streets and communities safer by cracking down on crime.

This is no easy task and the police understand this better than anyone. But it can be done, and it will be done. Today, I would like to briefly highlight some of the areas we must address to make this vision a reality.
II. Getting Tough on Gun Crime

If we are going to succeed in making our streets and communities safer, we must address the growing problem of gun crime—particularly in our cities. Canadians want and need to feel safe as they go about their daily business. We consider safety and security to be fundamental to Canada’s social and economic well-being. But prominent instances of violent gun crime, in communities large and small and in every part of the country, have sent us all a clear and tragic message that we cannot take the safety of our citizens for granted. Gun crime exists in this country; the danger is real.

I believe the issue of gun crime has now become a priority concern of Canadians, and the time has come for us to toughen our approach to combating this growing danger. Violent offenders and other serious offenders deserve more than a slap on the wrist. As an overarching principle, I believe that serious offences should be met with serious consequences, and we are developing ways to strengthen sentences for those who commit gun crime. As the Mayerthorpe tragedy illustrated all too well, those who have a predilection to violent crime should not be loose in our society. We must learn from these terrible incidents and—with strengthened resolve—ensure that they never happen again.

Getting tough on violent crime serves as both a means and a message: it proclaims that we believe in a peaceful society—a society that does not tolerate acts of violence. It also serves to protect us from those violent offenders who might otherwise be sent back to the community to commit another act of violence. Many provinces and stakeholders—including this organization—have endorsed this kind of approach and the Government of Canada has an abiding interest in advancing these types of criminal justice reforms as we move to improve public safety.
III. Law Enforcement and Public Safety

In addition to pursuing law reform initiatives, a second key component to increasing public safety is to ensure that we have enough police officers to effectively enforce our laws.

According to Department of Public Safety documents, there is currently a shortage of some 1,000 RCMP officers in federal, provincial, and municipal policing roles. In addition, many provincial and municipal police forces are under-funded and overstretched. Of course, the CPPA has been fighting for increases in front-line policing for quite some time.

I believe in the principle that having more police on our streets makes our streets safer. I have always endorsed this approach to community safety and will continue to advocate on your behalf with my Cabinet colleagues and in Parliament. This Government has listened—and will continue to listen—to the CPPA and to work closely with you to help grow Canada’s police forces because we recognize the invaluable role of the police as the front-line defenders of justice.