Crime
ASIRT Investigation reveals a series of life-threatening incidents police officers overcame to arrest suspects
From the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT)
RCMP officers acted reasonably in shootings
On Oct. 13, 2017, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding two officer-involved shootings that occurred the same day during a continuing event.
The first officer-involved shooting resulted in a minor gunshot wound to a 20-year-old woman. The second officer-involved shooting resulted in serious injuries to a 20-year-old man. Evidence obtained during the investigation included statements from civilian witnesses, EMS personnel, all involved officers and the occupants of the stolen vehicles, as well as radio communications and multiple available video recordings of portions of the events.
On Oct. 13, 2017 at 9:14 a.m., a man called RCMP to report that he had just been involved in a dispute with another man driving a light-coloured Chevrolet truck and when he attempted to confront the driver, the man threatened him with a large knife. There was a female passenger in the truck. When police ran the licence plate provided and contacted the registered owner, it was determined that the truck had been stolen from the Didsbury area earlier that morning.
At 1:30 p.m., the first man and woman picked up a second man in Innisfail who had just been released on bail, having been arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle the day before. They did so in the stolen vehicle seen earlier in the day in Sundre.
At approximately 3:15 p.m., the son of the stolen truck’s owner called RCMP to report that he had spotted the stolen truck in Sundre and was following it. In response, the driver of the stolen truck rammed the son’s car and attempted to run him over when he exited his vehicle. The man threw himself out of the way, but he was struck and sustained minor injury to his leg. The female passenger waved a large knife and threatened to kill the son.
A short time later, officers came across the truck, and unsuccessfully tried to conduct a traffic stop. As officers pulled alongside, the driver could be seen wearing sunglasses and a bandana covering his nose and mouth. The officers terminated the pursuit as both trucks headed west of Sundre but shortly thereafter, they saw the stolen truck driving on a rural road. The driver taunted police as he passed them. Due to concerns for public safety, police did not initiate a pursuit.
The same officers encountered the stolen truck being driven in Caroline but, again, no pursuit was initiated. Shortly thereafter, the officers followed as the truck was driven into a field. The driver turned around and drove back in the direction of the officers who exited their vehicle and drew their service pistols. The truck drove a wide arc around them, so neither officer fired.
At approximately 3:45 p.m., other officers saw the stolen truck travel north on Hwy 22, just west of Caroline, and followed. Police unsuccessfully tried to set up spike belts at two locations but the stolen vehicle avoided them, in one case driving directly at an officer, who had to take evasive action to avoid being struck.
A pursuit was declared shortly after. While followed by two separate police vehicles with emergency lights activated, speeds reached 170-180 km/hr. As the pursuit headed eastbound on TWP Road 400, the woman in the back seat of the stolen truck threw a child’s car seat and other items onto the roadway, creating hazards and attempting to deter the police from continuing their pursuit. The first man was driving and the second man was in the front passenger seat.
As the stolen truck was pursued eastbound onto TWP Road 394, it approached a driveway where an officer had parked his police vehicle and extended a spike belt across both lanes, holding the line in the north ditch. The first man drove the stolen truck left of centre and turned into the north ditch, driving towards the officer. He suddenly pulled back onto the road and the officer ran back beside his police vehicle and drew his pistol. The stolen truck entered the south ditch, drove over the driveway approach past the officer and police vehicle, avoiding the spike belt and returned back to the road, moving eastbound.
Instead of continuing eastbound, the truck swung around to face back towards the officer, his police vehicle and two other officers who had arrived and placed their police vehicles to partially block off any westbound escape. The truck headed directly towards the officer who had earlier placed the spike belt as he stood by his police vehicle. The officer believed that the driver was purposely trying to “run” him over as there was no reason to proceed westbound and engage with police when the eastbound road was unobstructed. At approximately 4:27 p.m., as the truck drove towards the officer, fishtailing and colliding with the police vehicle and coming within feet of the officer, the officer and one other fired their service pistols. A bullet grazed the top of the back of the woman’s head causing a relatively minor laceration.
The truck drove over the spike belt, which destroyed the passenger side tires, leading the truck to flee on its rims at approximately 60-70 km/hr. As an officer tried to set up another spike belt, the truck drove at the officer, who had to retreat to the ditch. At 4:31 p.m., as the truck approached the Hwy 20 intersection, an officer was authorized to force the truck off the road. The officer rammed the side of the truck, forcing it into the north ditch with the police vehicle on one side and a fence on the other. The two men climbed through the passenger window and fled to a nearby field, leaving the injured woman in the back seat.
When the two men came upon a farmhouse, they observed a woman run inside. They approached and kicked in the door to the home where two women were present with children. When they found out the women had no keys to the vehicles on the property, the men took their cellphones so they could not call for assistance, and fled to a second rural residence. They broke into vehicles, obtained a garage door opener to gain access to the residence and obtained keys to a black Ford F250 truck that they then attempted to flee in. The second man was now driving with the first man in the front passenger seat. As they were driving out, an officer driving towards them twice attempted to pin them in on a fence but the stolen truck suddenly reversed and rammed the police truck with enough force to set off the airbags, disabling the police vehicle.
The newly stolen truck was driven through the field and down the 500-metre driveway to access Hwy 20, approaching a point where two officers were placing a spike belt. The truck drove off the roadway into the ditch where one armed officer was. A second armed officer moved forward towards the truck on the south grass shoulder of the driveway. The vehicle suddenly accelerated, re-entered the roadway, swerved aggressively to avoid the spike belt and drove directly towards the second officer. Had he not taken evasive actions, it is beyond dispute that the officer would have been struck by the middle of the front grill of the stolen truck. Available video confirmed that the stolen truck came within what appears to be a matter of 12 to 18 inches of the officer, causing both officers to discharge their service pistols.
Unknown to the officers, the 20-year-old driver sustained two gunshot wounds that left him unable to feel or move his legs. The truck briefly came to a stop in the south ditch, just short of Hwy 20. When the passenger looked through the broken rear window and appeared to reach for something, officers shouted commands to stop. The passenger reached his leg over the center console and “floored” the accelerator, causing the officers to resuming firing.
The truck drove out of the east ditch, crossed Hwy 20 and went into the west ditch where it became immobilized in a grove of trees. Police provided medical care to the injured driver until Emergency Medical Services arrived. Ultimately, the man was airlifted to hospital by STARS air ambulance.
Of the two shots sustained, one shattered the man’s left forearm and the second shot entered his left shoulder shattering bone before becoming lodged in his spine resulting in permanent paralysis.
Having reviewed the comprehensive investigation, Susan Hughson, QC, Executive Director for ASIRT, has determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officers involved in these events committed any criminal offence(s). As such, no officer will be charged.
Under the Criminal Code, a police officer is authorized to use as much force as is reasonably necessary to perform his or her lawful duties. An officer may only respond with lethal force in circumstances where he or she reasonably believes that there is an imminent risk of death or grievous bodily harm to the officer or any other person. An officer may also use lethal force to prevent flight in limited circumstances.
At the time of this incident, the involved officers were all acting in the lawful execution of their duties. There were more than reasonable grounds to believe that some or all of the occupants of both the first and second stolen trucks had committed indictable criminal offences.
In the entire course of these events, the conduct of the three individuals could objectively demonstrate the danger and significant risk to public. Multiple videos combined with the evidence of both civilian and police witnesses demonstrated that the three occupants of both stolen trucks were reckless, motivated to do whatever was necessary to evade apprehension and, in those circumstances, extremely dangerous. Both men reported that it had not been their intention to hit anyone. However, their conduct, at a minimum, would have created a reasonable apprehension that this was their intent. One person had been threatened and struck, another had been threatened with death, and the stolen vehicles had been driven towards officers in a manner that could easily have been interpreted as an intention to run them down.
Based on the actions of these three individuals, it is only good fortune that no civilian nor police officer was seriously injured or killed. At the time of the first officer-involved shooting, the circumstances created an objectively reasonable belief that there was an imminent risk of grievous bodily harm or death and, as such, officers were entitled to use lethal force. At the time of the second officer-involved shooting, once again, the circumstances created an objectively reasonable belief that there was an imminent risk of grievous bodily harm or death and both officers were entitled to use lethal force to address that threat.
Although the injury is believed to have occurred by the time of the attempted flight with the assistance of the passenger, based on all the evidence, it was subjectively and objectively reasonable to resort to lethal force to prevent further flight. The force used was necessary for the purpose of protecting the officer or any other person from imminent or future death or grievous bodily harm. Both men had repeatedly demonstrated a willingness, over a very limited period of time, to risk causing death or grievous bodily harm to both civilians and officers to further their flight and evade apprehension, and had engaged in a protracted crime spree doing so. The risk was not hypothetical. The threat was relatively immediate. In their multiple encounters that day, they had threatened and/or endangered life. If anything, their conduct had been escalating. The rapid forward movement of the vehicle was reasonably inferred to be an attempt at continued flight and the vehicle had a clear path forward. The only means at their disposal in that moment was the use of lethal force. Given the demonstrated conduct of both men, they needed to be stopped before they seriously injured or killed someone. The fact that they had not done so to that point was the result of good luck, nothing more. It was reasonable to act in the circumstances.
ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently, and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person. This mandate includes incidents involving discharge of a firearm that would likely have resulted in serious injury or death had the person been struck.
Crime
Canada Blocked DEA Request to Investigate Massive Toronto Carfentanil Seizure for Terror Links

Exclusive investigation shows U.S. drug officials were stonewalled after linking a historic Toronto opioid seizure to suspected Pakistani and Chinese threat networks
A former top U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official has come forward with explosive allegations that Canadian authorities obstructed a high-level DEA investigation into a 42-kilogram carfentanil seizure tied to a 2018 mass shooting in Toronto and, according to senior U.S. investigators, potentially linked to Pakistani threat networks and Chinese chemical precursor suppliers.
The DEA learned, after 29-year-old Faisal Hussain’s shooting rampage on Danforth Avenue—which left two people dead and thirteen more wounded—that his brother and a network with Pakistani links were connected to a historic seizure of carfentanil, a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl, in September 2017. The drugs were discovered in a suburban Pickering home, alongside specialized equipment consistent with a transnational trafficking operation.
While ISIS’s claim of responsibility for Hussain’s attack initially raised concerns about terrorism, Canadian officials and Toronto police advanced a narrative that the tragedy had no national security implications, attributing it instead to the hardships of a Pakistani immigrant family and a mental health crisis. But the DEA’s elite Special Operations Division—drawing on global informant and intelligence networks—did not fully accept the conclusions of Canada’s investigation or its public disclosures.
The DEA had requested to test the seized carfentanil to determine whether its molecular structure matched opioids trafficked into Atlanta from Quebec, said Donald Im, the DEA’s former Special Operations Division lead on precursor chemicals, dark web drug markets, and narco-terrorism, in an exclusive interview with The Bureau.
Although mid-level RCMP officers were reportedly willing to share the seizure materials and investigative details with the DEA, Im said those efforts were blocked by senior Canadian bureaucrats.
“I coordinated with our DEA office up there in Ottawa, and he was getting the runaround as well,” Im said. “I’m saying, if you guys had some 30 or 40-odd kilograms, and you couldn’t give us a few grams to determine whether or not there were any similar seizures in the United States? And they wouldn’t give it to us.”
Im said that before retiring in 2022, he couldn’t let the case go, and attempted—through the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies—to pressure Canadian authorities to release a sample. Those efforts also failed.
The DEA viewed the Toronto seizure as a potential inbound threat to Americans on multiple levels. According to DEA estimates, as little as 20 micrograms of carfentanil can be fatal to humans. At that potency, one kilogram of carfentanil could yield well over 10 million lethal doses. The 42 kilograms of confirmed carfentanil seized from the Pickering home—linked to Pakistani crime networks—could, in theory, be potent enough to deliver lethal doses to the entire populations of Canada and the United States.
“I could see the frustration in the RCMP guy’s face,” Im said, referring to the Canadian official he directly asked to share samples from the Pickering seizure. “I mean, there was this one guy—he was really good and he did everything he could to get us some stuff, but no—headquarters would not let him release anything,” Im recalled. “And I was told by RCMP officials—not just once, but on a number of occasions—they are frustrated at their headquarters.”
The Bureau confirmed with a current senior U.S. official, with knowledge of discussions involving Public Safety Canada and senior RCMP leaders, that American investigators have allegedly been repeatedly stonewalled on requests for information from the RCMP on fentanyl investigations, so-called ‘superlabs,’ and cross-province distribution networks in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec—cases in which DEA intelligence reportedly led to Canadian investigations.
Senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge of precursor tracking said the chemical compounds, dyes, and containment gear found at the scene in Pickering almost certainly originated in China, where state-tolerated chemical firms supply global narco-networks.
In a lengthy interview, Im—who has testified before Congress on Beijing’s role in global narcotics trafficking and traced fentanyl networks back to Chinese Communist Party officials—said the Toronto carfentanil case and its link to the Danforth shooting expose a growing national security blind spot in Canada, with direct implications for the United States.
He placed the 2017 seizure at the center of escalating U.S. concerns about Canada’s role in the fentanyl supply chain, declining enforcement standards, and Ottawa’s political resistance to RCMP cooperation with American law enforcement.
To date, most Canadian media have largely portrayed the shooter and his family as victims of personal tragedy. Faisal Hussain, the 29-year-old gunman, was said to have suffered from psychosis after his brother’s drug overdose left him in a vegetative state. In September 2017—while Fahad Hussain was in a coma—fire crews responded to a carbon monoxide alarm at the Pickering home and alerted police to a suspicious substance in the basement. Durham Regional Police executed a search warrant, uncovering 33 illegal overcapacity firearms magazines and 53 kilograms of seized material—including 42 kilograms of confirmed carfentanil—the largest known seizure of the drug in Canadian history.
The home’s owner, Pakistani immigrant Maisum Ansari, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of 33 firearms and 26 kilograms of carfentanil for the purpose of trafficking. He was released on bail in September 2023 pending appeal. The ruling that freed Ansari stated: “The Crown’s theory at trial was that the appellant was not necessarily the mastermind behind the criminal enterprise, but he was a ‘necessary cog in a larger operation.’”
Speaking about the Faisal Hussain shooting case, Liberal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale publicly stated there was “no national security connection between this individual and any other national security issue.”
ISIS claimed responsibility for the Danforth shooting through its AMAQ news agency, describing Hussain as “a soldier of the Islamic State.” Canadian law enforcement dismissed the claim, and then–Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said no evidence supported it. But Im said the DEA remained concerned.
“Not only did we assume there were links to China, but then we found links back to Pakistan. And I can’t disclose exactly what, but it’s bad,” Im said. “And we were thinking: is this going to be a potential terrorist act? This is where we believed the RCMP didn’t want anything like that to be disclosed—that there was a potential ISIS sympathizer attempting to use carfentanil as a weapon of mass destruction, as opposed to just killing somebody with a pistol.”
In wide-ranging answers that will inform a forthcoming series from The Bureau on Canada’s role in China’s global fentanyl supply networks, Im reiterated that certain details remain classified. However, he said The Bureau’s reporting has already touched on many of the key issues that senior U.S. officials believe the North American public must understand—especially regarding the intersection of narcotics, national security, and foreign interference from hostile states.
Asked to elaborate on the DEA’s view of the Hussain case and its links to Pakistan, Im said:
“Terror networks. It was indirect links, but we needed to follow through with it. We found links to him—and then back to Pakistan.”
Pressing the point, The Bureau asked: “You’re saying what you can share is limited, but there was something that concerned you there in Pakistan?”
“Yes, indirectly, and I won’t say anything further,” Im responded.
Despite escalating efforts through intelligence and defense channels, Im said Canada remained uncooperative.
“We were asking: How does a Pakistani Canadian have all this amount of carfentanil? And it was a staggering amount,” Im said.
What also went unreported, Im noted, was that the brother had overdosed after handling a large quantity of carfentanil—alongside food dyes and chemical-handling gear that suggested commercial production or distribution.
The DEA believed the setup bore the hallmarks of mass trafficking operations or, in a more alarming scenario, possible preparation for a terror-related attack.
“The local police gave us photos and we found food dye coloring. And we were like, what is he doing with this? We think he was trying to market the product to youth with different color variants, but he wasn’t able to do it.”
“So that’s why we were trying to, one, trace the source of the carfentanil and the chemicals, the food dye coloring. And then, was he communicating with anyone in the name of ISIS?”
“But who actually supplied it to him, and how did he get it? It’s got to come from China. But the RCMP wouldn’t give us anything. We couldn’t even get samples to analyze. This was one of my key priorities in 2018 and 2019. They wouldn’t give it to our lab. We just needed a small amount to determine the molecular structure—whether we could trace it or link it to seizures in the States.”
Im also tied the DEA’s blocked Danforth probe to broader concerns about carfentanil exports from Canada. “DEA Georgia, Atlanta had been investigating carfentanil overdoses, and guess who the supplier was? A Canadian named Arden McCann. He had been selling carfentanil through the dark web, and we were wondering—the Mexicans aren’t selling carfentanil, but we’re seeing it coming out of Canada,” Im said.
A current senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of bilateral tensions confirmed that many of Im’s concerns reflect long-standing frustrations. The official said American authorities believe Canada has consistently downplayed cartel infiltration—an issue that escalated after the Trudeau government lifted visa requirements for Mexican nationals.
The official also pointed to Canada’s expanding role in the poly-drug trade—dominated by Chinese organized crime—including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and illicit cannabis. Since the 2018 legalization of recreational marijuana, Canadian supply chains that appear “legal” on paper have increasingly fueled the U.S. black market, the official said.
Once across the border, those shipments merge with synthetic drug flows fueled by Chinese precursors. The resulting profits are laundered through vast trade-based networks controlled by Chinese organized crime groups. These networks operate in tandem with underground banking systems in the Middle East and move money for Latin American cartels, Italian mafias, and other transnational syndicates.
Tensions between the RCMP and U.S. agencies have deepened in recent years. One emblematic episode, according to a U.S. source, came when the Canada Border Services Agency publicly acknowledged that Canada was a fentanyl exporter. The RCMP contradicted the statement, and the admission was quietly withdrawn. “We’re just saying, give us something honest to work with,” a U.S. official said.
As of 2025, the mistrust remains unresolved. The official pointed to recent RCMP claims that none of the fentanyl seized in a series of Vancouver-area lab busts was destined for the United States. “We asked how they knew that,” the official said. “They won’t share the evidence.”
It’s the same pattern Washington has grown increasingly frustrated with—mirroring what Don Im described facing during the carfentanil investigation. In fact, intelligence on fentanyl labs has largely flowed in one direction: from the DEA to Canadian authorities.
Im emphasized that frontline RCMP officers are not to blame. “They’re more than capable,” he said. “But they are politically hamstrung in their ability to share and coordinate. That’s coming from headquarters.”
Looking ahead, Im warned that Canada’s continued resistance to serious fentanyl cooperation could carry long-term economic consequences. “If Mark Carney wants to stay in power, this is where Trump can come in and say: start coordinating with us on the Chinese—or the tariffs stay,” he said.
Im, who has testified before Congress on China’s role in the fentanyl crisis and helped write the groundbreaking 2024 Congressional report on the CCP’s involvement in supporting and subsidizing precursor chemicals, said endemic corruption in China’s provinces has allowed chemical producers to flood North America with precursors. The report found fentanyl being produced in some Chinese prisons, and some CCP officials holding so-called “golden shares” in precursor companies. He identified Canada as a critical conduit in that global system—serving both as a staging ground for drug production and a platform for laundering the proceeds.
“There is insufficient cooperation from Canada on fentanyl, Chinese organized crime, and money laundering with the United States,” Im said.
Im said he is speaking boldly now because lives are being lost across North America, and the political and judicial response so far has been woefully inadequate—in the United States, but especially so in Canada.
“I see it on the global scale here, including the United States, and it’s frustrating because now we’re slowly seeing U.S. government officials discussing Canada. And I’ve been saying all along that there’s an extensive amount of fentanyl and carfentanil that have been coming from Canada for years. And just because there’s only been a few seized does not mean that there’s not a significant amount,” he said.
“And I’ve worked with the RCMP for years, and they’re great until they’re influenced by the Chinese. It was just overwhelming. And we just couldn’t get anything out of RCMP anymore because their headquarters were restricted in providing what we needed. So I mean, they’d give us low-hanging fruit information, but when it came to money and Chinese and fentanyl and chemicals, they were like, ‘No.’ We tried but couldn’t get that information.”
Coming Up: Subscribe to The Bureau for exclusive, paywalled investigations that delve into the intelligence and evidence shaping U.S.–Canada relations. Our upcoming reports expose the rise of Canadian super-labs, Beijing’s United Front Work Department, the covert use of cross-border properties, and growing threats to national security—and lives—across North America. These stories are poised to influence high-level tariff negotiations between Washington and Ottawa.
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2025 Federal Election
Nine Dead After SUV Plows Into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Raising Election-Eve Concerns Over Public Safety

Sam Cooper
In Vancouver, concern about public safety — particularly assaults and violent incidents involving suspects previously known to police — has been a longstanding civic and political flashpoint
In an evolving mass-death investigation that could have profound psychological and emotional impacts on Canada’s federal election, Vancouver police confirmed Sunday that nine people were killed Saturday night when a young man plowed a luxury SUV through a festival block party in South Vancouver, leaving a trail of instant deaths and horrific injuries, with witnesses describing convulsing bodies and wounded toddlers in the aftermath.
The driver, a 30-year-old Vancouver resident known to police, appeared to be shaken and apologetic, according to eyewitness accounts and video from the scene. Authorities stated the case is not being treated as terrorism.
Late Saturday night, Vancouver police confirmed at a news conference that the man, who was known to police “in certain circumstances,” had been arrested.
The incident occurred around 8:14 p.m. during the annual Lapu Lapu Festival, a celebration of Filipino Canadian culture held near East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street. Thousands of attendees had packed the area for cultural performances, food stalls, and community events when the luxury SUV entered the closed-off area and accelerated into the crowd. Photos of the vehicle, with its doors ajar and a crumpled front end, indicate it was an Audi Q7 with black tinted windows.
In Vancouver, concern about public safety — particularly assaults and violent incidents involving suspects previously known to police — has been a longstanding civic and political flashpoint. Saturday’s tragedy sharpened those anxieties, potentially influencing the attitudes of undecided voters in a federal election that has focused on social disorder and crime framed by the Conservative side, with the Liberal frontrunners countering that firmer sentencing laws would undermine Canada’s Charter of Rights.
Witnesses to Saturday’s tragedy described scenes of chaos and terror as the SUV slammed into festival-goers, accelerating through the crowd.
“I thought it was fireworks at first — the sounds, the screams — then I saw people flying,” one witness told reporters on the scene.
Authorities have launched a full criminal investigation into the suspect’s background, including previous interactions with law enforcement.
The tragedy unfolded during the final, high-stakes weekend of Canada’s federal election campaign, throwing public safety and political leadership into sharp relief.
On Saturday night, before news of the Vancouver incident broke, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted a message on X at about 10 p.m., declaring, “This election comes down to one word. Change. Our Conservative plan will bring home an affordable life and safe streets — For a Change.”
Meanwhile, Liberal leader Mark Carney, campaigning in the Greater Toronto Area, posted at roughly the same time, “Dropped in on dim sum today in Markham. The best part of this campaign has been meeting Canadians in their communities — and hearing how excited they are about our future.”
As the scale of the tragedy became clear, both leaders shifted sharply in tone.
Poilievre posted again around 1 a.m. Sunday, writing, “I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight. My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more.”
Carney, who had posted shortly before midnight that, “We don’t need anger. We need to build,” followed with a direct statement on the Vancouver attack around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, writing, “I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you.”
Online, the tragedy quickly reignited concerns about violent crime, bail, and the rights of offenders — issues that have increasingly polarized Canadian political debate.
In response to Carney’s statement, a comment from an account named Willy Balters reflected the growing anger: “He’ll be out on bail by morning right?”
Another commenter, referencing past political controversies over judicial reform, posted to Carney, “You stood behind a podium and declared murderers’ Charter Rights can’t be violated.”
The raw public sentiment mirrored broader criticisms that Canada’s criminal justice system — and its perceived leniency toward repeat offenders — has failed to keep Canadians safe.
Just days prior, a different incident tapped into similar public anger. B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko posted, “A visitor to Vancouver was brutally attacked by a man only hours after he was released on bail for assaulting police and uttering threats. @Dave_Eby — is this the kind of welcome visitors to FIFA will have to look forward to? BTW, this violent man is out on bail AGAIN!”
That incident continued to draw heated social media on Sunday, with David Jacobs, a well-known conservative-leaning commenter, posting, “A man, while out on bail for assaulting a peace officer, violently assaulted a woman. He’s out on bail again. The Liberals put criminal rights far ahead of victim rights and community safety. Stop the insanity. Vote for change!”
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