Police Officer of the Year Award – Toronto Police

Remarks by
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety

June 14, 2007
As delivered

Ladies and gentlemen, it's an honour for me to be here among some of Toronto's best.

Let me say that the first responsibility of any level of government is the safety and the security of its citizens. That's an easy thing to say, but another thing altogether to be able to deliver.

We face many challenges daily in the federal government. We take the challenge of addressing the needs and the demands of municipalities and provinces, and providing safety and security to all Canadians, very seriously. In doing your job to help us meet that challenge, we want you to know that we are behind you.

We talk about two approaches: "the long arm of the law" and "the open arms of the community." On the enforcement side, we've followed through with our commitment to begin filling 1,000 RCMP positions. We've also allocated $37 million to expand the RCMP's National Training Academy to accommodate new officers.

At the municipal level, we've made a commitment that there should be 2500 more municipal police officers across the country.

We know there are still areas where crime is on the rise. That needs our attention. Certainly, when it comes to violent crimes such as homicide, attempted murder, aggravated assault and robbery, and among very specific age categories — such as 15- to 24-year-old males — we see these numbers rising. A lot of crime simply goes unreported.

Looking at those numbers, I want to talk to you about some of the areas in which we are investing.

Currently, in Canada, there are about 24,000 people in our federal corrections system. Of those clients, about 13,000 individuals are actually in prisons while the rest are in a variety of situations being integrated back into the community.

In Canada, we have a goal to reduce crime. It's achievable, but there are many challenges. That's why we've worked with provinces and municipalities to try and identify some of the key challenges.

Through Budget 2007, we committed an additional $6 million per year to combat the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. Here, we're talking about the computerized program where people are working in a very diligent way to deal with the insidious crime of predators, primarily on the Internet, who exploit children.

I can remember the day very clearly, about four years ago, when a Toronto police delegation came to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and presented to the various caucuses. One of the areas that they talked about, and for which they needed help, was on the issue of child exploitation. They said that at the time they had seized, in one year alone, about two million photo exhibits.

Another issue they brought to the attention of the Government of Canada was raising the age of consent between a minor and an adult. We've put that legislation forward. We have introduced Age of Consent legislation to better protect youth against sexual exploitation by adult predators.

We also understand the need for help when it comes to organized crime. Counterfeiting is a real problem.

I recently announced that we have Integrated Counterfeit Enforcement Teams, or ICETS, targeting Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In Toronto alone, about 85,000 counterfeit bills were either passed or seized. This is a clear problem.

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime and that's why we've made a commitment of working together because no level of government, and no one particular force can always have all the answers.

To this end, we've also put together what we call "integrated marketing enforcement teams" to deal with white-collar crimes, such as identity theft or other types of crime on the Internet.

These are some areas from "the long arm of the law" side. Then there's "the open arms of the community."

We've just announced $64 million to go into an Anti-drug Strategy, again to be shared with primarily larger cities like yours. About one third of that is going to be directed toward combating illicit drugs production, such as the terrible new drugs that are appearing on our streets and that are manufactured with some unfortunate ease. These have devastating effects.

We also have a $10 million research centre that will allow us to examine policing needs and to determine the best approaches to the various areas of crime that you have to deal with every day. Add to that a multi-million dollar program that's reaching out to communities.

We've got very simple criteria for the groups that are applying for that money. We don't think the federal government should be coming into your communities and telling you how to channel that money.

We have a two-word definition that guides the criteria on these programs — "what works." And you know what works and you know what doesn't work. We want to fund local programs that work. That's been happening. We're going to see progress there. We recognize you've got to have the enforcement angle but you've also got to have the prevention approach too.

On the topic of working together, I want to acknowledge the incredible work that's being done here. Chief Blair is here, and Chief, I appreciated your involvement a couple of weeks ago in Ottawa with the Integrated Crime Forum we've put together. We had ministers of justice and ministers of safety and security from across the country and the territories getting together. We looked at issues related to organized crime and some of the more intense needs that we have across the country. It was a great time for input and I can say that the Toronto Chief gave a great presentation and some advice on a couple of areas that I'm pursuing with our Minister of Justice.

You are on the street and on the ground. You know what's happening and you know what's going to be effective. It's that kind of cooperation that helps us make gains in these areas of crime, especially with organized crime.

It was April 4 of this year that a large-scale operation took place across the country from British Columbia through to Ontario and New Brunswick. It was directed at organized crime and motorcycle gang type of activity. Because of cooperation — including the participation of those from right here from Toronto — 169 charges were laid and weapons, drugs and property were seized.

That's where it all adds up. Because we can talk about funding and programs as I have, but without the men and women in uniform who are willing to be there and make it work, it's not going to happen.

That's what we're recognizing tonight – those men and women in uniform who decided to take on an honourable occupation that consistently involves putting yourself in harm's way for the safety and the protection of others. That is a staggering calling, and one which you live up to every single day.

Today we're acknowledging officers here for bravery. I've talked with officers who have received bravery awards and they'll be the first ones to say that it's great they were selected, but they can name dozens of others of their colleagues who could as equally be up here.

That's why ceremonies like today's are so important. Most citizens appreciate what you're doing, but they may not fully understand the impact your work has on your personal lives.

They don't hear about the angst and the worry when a husband or a wife says to their partner that they'll be leaving late that night for something perhaps out of the ordinary, but they can't really share the details of where they're going and what they're about to do.

The bed is empty that night and so is the home. There's one person missing. And for hours they'll wonder how it's going in that operation. They'll probably hear news on the radio before they find out if their family member or loved one is all right. Those are very tense moments. Years of training go into an operation of that magnitude with dynamic entry into so many locations.

We need to remember that every single day of the week, in many smaller ways, operations like that happen. Every time a call comes in, it's not somebody phoning and saying: "Could you send a police officer over so we can tell him or her how much we appreciate their work?" That's not the type of calls you get.

So, on behalf of our Prime Minister and the Government of Canada and of Canadians everywhere, I want to acknowledge how you're there for us, every day, every night, twenty-four seven. Your work is greatly appreciated.

When I was a kid, my brother and I, whenever we would hear the sound of the sirens, would get on our bikes and follow that siren noise to see what was happening. If we were in the car with my dad or mom, we'd say "let's go see what's going on!" And of course they'd tell us wisely that the last thing those police officers needed are kids running around seeing what's going on.

To us, it was a moment of excitement, but for family members of those officers, hearing the sirens is not a moment of excitement. There's that slight grip of the heart, that slight knot in the stomach and they wonder if that's their husband or wife in that car, if that's their mom, their dad, or their loved one.

We appreciate the fact that you're out there every day and you're taking these awards on behalf of thousands of other men and women who are out there with you.

I want to thank you for allowing me to be a part of this.

Thank you.