In the past 12 months, courts across Ontario have withdrawn or stayed 85 per cent of drug possession charges in the system before they ever reached trial, according to public data analyzed by CBC Toronto.
By comparison, 45 per cent of such charges were dropped in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
The data — which spans July 2020 to June 2021 — reveals inconsistent patterns in various regions across Ontario in how prosecutors have dealt with a backlog of cases caused by COVID-19 disruptions, while Canada’s politicians move closer toward decriminalization.
It also comes a year after a 2020 directive, asking federal Crowns to avoid prosecuting drug possession charges.
Gun violence is up I wonder if there’s a link? Fact check: is gun violence rising in Canada?
… Criminal gun violence has risen in Canada — and by a fairly significant margin, according to Statistics Canada.
From 2009 to 2019 criminal use of firearms increased 81 per cent, the agency reported. 2019 saw a nine per cent increase over the previous year.
This includes not just discharging a firearm, but also pointing it — for example, as part of a bank robbery.
And the COVID-19 pandemic did not do much of anything to reverse the trend.
