New Brunswick public safety minister, top RCMP officer address rising crime
New Brunswick public safety minister, top RCMP officer address rising crime
New Brunswick’s minister of public safety and the province’s top RCMP officer made a rare joint appearance Thursday to address rising crime.
The crime rate in the province has seen a 26 per cent increase over the past five years, according to Statistics Canada.
The numbers also show that the province’s Crime Severity Index has been the highest among the Atlantic provinces for the last five years and is 20 per cent higher than the national rate.
Kris Austin, New Brunswick’s public safety minister, says government is aware of the rise in crime.
“This police-reported data supports what I’ve been hearing from New Brunswickers and what law enforcement agencies are reporting and saying to us,” said Austin.
The news conference saw the release of provincial crime statistics from police agencies in the province from April 2021 to 2022.
During that time, police across the province made 159 drug seizures, seized about $808,000 in cash, 311 weapons and made 328 arrests related to drug crime.
The province also outlined how it spent $7.6 million since April 2021 to reduce crime. This includes:
$2.3 million in 2021-22 for the RCMP to start Provincial Crime Reduction Units which focus on high-level drug crime
$2 million in 2021-22 in the Safer Communities Programs, which includes the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) program, and enforcement efforts targeting contraband tobacco and cannabis
$3.3 million this year to create Integrated Drug Enforcement Units. These units include police officers and peace officers from the Department of Justice and Public Safety and focus on street-level and mid-level drug crime
Austin says specialized crime reduction units are making an impact and that incoming legislation to curb the theft of copper and catalytic converters will help too.
In June, residents of McAdam, N.B., held a public meeting about local crime and RCMP coverage around the village.
Mayor Kevin Stannix says there has been some improvement since.
“We did get some extra coverage in the midnight hours, which made quite a difference in criminal activity,” said Stannix.
“Prior to that, between midnight and 8 a.m., we didn’t really have any RCMP or police coverage in the community.”
Assistant Commissioner Deanna Hill, the New Brunswick RCMP’s commanding officer, said a lack of coverage is a common complaint of RCMP policing.
“Wherever I go, I never hear dissatisfaction with the RCMP, our membership, or service,” said Hill. “It’s mostly that there’s not enough of us. They want to see more of us.”
Stannix says the village’s own decision to add cameras in the area has been effective too.
“Once people get the idea that they’re being watched and they’ll be punished if they commit crimes, that tends to lessen crime in those particular areas,” said Stannix.
While talking about the crime numbers, Austin once again defended the provincial government’s decision to build a new jail in the Fredericton region.
“In relation to the increase in the work these officers are doing, yes, it will inevitably result in an increase in inmates. So, that’s the importance of the jail,” said Austin.
Initially tagged to cost $32 million, Austin says the jail’s final price tag is still being worked out.
A senior government official says a Canadian military assessment team is on its way to Turkiye in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
Many Canadians are experiencing strains caused by the increased cost of living and inflation. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the top credits and deductions that you may be able to claim on your income tax return to help you save money.
The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show, and emerging reports from Memphis residents suggest that was common.
In a first for the Bank of Canada, it has released a summary of deliberations by its governing council regarding its policy decision to raise its key interest rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 per cent in January. Here are five key takeaways from those discussions.
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
The way respiratory viruses have circulated this fall and winter, most Canadians could probably benefit from a hand-hygiene refresher. Here are the latest hand-washing best practices to apply in your daily life.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
An Ontario lawyer who filed a $229-million lawsuit against his former “sugar baby” for alleged fraud had his case dismissed after the court found he'd become "obsessed" with the young woman when she attempted to end their arrangement.
An Ontario grocery chain said they are seeing an “unprecedented” surge in customers after a recent TikTok revealing the company’s low food prices went viral.
The Calgary Police Service asked residents of a northwest neighbourhood to shelter in their homes as officers responded to a situation Wednesday morning involving a firearm.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
Justin Trudeau has thrown in the towel in the fight to maintain the federal role as gatekeeper of a public, universal, accessible and fair health-care system in Canada, writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca. 'That could have tragic consequences for folks on the lower rungs of the social and economic ladder.'
Animal welfare advocates are urging pet owners to spay and neuter their pets after two kittens were found abandoned in a child's backpack in the St. Albert area last week.
A grieving family in Noelville, Ont., is reeling after a judge dismissed a trial connected to a 2019 workplace fatality involving a close family member.
The wait is over for ticketholders in the latest Canadian Hard of Hearing Association's Ultimate Dream Home Draw as Pure Country Sudbury morning show hosts pulled the names of the prize winners Wednesday afternoon.
Former London, Ont. high school teacher Dustin Epp, 48, was supposed to appear for his sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon, but the matter has been delayed until next week due to health-related concerns and to give Epp more time to prepare his legal defence.
A 20-year-old driver from London, Ont. is temporarily without a licence after OPP stopped them for allegedly driving 145 km/h in a 60 km/h zone on Tuesday night.
A thief was siphoning fuel from trucks on York Street in London before a massive fire broke out in a storage yard. U-Haul told CTV News London an explosion occurred at 745 York St. around 1 a.m. Hours later, a photographer from the London Police Service Forensics Division was on scene taking photos of charred vehicles.
The federal government is putting up $500,000 for a feasibility study into a potential search for the remains of two Indigenous women at a Winnipeg-area landfill.
An annual $5 payment to members of seven First Nations has remained the same for more than 150 years, but one man is hoping to change that. Zongidaya Nelson is suing the federal government for 11 billion dollars on the behalf of his Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, and the six other First Nations in Manitoba that signed Treaty 1 in 1871.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
A Saskatoon couple is left feeling powerless to help their family and friends dig out of the rubble following the two major earthquakes in Turkiye on Monday.
Saskatoon's Ward 3 city councillor David Kirton decided to cancel his “Coffee with the Councillor” event scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Confederation Mall because of what he calls threatening phone calls and emails which became a “cause for concern”.
There are more signs that tensions are high in British Columbia’s health authorities as an outspoken doctor on Vancouver Island has faced professional repercussions and nearly all the critical care doctors at a northern hospital have resigned.
Crews are scheduled to begin upgrade work on Vancouver's Granville Bridge next week, but officials are promising the impacts on traffic will be minimal.
The latest B.C. Labour Market Outlook forecasts employment in the province will reach 3.1 million jobs by 2032 – half a million more than there were last year.
In a police interview that occurred shortly after the death of a three-month-old Regina baby, the boy's father, Catlin Goodwill, denied wrongdoing. Video of the interview was played during Goodwill's manslaughter trial, bringing many in the courtroom to tears.
Mounties on Vancouver Island say they were in "disbelief" when they saw a senior driving more than 100 km/h through a school zone in Qualicum Beach, B.C.
Charges have now been laid against a tug and barge company and one of its senior officials two years after a tug sank off British Columbia's coast south of Kitimat, killing the captain and one crew member.
