The bill proposing sweeping changes to the province’s justice and policing system is now at committee in the legislature, just a few short steps away from becoming law.
Bill 102, or the Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, has been touted by the Ontario government as a way to “clear the path for more people to consider a career in policing, strengthen protections for animals and increase access to the courts.”
“We need more officers on our streets, more boots on the ground,” Premier Doug Ford said during an April 25, 2023 press conference at the Ontario Police College (OPC), using the war time analogy for what he described as a “growing tide of crime in our communities.”