VICTORIA — The head of the Canada's police chiefs association says they are guided by "outdated and inadequate" laws that were never designed to take on the current criminal landscape that no longer respects international borders.
Thomas Carrique, president of the Association of Chiefs of Police, says police would have been in a better place to "disrupt" transnational crime, if the federal government had listened to his group in 2001, when it last proposed such changes.
Carrique says "geopolitical instability and social unrest" around the world are driving what he called "a new wave of public safety threats" as Canadian police confront transnational organized crime, extremism, drug trafficking and exploitation through the internet.
He says the current Strong Borders Act legislation proposed by the federal governments gives police many — but not all necessary — tools to confront globalized crime.
The government says the bill would help authorities combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of fentanyl, crack down on money laundering and bolster police response to criminal networks.
Carrique, who's the commissioner of Ontario Provincial Police, says the legislation aligns closely with several resolutions the group has passed during its annual conference being held this week in Victoria, but there are a "number of loopholes" that must be closed to reflect the realities of 21st century crime.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
