O Violent Canada

Blood Runs in the Streets of Thee

Blood soaked Canada

Woke Watch Canada is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paying subscriber or making a one-time or recurring donation to show your support.

By James Pew

Almost every day we hear new stories of violent crime in Canada. Many of us are shocked into speechlessness. Violent youth offences, home invasions, arsons and assaults are on the rise. The rate of car jackings in the York Region increased by 523% between the years 2019 and 2924. Home invasions in Canada are now a regular occurrence. Last year, Kiernan Green did some number crunching for The Hub. He found that violent crime had increased by 30% over the last decade. And Livio Di Matteo, of the Fraser Institute found that “while Canadian homicide rates remain lower than in the U.S., the Canadian rate has increased at a higher rate since 2014.” In the blink of an eye Canada went from a safe high trust society to a dangerous low trust society. Everything is upside down.

The swarming attack and murder of 59-year old homeless man Kenneth Lee of Toronto in December of 2022 was a somewhat early indication that something was dreadfully off. Eight girls, ranging in age from 13 to 16 attacked Lee, stabbing him with knives and small scissors multiple times. He later died in hospital. Initially charged with second degree murder, ultimately all eight girls had their charges reduced and were sentenced to probation only. The Mayor at the time, John Tory, referred to the judgment as “deeply disturbing.”

So far this year there have been thirteen cases in which youth offenders were charged with homicide in the Greater Toronto Area. The most recent involves a 12-year old who has been charged with murdering a 62-year old homeless man. He had been on a release order at the time of the murder. He was also accompanied by a 20-year-old man named Isaiah Byers. The two went on a spree of unprovoked violent attacks in downtown Toronto, targeting vulnerable individuals. Five in total were attacked with a hammer.

Frustrated with the city's catch-and-release protocol, the Toronto Police Association recently took to X and asked, “Where are the judges who make these decisions?” And further, in a written statement the TPS pointed out, “Our members are held accountable for the decisions they make and the actions they take. Why isn’t anyone else?”

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) is currently protecting the identities of youth offenders involved in shocking levels of violence across the GTA. On July 17th, a 14-year old boy, described as a black youth, was charged with fatally stabbing a 71-year-old woman, Shahnaz Pestonji, while attempting to rob her in a grocery store parking lot. The youth admitted later on a social media livestream that he “didn’t mean to kill the old lady” and was just trying to steal her car.

On August 16th, 8-year old Jahvai Roy was shot and killed by a stray bullet while at home sleeping in his mothers bed. Many bullets were shot that night by thugs outside the Roy home in North York, but tragically one of them passed through a window of Holly Roy’s bedroom and struck Jahvai. She wrote on Facebook, “My baby was preparing for one of his best friend’s birthday celebration. He was so excited he couldn’t sleep!” A 16-year old boy has been arrested, and two others are still being sought by police on Canada-wide warrants: 17-year old Ibrahim Ibrahim of Toronto, and 18-year old Amarii Lindner of Toronto.

On August 23rd a 16-year-old girl was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after stabbing a woman in her 80s in Scarborough, Ontario. Due to the YCJA, the name of the woman, who is suffering in hospital with life-threatening injuries, was not disclosed by the media. It was reported that the teen and the victim lived in the same residence. The story seems to have vanished. After August 23rd, there are no more media reports.

Maybe it’s because the arrest on August 28th of two 17-year old youths who allegedly shot and killed 19-year Daniel Amalathas of Toronto, distracted away from the poor 80-year old stab victim clinging to life. Amalathas, was found in the washroom of a Scarborough mall, and later pronounced dead on the scene. The two teenagers were charged with second degree murder, and made their first court appearance on August 29th. Due to the YCJA, little is known about the proceedings.

On September 2nd, an 11-year old girl was killed in a suspected arson at a home in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The fire is being investigated as a homicide by York Regional Police. No arrests have yet been made. There were five injured in the fire, all assumed to be members of the same family. A second death occurred on September 3. A 24-year-old woman, identified as Helya Bahari-Kashani, succumbed to her injuries, leaving the remaining three family members still in critical condition.

Yesterday the National Post reported on a story in Edmonton where “Crown prosecutors agreed to a deal in which (a) girl’s accused killer would plead guilty to manslaughter and avoid prosecution for murder.” Who would agree to such conditions for a woman accused of murdering an 8-year old indigenous girl, stuffing the body in a hockey bag and abandoning it in the back of a pickup truck? Who would think that someone guilty of such a heinous act deserves leniency, or a negotiated lesser punishment? What is going on with the people in charge of administering justice? It seems as though they punish the victims and the law-abiding instead of, or at least along with, the law-breakers. Why do we accept this Leftist conception of justice? How can judges and law-makers believe that these dangerous restorative justice practices will restore anything but the will of criminals to commit more crimes?

The Edmonton Police are not happy about this. They “called on provincial officials to annul the deal, threatening to publicly release key details of the case if the plea went ahead.” Many commentators have noted the unprecedented nature of these public statements from Edmonton Police, who are fed up, and apparently, not willing to take it anymore.

Also in Western Canada, Elvis Vukaj, a career criminal wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, was shot by Calgary police after entering a home and firing a weapon. Vukaj had removed his electronic tracker and was out on bail for prior violent charges, including aggravated assault and firearms offenses. What is the point of an electronic tracker if it can be removed by those it is meant to track? Why do we continue to insist that violent people should not be kept in the cages they belong in?

Returning to the GTA. In July, 18 people were charged in violent home invasions and car jackings in the Peel Region (see photo below). According to the Toronto Sun, “Nine charged in Project Warlock are out on bail and six of the accused were already on release orders.” Below is a photo of those who were charged, notice there is not a white face to be found among them.

On August 31st, a 46-year-old father of four was shot and killed in front of his children, during a home invasion in Kleinburg, Vaughan, Ontario. Abdul Aleem Farooqi was an owner of Unique Providers Air Duct Cleaning. He was a much-admired member of the community known for his charity and dedication to family and faith. Reports tell us that at least three armed masked men forcefully entered Farooqui’s home through a rear door. Once inside one of the intruders held a gun to Farooqui’s 4-year old daughter’s head. When he tried to intervene he was shot dead. All of this occurred in the presence of Farooqui’s wife and four children. How are they meant to deal with this scale of tragedy?

Approximately 90 minutes later another home invasion occurred less than a mile away. No one was hurt. No arrests have yet been made and it is unclear whether the two home invasions are connected.

In response, the York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween told us not only that crime numbers were down compared to recent years (they are not), but that we should “just comply” with the desires of home invaders. Apparently, according to those responsible for serving and protecting the public, if we offer violent intruders hospitality while they terrorize our families, no one is likely to get hurt.

Brian Lily did some number crunching for the Toronto Sun, with crime statistics taken from the York Region Police website. According to Lily, “Between 2019 and 2024, carjackings increased by 523%, shoplifting by 296%, auto-thefts are up 133%, arson is up 112%, and assault by 59%...Sexual assaults are up dramatically as are weapons calls and the crime rate overall.”

In addition, violent crimes in 2024 were 13,882, up considerably from 8,837 in 2019. The increase in total crime between these years is 34%. The cause and effect dynamics of the situation is crystal clear. As Lily wrote, “the reason people are considering taking matters into their own hands is that our entire justice system is failing us with increasing crime, lighter sentences, and revolving door bail for repeat violent offenders.”

Another noteworthy home invasion occurred on August 18. This time in Lindsay, Ontario. 41-year old Michael Kyle Breen, who was already wanted by police, broke into the home of 44-year old Jeremy David McDonald at 3:20 A.M. Breen was armed with a crossbow. McDonald defended himself with a knife. Breen was severely injured and needed to be airlifted to hospital. Shockingly, McDonald was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. He is due in court on September 25th.

The story has sparked a nation-wide debate over self-defense rights in Canada. As it stands, unlike the U.S. Castle laws, Canada requires that any use of force in self-defence be proportionate to the threat. Kawartha Police released a statement which read, “individuals have the right to defend themselves and their property. However, these rights are not unlimited in Canada.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford referred to the system as “broken,” telling reporters “this criminal that is wanted by the police, breaks into this guy’s house, this guy gives him a beating, and this guy gets charged. Something is broken.”

Maybe the tragic case that recently occurred in Welland, Ontario will convince readers of the existential problem of violence in Canada. A home invader viciously sexually assaulted a 3-year old girl. 25-year-old Daniel Senecal was identified through neighborhood surveillance footage provided by a witness. Senecal, who is a registered child sex offender, faces five charges including aggravated sexual assault on a person under 16. It seems to me, that it could quite possibly be the easiest thing in the world to prevent someone who has already sexually assaulted children from doing it again. We only need the will and determination. There are many ways this can be achieved, and few people will feel sorry for pedophiles who are permanently removed from society.

While it is true that crimes, including violent crimes, are way up in Canada, things have not been looking good for several years. A pattern seems to regularly play out where some example of terrible violence occurs but after the initial shock, outrage and sadness propagated by a severely limited news cycle, the stories are forgotten. Do any readers remember 34-year old Scarborough man Gars-Ara Kourjakian (a white man) who was shot in the head and killed in front of his 5-year old daughter by Devret Clarke, a black supremacist? This cold blooded violent black-on-white killing occurred in 2022. At the time, no media referred to the murder as a hate crime, and no reports mentioned the races of either man. I have not seen or heard any mention of this story since 2022. For all intents and purposes, it has been forgotten.

What about Vanessa Kurpiewska (a white woman)? On December 22, 2022 the Toronto Star reported that she had been killed on the Toronto subway by an unprovoked attack from a deranged stranger, Neng Jia Jin, a 52 year old Asian man. The media chose not to present this as a hate crime, instead using the more anodyne "random attack.” Three months after this horrific event, Gabriel Magalhães, a 16-year-old high school student, was murdered in another unprovoked random attack on a Toronto bus. He was stabbed in the chest multiple times by 22-year old Jordan O’Brien-Tobin. The judge in the case, concerned that O’Brien, who had almost 200 convictions on his record, would reoffend, sentenced the killer to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years. Too bad a judge didn’t make the call to remove this dangerous man from society after the first one hundred convictions.

Another horrific event that Canadians hear little about took place on September 4, 2022. An indigenous man named Myles Sanderson killed 11 people and injured another 17 in a mass stabbing at 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Some of the victims are believed to have been targeted, while others were randomly attacked. It seems odd to me that one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history would be so quickly forgotten. That this and many other awful stories of Canadian violence seem to disappear so fast from our collective memory must, at least in part, explain why it is taking so long for bail and criminal reforms to happen in Canada. It’s like we simply don’t want to deal with the awfulness of it all. So we sweep the violence under the carpet, and tell ourselves each horrific story is a freak one-off tragedy, even as the incidences of them increase at an alarming rate.

An article like this one presents a unique challenge. For every victim of violence highlighted above, there are dozens more not mentioned. How does a writer decide which tragedies to profile? Are some victims more deserving of attention than others? Absolutely not. It is a stark and disturbing reality that once peaceful Canada now has so much violence, it's near impossible for one writer to keep track of it all. Clearly, bail reform is the first step to fixing this. Citizens of Canada, if they want a return to safety and sanity, will need to apply maximum pressure on their political leaders. We must demand that violent repeat offenders be jailed without bail.

---

Thanks for reading. For more from this author, read God Should Not Offend

Follow Woke Watch Canada on X - @WokeWatchCanada

Or, by contributing to our Donor Box: