‘Rage farming’: Why campaign tough-on-crime claims won’t make Peel safer

Inside a Peel Regional Police tactical garage, Chief Nishan Duraiappah stands before an intimidating display of guns, bullets and drugs.

All the weapons and narcotics were seized as part of Project Sledgehammer, a three-month investigation into a suspected drug trafficking ring involving a mother and her two sons. 

It’s October 2024 and the seizure would contribute to a tripling of the number of illegal firearms seized by Peel Police in just two years. 

It was clear from the layout of the press conference, Peel Police wanted the community to absorb what was covering the tables in front of Chief Duraiappah. Handguns, assault rifles, a shotgun, a hunting rifle with long scope, and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The illicit items were displayed with maximum effect to show residents what the accused criminals were doing to neighbourhoods.

“Each item you see displayed actually symbolizes a potential victim, a community that has been prevented from seeing harm,” Duraiappah said, highlighting the positive, instead of what could have happened. 

He doled out heaps of praise to the officers involved in the bust; the police organizations in York, Waterloo and the RCMP which helped conduct the necessary raids on five locations across the GTA. Finally, he thanked the Peel Police Services Board for ensuring Peel Police get the resources they need to carry out these investigations.

“It highlights that, when we do have the resources, we can actually do some work and put a dent in this.”

Duraiappah is about as political as a chief can be, hired without the usual experience of someone tapped to lead a major police force, thanks to his friend, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown. The Chief is known to attend events with Brown and Conservative provincial officials, including Premier Doug Ford.

Recently, he came under fire after appearing on stage at a campaign-style event ahead of the Ontario election, with Brown, Ford and other PC officials, taking the mic to praise the politicians standing next to him. 

At the press conference for Project Sledgehammer, when the microphone was handed over to the media, one of the first questions was not about the details of the complex investigation, or the dramatic raids that led to the arrests or what more the force is doing to address the rising rates of drug, gun and gang crime in the region. The first question was if the five accused arrested in the raids had been released on bail.

It was disclosed that two of them remained in custody, the other three were released; two following bail hearings, the third on the day of his arrest. 

Taking the microphone, Regional Chair Nando Iannicca who is chair of the Peel Police Board, said he wanted to address the issue of “people who might be on bail for previous crimes”, noting “it’s become a theme and it's of great concern."

Iannicca went on to describe how “the revolving system of justice” was putting citizens and officers in harm's way. He pointed the finger at elected officials.

“Something’s gotta give on that front,” he said.
 

Regional Chair Nando Iannicca speaks during the press conference for Project Sledgehammer, flanked by Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich (left) and Chief Nishan Duraiappah.

(Peel Regional Police/YouTube) 

Last year, claims that bail reform is badly needed became a battle cry for politicians and police officials like Duraiappah who stressed it was a critical factor to improve community safety in the region. 

Peel police, recognizing it as a lightning rod to draw the public’s support, began highlighting in press conferences and media releases each instance when a person arrested for a serious offence was out on bail for a separate charge, to help emphasize the need for immediate bail reform and stricter release conditions. 

The statements published by the police department were quickly scooped up by mainstream media, fueling concern among residents in Brampton and Mississauga. Chief Duraiappah repeatedly referred to the tragic femicide of Darian Henderson-Bellman, murdered by a former intimate partner while he was out on bail with conditions to stay away from her. Her death was also referenced in a letter sent by the Peel Police Services Board to the federal justice minister in April last year, demanding “urgent bail reform”. 

On the day Peel Police officials held their Project Sledgehammer press conference, the Ontario government issued a press release demanding “immediate” bail reform by the federal government, blaming the Liberals in Ottawa for being too soft on crime.

“The federal government’s inaction has made it harder to keep dangerous criminals behind bars. Enough is enough,” Brampton MPP Graham McGregor, then Associate Minister of Auto Theft and Bail Reform, said. His portfolio was created in 2024 in direct response to the growing calls for change coming from Peel. 

Despite all the claims by the chief and Conservative politicians, data show that repeat offenders represent only a small portion of those arrested in Peel. But for Peel Police and their Conservative boosters the issue has become a tool to support an agenda. And it’s been successful.

Duraiappah secured the largest budget increase in the force’s history in 2024, raking in $144 million more in taxpayer funds than the year prior as their bottom line increased 23.3 percent. Combined with the 14 percent budget hike he convinced the board and Peel’s regional councillors to support the year before, about $200 million was added to the Peel Police budget in two years, more than the combined increases over the previous decade, before the chief was hired. 

In 2013, the first full year that former Peel Police chief Jennifer Evans served as the force’s top officer, she earned $228,000. Last year Duraiappah earned $480,000. He has enjoyed salary increases that average well above double digits since he became chief on the recommendation of the Brampton mayor.

During the same period, taxpayers have funded a Peel police budget that went from just over $500 million in 2019, before Duraiappah shaped the process, to about $900 million for 2025. 

Despite increases for policing in Peel that critics have described as “unsustainable” and “dangerous”, bleeding public funds away from the actual causes of crime, federal party leaders campaigning to become the next prime minister have bought into the narrative that voters need to be concerned about crime and the solutions police leaders push to justify more and more funding for them.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre, the two frontrunners, have both made bail reform a critical piece of their crime and safety platform. 

Both are promising stricter sentencing and harsher bail conditions for certain offences like intimate partner violence and human trafficking. Carney is promising more RCMP officers, more funding for police and border services and a “reinvigorated” gun buyback program. 

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is campaigning on a “tough on crime” approach, part of which includes bail reform.

(X)

Poilievre, campaigning on a “jail not bail” agenda, is vowing to introduce a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” law he claims will “keep dangerous criminals behind bars longer and bring home safe streets.” Questions are already being raised about whether such a law is even constitutional. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects every individual's right to “reasonable bail”. He also claims the government will label these individuals as Dangerous Offenders, a designation in Canada typically reserved for the most violent criminals. 

It’s not the only part of his tough on crime platform that raises questions. Poilievre says he will make life sentences mandatory for anyone convicted of five or more counts of human trafficking. Data show the ability of prosecutors to obtain even one human trafficking conviction is incredibly difficult. Since 2012, only 10 percent of 1,184 cases involving approximately 4,000 human trafficking charges, resulted in a guilty finding. The vast majority, 84 percent, were either stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged. Human trafficking advocates who have spoken to The Pointer have said, as an anti-human trafficking measure, Poilievre’s proposal is effectively useless. His desire to hand out life sentences for a range of crimes has also been challenged by constitutional experts.

TOP: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a campaign event in Brampton earlier this week. BOTTOM: He promised Bramptonians on social media he would address their concerns about the bail system.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

The Conservative leader has also latched onto U.S. President Donald Trump’s false narrative about the supposed flow of fentanyl from Canada into the United States. Poilievre has promised to enact life sentences for “fentanyl kingpins”. Again, questions of constitutionality are already being raised about this proposal. Benjamin Perrin, a professor at UBC law school and former in-house legal counsel and lead public safety advisor to prime minister Stephen Harper, recently wrote that the “war on drugs” style announcement from Poilievre would be unconstitutional and ineffective to deal with the opioid crisis.

“Mr. Poilievre seems more interested in sloganeering and rage farming, rather than following the best available evidence and constitutional law,” Perrin wrote. 

But the strongly worded promises by the Conservative leader check all the boxes for residents who, after a year of being told by police leaders in Peel about solutions to worrying crime trends, are demanding change. 

A town hall in north Brampton, a neighbourhood which experienced a number of break and enters and shootings last year, including one that left an innocent bystander paralyzed, saw residents demanding changes to the bail system and stricter sentences for those found guilty of violent crimes after senior Peel police officers at the event had pushed for such reforms.

Mike Dwyer, a Brampton resident, spoke to The Pointer at the January public meeting and said he felt a flaw in the legal system is allowing repeat offenders to commit crimes again and again.

"They need to be put away in jail, and they need to be there for a long time,” he said. “They don't deserve to come out…The local leaders got to speak for the people. They've got to put huge pressure on the provincial and more on the federal government to change the laws.”

There is no evidence to suggest that tougher bail laws will make communities safer. 

According to Shakir Rahim, the Director of Criminal Justice for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the connection between bail reform and increased public safety being pushed by police officials and some politicians is a fallacy held by many members of the public who are understandably looking for answers following violent crimes in their neighbourhood.

As much as Poilievre wants to claim the bail system is too lenient, data show the opposite. 

“We are at a record level of people in provincial and territorial prisons in Canada who have been denied bail,” Rahim tells The Pointer. 

The number of accused individuals remanded into custody while awaiting trial has been consistently increasing in Canadian jails for decades. Between 1989 and 1999, the number increased 45 percent. In 2023, it reached the point where 73 percent of people held in correctional facilities were those waiting for trial—meaning they had yet to be convicted of what they were charged with. The number is now approaching 80 percent.

Data from 2023 show 73 percent of people held in custody in Canada are remanded awaiting trial, meaning they had been denied bail. It’s a number that has been steadily rising in Canada for years.

(Statistics Canada) 

Rahim says it is easier for politicians to throw out slogans like being tougher on crime, or pointing the finger at the false narrative that bail is too lenient in Canada, instead of taking a step back to think about the complex work that needs to be done—and how governments have failed to do it for years.

This does a disservice to communities across the country looking for answers. 

“We think it’s wrong when people are sold a bill of goods that’s not going to work, and that’s what is happening now,” Rahim said. “People are being told that here’s the answer to all your problems, here’s the answer to the headlines, but we know that is not going to lead to the outcomes that are being promised.”

There are flaws in Canada’s existing bail system, Rahim says, including a lack of funding for overburdened courthouses across the country. Legal aid organizations also need more resources so accused persons can get representation faster and speed up their movement through the justice system. 

Funding has to increase for programs that assist people who are out on bail to ensure they are not forced, or placed in a position where it is likely they will violate the conditions of their parole. 

A CCLA report on Canada’s bail system released last year noted “people continue to be released with an array of conditions that may be difficult or impossible for them to comply with.” 

“Our interviews suggest that there is greater recognition… that it is inappropriate to subject people with substance use issues to abstinence conditions. But bail conditions still make life difficult, especially for people whose lives are already unpredictable and challenging. Residency requirements, curfews, check-in conditions, and no-contact conditions are routinely imposed on people who lack stable housing or adequate community supports.”

There are proven programs to help alleviate these problems, and keep people from getting stuck in a cycle that sees them before the courts time and time again. 

Bail verification and supervision programs support those accused individuals who may not have a strong safety net or links in the community, allowing them to be supported by an agency or case worker who can help coordinate their needs and compliance with the conditions of their bail. There are also bail bed programs for homeless individuals—who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system—which ensure they have somewhere to sleep and get support while out on bail. 

“We know that these interventions work, there are studies about them, but regrettably there has not been any meaningful increase in funding to these evidenced-based programs that can improve compliance while people are out on bail,” Rahim says. 

While Carney and Poilievre duel over who is tougher on crime, neither of them are talking about solutions like these. Neither are local officials in Peel, provincial representatives, or Chief Duraiappah, who has a strong voice to advocate for such programs if he chose to use it.

Instead, stakeholders have criticized the chief for forcing through $200 million in budget increases for Peel Police over two years, money that can’t be used for a range of upstream solutions proven to work. 

They also aren’t talking about the broader issue that fuels crime in communities like Peel: a social safety net that is not strong enough to support its residents, or provide the diverse services they require, especially for Peel’s large newcomer and immigrant populations, to remain safe, housed and fed. It’s known that funding for upstream programs and initiatives—for youth and adults—results in reduction in crime to a much higher degree than investments into more police and the application of stricter sentencing.

Not only does an analysis of PRP’s solvency rates for all types of crime in Brampton and Mississauga show that while the force has received dramatically more money and more officers every year since 2019, its ability to solve crimes has diminished, numerous studies have proven that those dollars are better spent elsewhere. For example, in Peel’s dramatically underfunded housing programs; or its foodbanks, or the variety of service providers working to assist survivors of intimate partner violence or human trafficking, or pouring those dollars into reducing the more than 700 days youth in Peel have to wait for a mental health counsellor. 

“Every election season candidates trip over themselves to appear tough on crime while avoiding what research indicates—crime is a social problem with root causes tied directly to addressing the social issues that underlie,” David Bosveld, a prominent advocate for Peel’s Black communities, tells The Pointer. 

“We are in a constant cycle of investing in policing and carceral solutions. Meanwhile community organizations, social service providers, housing, healthcare, employment supports, mental health and health care supports are woefully underfunded.”

The details of any programming to address the underfunding of these critical services are largely lacking from both the Liberals and the CPC campaign messaging to date.

Poilievre has vowed to fund addiction treatment beds for 50,000 Canadians. But he has failed to explain how this aligns with his plan to halt any new licenses for safe consumption sites—which he calls “drug dens”—until “evidence justifies they support recovery”. 

There is ample evidence that shows safe consumption sites provide life saving care to those who use drugs, helping them connect with addiction treatment services when they are ready to stop using. Poilievre, however, prefers to use tough-on-crime slogans to whip up support, rather than propose proven solutions that confront root causes of crime and chronic under-funding of our court system.

The Pointer reached out to candidates in Brampton from all three major parties about bail reform and how they plan to ensure adequate funding for upstream solutions to address Peel’s diverse social sector needs. 

Brampton North-Caledon Liberal candidate Ruby Sahota, the only one to respond to The Pointer’s request, said the blame for the problems in the bail system rests with the provincial government. 

"My concern is that we have seen people who repeat offend and who could pose a threat to society, and for some reason, provincial courts are letting them out,” she said. “Why are the provincial courts letting them out? They have the discretion to keep them behind bars, but they keep repeating this thing and fail."

Sahota also criticized crown prosecutors for leaving the room open for offenders by not providing sufficient evidence in the general bail hearings.

"I'm not saying the system is broken or anything. I think the system is there. It's functioning for very serious issues, but there are a lot of these property issues that have become violent, where, I think, traditionally, the courts have felt very lenient about these issues."

She also addressed Peel’s upstream needs, pointing to recent announcements by Carney around funding for youth programs. 

"We have made many funding announcements around supporting local agencies to make sure that there's youth programs and a lot of support for different community groups so that we can prevent and deter people from or prevent people from even getting into crime," she said, before reiterating that much of the responsibility for addressing these issues rests with the provincial government. 

Carney is promising a new Building Safer Communities Fund geared to “prioritizing approaches to steer youth away from criminal activity” and Indigenous-led community safety priorities. No dollar figure has been attached to the fund.

Rahim with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association says he’s seen this type of finger-pointing before. 

“You have the provincial governments pointing their finger at the federal government saying ‘they're not creating tough enough laws’.You have the federal government pointing their finger at the provinces and territories saying ‘it’s your job to administer the criminal justice system’. You have the police pointing at the justices saying, ‘oh no they’re the ones that are letting people out. So everybody is in a bit of a blame game.”

Both the federal and provincial government have conducted studies on bail reform, and have recommendations for how the system should be fixed. But little gets done.

Even the Liberal government’s most recent attempt at bail reform, Bill C-48, passed in 2023, was questioned by critics and advocates. The Bill passed unanimously in the House of Commons, but then skipped the committee hearing process which would have allowed for further consultation and refinement alongside advocates and experts. Rahim says it led to shortcomings in the legislation that was eventually passed. 

“It takes governments having to look at themselves very critically and acknowledge that there has been this multi-year failure,” he states. 

Instead, voters are being left with sound bites and empty pronouncements for how elected leaders will address serious issues plaguing their communities. In Peel, real solutions to serious issues like spikes in gun violence and intimate partner violence are being overshadowed by an ongoing discussion about bail reform that will do little to fix the issues. 

Eventually, things will reach a breaking point.

“Just locking everybody up forever is not going to happen, it’s just completely unfeasible..We can make bail more difficult to obtain, in a hypothetical world, but people are in our criminal justice system, even those who are convicted…they will eventually be released,” Rahim says.

When that happens, depending on how long that person has been held in custody, even if they are found innocent, or their charge is dropped, there could be a new burden for the social service to deal with. 

Ontario jails are notoriously overcrowded and locked down, which can force already vulnerable individuals into an unstable environment.

“If you take somebody who may have had problems in their childhood, may have problems right now in their adulthood, needs different kinds of supports, needs to be reintroduced to a pro-social environment, gainful employment, community links, and you put them somewhere where they are locked down 22 hours a day, where they don’t have medical care, where they are strip searched and manhandled and all these things, and then you release them, they are not going to be in a better position than they were before.”

For Canada’s federal party leaders, none of this seems to matter. 

“The challenge is that a lot of the criminal justice stakeholders have not sat down together to take an evidenced-based look at what the solutions are to the problem,” Rahim adds, noting that the misinformed view that bail reform will result in less crime is also held by many of the politicians tasked with making important policy decisions.

“It goes right up to the top,” he says.“Even key decision makers are surprised when we’ve done some of our advocacy.”

Without candidates offering clear, fact-based policy proposals for voters, it leaves community members at a loss to find answers, Bosveld says.

Only voters can hold politicians accountable for their decisions, including promoting misleading information for political gain.

“My hope is that voters can access information from reliable news organizations to help make determinations about important issues such as these,” he says.

“Unfortunately, our democracy doesn’t work without a strong local media and over the years the Canadian media landscape has been decimated due to lack of investment. That gap is filled by social media, podcasters and also by police services who have an abundance of funding to hire ‘media officers’ and create their own narratives and spin which is an incredible disservice to the public.”

- With files from Muhammad Hamza

The Pointer's 2025 federal election coverage is partly supported by the Covering Canada: Election 2025 Fund. 

Email: [email protected]

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