All Victims Deserve Protection

By Dale Jodoin Columnist                                               Compassion must protect victims, too. Over coffee, we talk about helping people who have lost everything. We should. A lost job, illness, or rent increase can leave someone without a home. Nobody deserves to be treated as worthless because they sleep outside. But when did compassion become a reason to leave other people defenceless? The person sleeping in a tent deserves safety. So does the shopkeeper, the employee walking home, and the family worried about someone breaking into their house. We cannot judge every homeless person by the criminal element operating among them. Edmonton police have described gangs embedded in encampments, selling drugs and using fear and extortion for profit. People without homes need protection from these criminals, too. This crosses borders. American prosecutors have alleged that Los Angeles gang members used tents to blend into the homeless population while dealing drugs. In Seattle, a man was sentenced for his role in a trafficking organization selling narcotics in homeless encampments. These examples show why we must separate people needing help from people exploiting their hardship. Downtown businesses need protection as well. A little store may represent someone's savings, a second mortgage, and years of work. Behind that counter is a person trying to pay bills and keep employees working. A hungry person asking for food is one thing. Someone saying, “You'll be sorry,” if a shopkeeper refuses free food or calls police about theft is another. That is intimidation. Using threats to demand something for free is the extortion I am talking about. Police should be asked what complaints they receive and what business owners are facing. When customers become afraid to visit, income drops. When windows break or stock disappears, bills still arrive. If a business closes, jobs disappear and the community loses another taxpayer. Oshawa offers grants for security and safety improvements. That helps. But locks, cameras, and guards cannot become a substitute for public protection. What about the business that cannot afford a guard? What about ordinary homeowners? They already pay taxes. Must they pay again just to feel safe? You can understand why people might feel abandoned. City halls should demand more help from Ottawa and provincial governments. I want mayors and councillors speaking plainly when government responses fall short. Polite words mean little to someone sweeping broken glass before opening. And courts must answer for decisions that leave victims feeling forgotten. When repeat offenders return to hurt people, public confidence suffers. In my view, courts that fail to give public safety weight help destroy the country's faith in justice. Police do their work. Victims report crimes. Yet if accountability never seems to follow, why should either believe the system will protect them? Ask officers how repeated arrests affect their morale. Ask victims what a court appearance costs them. I will say this: judges who repeatedly disregard public safety when dealing with proven criminal harm should not be judges. Why must victims keep paying for the same offender’s next chance? Blind justice should serve fairness, not socialism or any political cause. It must never be blind to suffering. We need housing, mental health care, and addiction treatment. We also need consequences for those who threaten, steal, exploit, and attack. Without that balance, compassion can turn cold. People may demand that everyone living outside be locked away. Innocent people would suffer alongside criminals. Around our coffee tables in Oshawa, ask what history will say. Did we help neighbours and protect our streets, or leave everyone to fend for themselves? Our unborn children will inherit that answer.