“Hamilton deserves better.”
Hamilton Police Chief Frank Bergen and Police Service Board members expressed shock, frustration and disappointment Friday at the news that 19 drug trafficking charges laid by Hamilton officers were dropped earlier this month by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC).
The agency that oversees federal Crowns last week advised the HPS that the cases were stayed or withdrawn “without reasonable explanation,” said Bergen in his verbal report to the board on Friday.
“These cases involve serious drug trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine and opioids that directly affect our community, especially our most vulnerable,” he said. “It is our understanding that these dispositions were not related to reasonable prospect of conviction, public interest or the quality of police investigations.”
Bergen alluded to a billing cap that has been imposed on all contract federal prosecutors as a possible explanation for the dispositions.
“We are aware that the public prosecution services of Canada has notified all contract prosecutors about the imposition of a billing cap on federal cases,” he said. “Our local contract Crown indicates, specific to a matter before the courts, that despite her efforts and concerns, she was directed by PPSC to discontinue prosecution, and that the decision had nothing to do with the quality of investigation by the HPS. And furthermore, there was sufficient reasonable and probable grounds and public interest to proceed.”
Deputy Chief Ryan Diodati provided some statistics to add context to the impact of the PPSC’s decision to drop the charges.
He told the board that the HPS laid 844 possession for the purpose of trafficking charges in 2024 - the equivalent of about 17 trafficking-related charges each week last year.
Diodati noted that one-quarter of those 844 charges were for trafficking fentanyl. He cited an example of one case in which the accused, who was in possession of 150 g of the opioid, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
“This week, the PPSC stayed a case for an accused who was found to be in possession in excess of 150 grams for the purpose of trafficking,” he said.
Diodati cited a 2021 Supreme Court of Canada decision that emphasized the human cost of fentanyl and called trafficking the drug a “source of unspeakable harm” that warrants hefty prison sentences.
Bergen supplied further data to underscore the impact of the PPSC decision.
According to the Hamilton Opioid Information System, which is posted on the city’s website, 163 Hamilton deaths are probable or confirmed to be opioid related in 2021; in 2022 that number was 166. In 2023, the last year posted, the number was 148.
“That's 150 average over the last five years per year,” he said, adding that the rate of opioid-related deaths in Hamilton in 2023 was 41 per cent higher than the provincial rate.
“I hope the federal government is paying attention that we need their assistance, specific to the illegal proliferation and exploitation of the most vulnerable in our community,” he said. “Make no mistake, our mandate is to stop drug trafficking in our city, and our members will continue to dismantle these illegal drug operations. I expect the same commitment from our federal prosecutors.”
Hamilton Police Service Board chair Don Robertson voiced his disappointment and disgust at the PPSC decision.
“There can be no explanation to this,” he said. “Money cannot be an issue when it comes to letting people like these, these charges being stayed. You know, what we can't afford to do, is we can't afford to have people on the streets that are struggling and being victimized by people like this and let it go. It's an absolute disgrace."
Robertson said he paid a visit to MP Filomena Tassi’s office to discuss the issue, but hadn’t heard back from the cabinet minister by the time of Friday’s meeting.
“Somebody has to be held accountable for this, but I tell you, so the service, the chief, the deputies, this board have your back. Carry on with your good work. We'll make this thing right before we're done.”
Mayor Andrea Horwath said the PPSC needs to update its practice of prioritizing cases for prosecution.
“When I realized what's going on here, I just feel like all the work that we're doing in terms of getting guns and drugs off the streets is being undone by the government that doesn't seem to realize that a long-standing practice that allows PPSC to prioritize serious cases that have the greatest impact on public safety and society, is obviously seriously out of date,” she said.
Horwath added that the practice isn’t new, and that elected officials and the board have “an obligation when it comes to the workings of the justice system and to make sure that the justice system is funded in a way that properly addresses the ongoing concerns” affecting cities.
“Anybody who thinks that things are the same as they were even five years ago is really out of touch,” she said. “There has to be an accounting here of why Hamilton's been left on the sidelines. When we have three elected members to federal government in this city, they don't seem to be picking up on this problem.”
