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Everything you need to know about the failed assassination attempt of Donald Trump

Published

6 months ago

41 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Frank Wright

Amid all the varying accounts and evidence, there is no clear picture of the attempt to kill Donald Trump, and the FBI and Secret Service have been unwilling or unable to supply answers to the questions raised by the failed assassination.

Almost two weeks have passed since the miraculous survival of Donald Trump and still the major questions raised by his attempted assassination are unanswered.

How can the United States Congress fail to determine the facts of a systematic failure of security which seems almost designed to permit an attempt on the former president’s life?

The obvious questions – how could this happen? – and why? – have equally obvious answers. The reason there are no answers is because Donald Trump is the mortal enemy of the entire political establishment of the U.S. and its subject nations.

We are ruled by a conspiracy against the obvious. The attempt to kill Donald Trump cannot be understood if we do not begin with a statement of the obvious: his political enemies want him dead.

This is a report on the official and unofficial investigations into what the FBI called “an incident” on July 13. As we shall see, the official lines of inquiry effectively exclude the obvious.

The most obvious fact of all is that everyone except the people supposed to protect him have seen this coming for a long time.

See no evil

The version of events presented by the bare facts is another conspiracy against the obvious. The story says a lone gunman – a 20 year old called Thomas Matthew Crooks – decided to shoot Trump one day, and no one stopped him until he had done so. According to CNN, Crooks scoped the site with a rangefinder three hours before the shooting, and was seen doing so, before returning to carry it out. A rangefinder has one use: to report the distance to a target.

Former Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle said a rangefinder “is not a prohibited item” when asked why Crooks was not stopped.

Crooks was filmed wandering the perimeter of the Trump rally one hour before the shooting. 

He was photographed by Secret Service snipers and seen on the roof by them – and others – well before the shots were fired. 

‘We cannot trust the FBI’

This report will first examine the official story of a lone gunman acting alone. Cheatle refused to answer whether her agency had produced a complete timeline of Crooks’ movements leading up to the moment of Trump’s shooting.

“We cannot trust the FBI to do an open and honest investigation” said Sen. Ron Johnson, speaking to Fox News.

Johnson also mentions that local law enforcement, tasked with securing the building from which the shooting took place, were instructed to send pictures they took on the day to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “What does the ATF have to do with this?” he was asked. Perhaps the FBI will explain.

Perhaps not. FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on July 24 that he had doubts as to whether Trump was shot at all.

This seems callous in the extreme, given that Corey Comperatore was killed and two other men critically injured by the shootings.

During the hearing, it was reported that two FBI agents were on record expressing regret that Trump had survived. 

The FBI, which sees no evil in Crooks which can explain his actions, and whose director insists Crooks “acted alone,” may itself be connected to the shooting.

Reports have surfaced showing a phone connected to Crooks was “pinged” eight times in the vicinity of an FBI field office in 2023.

The Secret Service cannot say whether it has attempted to recreate Crooks’ movements and connections prior to the shooting. In the absence of any evidence of an official attempt to do so, this task has been undertaken by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, and reported on July 22 by independent news outlet Blaze Media:

According to Oversight investigators, a phone associated with Crooks’ work address at a nursing home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, traveled to the Gallery Place complex in downtown Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2023. The phone ‘pinged’ seven or eight times from that location the same day.

Gallery Place – an 11-story mixed-use building constructed over the Chinatown Metro station – is filled with retail stores and restaurants but also houses offices of the FBI on the upper floors, former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin told Blaze News.

‘It is the closest [location] off-site that I’m aware of to the Washington Field Office,’ Seraphin said. ‘Agents are assigned to Washington Field, but they work out of Gallery Place.’

Former Secret Service chief Cheatle told Congress she knew how many bullet casings were found beside Crooks’ body – but refused to tell Congress. Cheatle referred Congress to the FBI for more information.

This is significant. At least nine – some say ten shots – were recorded on the day. A burst of three, followed by a different sounding burst of five, then perhaps another, then finally the single shot from the Secret Service sniper who killed Crooks.

The number of ejected shell casings on the roof beside Crooks would indicate how many shots came from him on that roof. Cheatle’s refusal to tell Congress is a refusal to admit what sound analysis appears to have confirmed: there was more than one shooter on the day.

Sen. Ron Johnson points out Cheatle’s refusal to tell Congress that reports claimed eight shell casings were found beside Crooks’ body.

Oversight Project Director Mike Howell warned of the obvious conflict of interest in permitting the Secret Service and the FBI to investigate themselves:

For the protection of whistleblowers and our investigation, we will not be sharing further information with the congressional task force due to the connective tissue between that entity and FBI, USSS, and other entities.

Mike Benz noted how the Oversight Project’s “parallel” investigation of the Trump assassin “already has more transparency and information than what the FBI is telling us.”

Why would anyone distrust the FBI? Here it refers to “the incident that took place today involving President Trump” and reassures Americans it has “assumed the role of the lead federal law enforcement agency” investigating this “incident.”

 

One role the FBI will play will be that of investigating its own links to the supposed “lone gunman.” FBI Director Wray says the agency still has no idea of the motive behind the shooting.

In addition, the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) will be investigating its own failure to secure the homeland. Sen. Josh Hawley revealed that whistleblowers told him that some of Trump’s security detail were “not even Secret Service. DHS assigned unprepared and inexperienced personnel.”

In place of Secret Service, Hawley’s sources claim Homeland Security Investigations agents were used instead. You can watch a video here which asks you to spot which agents might be “DEI” placements from DHS.

Can we reasonably expect DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to answer for this, or for the DHS “taking over” communications from the Secret Service to Congress?

Apparently not. On July 24, as a U.S. Senate hearing on the “Trump shooting” was announced, Hawley noted that Mayorkas would not be present to answer questions.

Conspiracy or clown show?

There are two ways to see the clear path to the assassination of Trump that Crooks was presented on the day. One – incredible incompetence. Two – a conspiracy to kill the enemy of the status quo.

The attempt to kill Trump is slipping off the news cycle. The latest news is that Kim Cheatle has refused to answer any of the most important questions around the shooting. She appears to have perjured herself before Congress whilst doing so.

She has since resigned. So far, no one has recommended she undergo enhanced interrogation to encourage her to respond to questioning.

Cheatle was even condemned by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Marjorie Taylor Greene – a genuinely bipartisan outrage at the “security failures” over which Cheatle had presided.

Greene asked bluntly, “Was there a stand down order? Was there a conspiracy to assassinate President Trump?” 

Cheatle said the Secret Service had no audio recordings from the day of the shooting.

Cheatle was shown video of Crooks crawling on the roof before the shooting, asking to explain why he was not seen as a threat.

Cheatle refused to answer when asked whether Crooks was “acting alone,” referring Congress to the FBI investigation.

Following this performance, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer said “there will be more accountability to come” following Cheatle’s resignation. Comer’s pledge displays a confidence that few sane people will share.

The actors from the Deep State are never held to account.

More to this story?

It is unlikely in the extreme that Cheatle, Mayorkas, or any of the people who have sought to destroy Trump will ever be held accountable – unless he takes power in November.

They know this very well, and this is an obvious reason why the only good Trump is a dead Trump to the Deep State. This is a view shared by some members of Congress.

As Rep. Eli Crane asked the House Committee on Homeland Security on July 23:

After partisan attempts to bankrupt Trump, to imprison him for 750 years and countless depictions of him as a modern-day Hitler –  are you surprised that a lot of Americans are like, ‘Maybe there’s more to this story’?

Cheatle’s role in the story was to briefly become it, but her appearance before Congress was a master class in refusing the mention of the obvious.

No news from Cheatle is good news – if you support the official conspiracy theory of a lone gunman, favored by an unlikely series of helpful oversights.

How fortunate was this son of a registered Libertarian? The timeline of Crooks’ movements raises even more questions than those Cheatle declined to answer.

Timeline of events

The court press of the regime which hates Trump has offered a simple timeline of the day. NBC’s “full timeline” has it like this:

5:10PM: Crooks, the shooter, identified as a person of interest.
5:30PM: Crooks spotted with rangefinder.
5:52PM: Crooks spotted on roof by Secret Service.
6:02PM: Trump takes stage.
6:12PM: Crooks fires first shots.

Even the lying press admits a 20-minute gap between Crooks being seen with a rifle on the roof and the shots fired at Trump. He had been noted as suspicious one hour before the shooting.

Sen. Chuck Grassley published video on July 23 that showed agents admitting they had identified Crooks as a danger before he was permitted to start shooting.

The man who was mentioned as “detained” is this man, who appears to be the owner of the bicycle that some accounts – such as that of the U.K.’s Daily Mail – said belonged to Crooks.

Pictures of the bicycle showed a bag on the handlebars and a backpack on the ground beside it.

The bag on the handlebars appears to be the bedroll of Mr. Evans, the owner of the bicycle. Media reports said the bike belonged to Crooks. Evans said he was detained – not for being the shooter. “They thought I had the bomb.”

Agents in the video released by Sen. Grassley can be heard saying they saw Crooks arrive on a bicycle, with a backpack, but then lost sight of him.

NBC’s timeline is far from “full.” It excludes these and other key events, including Crooks’ actions in preparing for the shooting, the presence of explosives in a vehicle at the site, and the eyewitness reports of at least a second shooter.

The timeline: complete?

A far more comprehensive timeline has been published here. It begins with Crooks’ preparations, which included visiting the site three times: once a week beforehand, once on the morning of the shooting – and once more to carry it out.

Crooks bought a remote transmitter to detonate explosives, planned a drone surveillance route, and set up and used “encrypted communications channels” before visiting a shooting range on July 12.

At some point he hid the weapon on site, before the “pac man” perimeter was set up.

Kim Cheatle told Congress “the rooftop was outside of the perimeter” of the Secret Service’s “responsibility.” She did not explain why.

She had previously told the media that the roof, being slightly sloped, was unsafe. Here, Rep. Pat Fallon excoriates Cheatle for this ridiculous non-explanation, saying she should “go back to guarding Doritos,” referring to her previous post as senior director of global security at PepsiCo.

The sniper who shot Crooks was positioned on a much steeper roof, of course.

She did explain why there were no agents on that roof. They were taken off the roof because it was too hot, and went inside the building instead, to take up positions on the second floor of the building.

This gave them clear lines of sight to Crooks, who was “jumping from roof to roof” in plain view of Secret Service positions.

More than one gunman

According to one independent analyst, “The first three shots came from a very different weapon in a different location” to that of Crooks.

Why should anyone believe Chris Martenson, who is just posting on X? Well, his analysis relies on a report of sound signatures which confirmed at least three shooters.

“Deep State-aligned” CNN published a report on July 14 detailing the acoustic analysis of shots fired, naming three separate weapons. That of Crooks, that of the sniper who killed him, and a third weapon.

Martenson says the shots from Shooter 1 have no echo, whilst Shooter 2’s echoes are consistent with Crooks’ position, the report of the AR-15 resounding from the flat roof.

The third sound signature is unexplained.

The sounds from that day do not support the lone gunman conspiracy theory.

This image shows the location of two recordings of the shots fired on the day, which Martenson analyses here. The image below is taken from another account, which suggests a second shooter (the heavy) was firing from a window in a building to the rear of that where Crooks – “the patsy” – was positioned.

Wherever the shots came from, this third weapon was also firing at the stage, says Martenson. He explains that the first three shots have no echo, are muffled, are further away.

Five shots follow, with echoes. Another shot, more of a snapping sound, is heard. Nine shots so far.

Later, the Secret Service sniper shoots. This would be shot number 10 – if the snapping sound is counted.

John Cullen contests Martenson’s account. He says there may have been two shooters in addition to Crooks – drawing on another eyewitness report.

Cullen suggests a shooter may have been positioned in a tree, which one reporter said snipers were aiming at. Police were pictured scaling the tree after the shots with a ladder. 

An eyewitness who says she was present at the rally says she saw “cops pull a guy out of the tree.” She said her friend saw someone shooting from the tree.

Cullen also asks questions concerning the van – said to be that of Crooks – which was towed 10 miles away from outside the Trump rally – despite being reported as being “laden with explosives.”

A report from CNN, however, claims Crooks had a Hyundai Sonata “with an improvised explosive device in the trunk wired to a transmitter he carried.”

Then, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north, joining thousands of people from around the region who flocked to Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He parked the car outside the rally, with an improvised explosive device hidden in the trunk that was wired to a transmitter he carried, the official said. Then, investigators believe, he used his newly-bought ladder to scale a nearby building, and opened fire on the former president.

As investigators continue to search for a motive behind the attempted assassination, they are scrutinizing Crooks’ movements before the attack and trying to piece together a timeline of his actions leading up to it.

The New York Times reported two explosive devices in the Hyundai, along with the drone presumed to have been used by Crooks to surveil the site. According to the Times, “So far, [the FBI has] found no evidence that he was motivated by any strong partisan political beliefs or an animus against Mr. Trump.”

Yet the social media site Gab seems to have found an account made by Crooks making strong pro-immigration and pro-Biden remarks.

“While the account made very few posts on the site, the majority of them were in support of President Biden,” Gab CEO Andrew Torba claimed. “A number of posts in particular expressed support for President Biden’s COVID lockdowns, border policies and executive orders.”

Torba made the claims in a July 24 X post.

The refusal to notice the obvious is a hallmark of the agents of the empire of lies. This is a regime which obviously hates Trump, and the truth he tells about their corrupt junta and the murderous wars by which it is enriched. It is obvious that the regime has radicalized millions through its propaganda and lies to defend a dying liberal global order from democracy. The refusal to find any whisper of a motive is the refusal to acknowledge the reality in which this shooting took place.

Did the van – which resembles a vehicle pictured under the water tower – carry the explosives? Did the Hyundai? Did Crooks arrive in two vehicles and on a bicycle as well? The agents in Sen. Grassley’s video mention both the water tower and a van. This is footage we would never have seen had it not been leaked. Why?

All the information which has been useful so far has been released outside official channels. The narrative of the fact-checkers and trusted sources in the mainstream simply does not make sense.

How many shots were fired?

On July 3, the House Committee on Homeland Security met to discuss the assassination attempt.

During the hearing, the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris told Rep. Eric Swalwell that “eight casings have been recovered,” after Swallwell asked how many rounds the shooter fired.

Rep. Michael McCaul asked Commissioner Paris about the water tower. According to Paris, there were no Secret Service at or on the water tower. McCaul also mentions explosives in a car, said to be that of Crooks, which Crooks was presumably intending to detonate using a device found on his body.

Who gave the order not to position a sniper on the water tower – the “tallest structure on that site”?

“I do not know,” said Paris.

At the 3-hour, 10-minute mark, Paris confirms that a local police officer gained the roof and was confronted by Crooks, who pointed his weapon at the officer peering over the rooftop.

Paris says that Crooks began firing “a matter of seconds” after this officer came face to face with Crooks, dropping from the roof to avoid being shot himself.

“I’d like to clarify it was a matter of seconds,” says Paris, “because I think earlier it might have been minutes.” Earlier reports suggested an interval of several minutes between the officer’s encounter with Crooks and when, as Paris says, “the first shots rang out.”

Seconds after turning to face a police officer, Crooks is here said to reposition and immediately fire on Trump, narrowly missing his skull.

Hiding in plain sight

Rep. Eli Crane is a former U.S. Navy Seal sniper. On July 22, he posted a video on X from the perspective of a window on a floor occupied by Secret Service agents.

It shows a clear field of view of the roof on which Crooks took position. How could these agents not have seen Crooks?

On the same day, July 22, Crooks posted a video he filmed himself from the roof on which the “supposed sniper took his shot.”

Crane does not believe the official account is credible. This may echo suspicions that the shooter was not Crooks at all. [Caution – graphic image.]

“Why weren’t security team sir, on site, able to spot a 20-year-old kid with zero camouflage crawling up a white roof with an AR-15 that several rally-goers were screaming and yelling and pointing out and they noticed him – and they weren’t even there to conduct security they were there to watch the president – do you have any idea why the security teams couldn’t find that guy?” he asked.

“I do not, sir,” Paris replied.

The lapses in security do not explain how agents with a clear view of the roof of the American Glass Research building on which Crooks was killed could not see him. Crane does not buy the story that Crooks was a lone gunman, and suggests he was not the would-be assassin at all.

At the 3-hour, 34-minute mark, Crane asks Paris whether he is aware that the “lone gunman” narrative is viewed with widespread suspicion.

“Are you aware, sir, that many Americans believe this was very likely not a lone shooter but a coordinated assassination attempt? Have you been getting those messages from people like I have?”

Paris said, “I have not, sir.”

Crane replied:

You haven’t. Well, there’s a lot of people in this room that have been getting the same messages. Why do you think that is? Why do you think that a lot of Americans are like, ‘This doesn’t add up? This doesn’t make sense, guys?’

How could this many things have gone wrong – like the things I pointed out? A 20-year-old kid got 150 yards of the [former] president of the United States with an AR-15, flew a drone to conduct sight surveillance, was spotted with a rangefinder ranging targets, then lost.

He had advanced explosive devices on him, with no military training. Nobody was placed in the most obvious spot to conduct counter-sniper operations.

I was a sniper in the SEAL Teams, Colonel. As soon as I got out of the SUV and I saw that water tower I was like, ‘That’s exactly where I’d be. Put me right there. So obvious.’

After partisan attempts to bankrupt him, imprison him for 700-50 years and countless depictions as a modern-day Hitler, are you surprised, sir, that a lot of Americans are like, ‘Maybe there’s more to this story?’

Crane finishes with reference to a November 30, 2023, article written in the Washington Post by neocon warmonger Robert Kagan, the husband of former under secretary of state Victoria Nuland. The article’s headline reads: “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable – we should stop pretending.”

“This article compares Trump to Caesar and attempts to justify the assassination of President Trump,” Crane said. “I think even though we want to dodge around it and not make this partisan, I think we all know that a lot of this has to do with the very violent rhetoric that has led up to this.”

Crane did not mention that Kagan wrote a follow-up – “The Trump dictatorship: How to stop it” – in January 2024. Kagan said that the system he champions is fighting for its survival, and that stopping Trump is a “matter of life and death.”

Kagan suggested neocon Zionist Nimrata “Nikki” Haley as the savior of the evil and its empire he has done so much to inflict on the world. His family business is war, in which others die and for which he and his murderous clique are celebrated and enriched.

Investigation

Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed Janet Napolitano to investigate the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. 

As the Oversight Project of the Heritage Foundation says, “She has a very long record of vehement anti-Trumpism.”

What is more, the House of Representatives announced on July 24 that they will be off “next week” and returning on September 9.

Trump promised to declassify the investigation should he win the election in November 2024.

Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich asked why the buck had seemed to stop with Kim Cheatle. Why was Mayorkas not removed, too?

Mayorkas’ DHS had already “taken over” the briefing of Congress by July 16, replacing direct communication between the Secret Service and Congress.

According to Politico’s Congress reporter Jordain Carney, a spokesman was reported as saying, “After the Secret Service agreed to brief members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, [DHS] took over communications with the Committee and has since refused to confirm a briefing time.”

Oversight’s Mike Howell saw this as a clear case of political obstruction of any “independent review” of the shooting. 

Howell’s picture of the feverish domestic situation in the U.S. is also compelling, saying “years of escalating the tensions” in the U.S. shows how “this is well beyond the Secret Service and their posture.” 

In the aftermath of the shooting, Trump supporters at the rally were filmed directly accusing the mainstream media of inciting the assassination attempt. 

Moves underway to deny Trump protection

Readers may be aware that Democrat lawmakers had drafted legislation to remove Secret Service protection from former President Trump.

Rep. Thomas Massie called for those involved in this move to be barred from participating in the investigation into the attempted assassination.

Rep. Bennie Thompson is one such Democrat congressman.

Thompson explained in the video above that the mechanism of removing Trump’s Secret Service protection relies on whether Trump “is sentenced to jail,” following his legal persecution on felony charges in a process widely criticized as lawfare. Yet as Massie points out, Thompson’s own published fact sheet calls for the removal of Trump’s protection “once he is convicted.”

Responding to the attempted assassination of Trump, Thompson’s own staffer suggested on Facebook that Crooks “should have taken shooting lessons.” Massie also notes that Thompson also “helped Secret Service delete their phone data” relating to the alleged “insurrection” on January 6.

Why should representatives who are engineering the removal of protection from Trump be involved in investigating the effective removal of protection which enabled his attempted assassination?

When reminded of the fact that Trump has just survived an attempt on his life, Thompson is asked to withdraw the legislation to remove Trump’s protective detail.

Thompson refuses to do so, saying “Trump had Secret Service protection in Butler, Pennsylvania.”

Thompson also says the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security – currently Alejandro Mayorkas – can reassign Secret Service protection once Trump has served his sentence.

He does not mention the fact that Trump did not, in fact, have a full Secret Service protective detail in Butler.

Trump to be defended by his enemies?

Massie here raises yet another question that cannot be answered by the official conspiracy theory. It is obvious that Trump is hated by members of the US political class who have worked tirelessly to destroy him. Why should people who want to throw him in prison with no protection be involved in this investigation at all?

Sen. Chuck Grassley has published a letter to Mayorkas, asking whether Mayorkas can explain why local law enforcement was sharing responsibility with Secret Service for securing the building from which Crooks shot at Trump – and why Crooks was able to fly a surveillance drone over the site.

Sen. Grassley also asks “whether the water tower was cleared” and whether the water tower had “any role” in the attempted assassination.

A video taken on July 13 shows a vehicle parked beneath the water tower, as the stage is prepared for Trump’s address.

Redacted news reported three separate eyewitnesses at the rally who were interviewed – claiming shots were fired from a second location. They all indicate the water tower. At the 22-minute mark in this video you can watch them make these claims.

X user Austin Ayers claims this recording is “raw 911 audio” of law enforcement responding to “shots fired towards the blue water tank, blue water tank, that side.”

There is no clear picture of the attempt to kill Donald Trump. The official agencies have been unwilling or unable to supply the answers to the questions raised by the failed assassination.

How can the Senate hope to succeed where Congress has failed? The conspiracy against the obvious did not begin with this shooting. It is the policy of the liberal global regime itself, to deny its agenda of destruction and death, while the evidence of its diabolical designs becomes impossible to ignore.

Whoever fired those shots, whoever was behind the alleged lone gunman and his apparently motiveless crime, and however he arrived to commit it, it is obvious that the number one enemy of the globalist regime was almost shot to death on live television.

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Addictions

Nanaimo syringe stabbing reignites calls for involuntary care

Published on January 19, 2025

By

Safe needle disposal box at Deverill Square Gyro 2 Park in Nanaimo, B.C., Sept. 5, 2024. [Photo credit: Alexandra Keeler]

By Alexandra Keeler

Some politicians, police and community groups argue involuntary care is key to addressing severe addiction and mental health issues

The brutal stabbing last month of a 58-year-old city employee in Nanaimo, B.C., made national headlines. The man was stabbed multiple times with a syringe after he asked two men who were using drugs in a public park washroom to leave.

The worker sustained multiple injuries to his face and abdomen and was hospitalized. As of Jan. 7, the RCMP were still investigating the suspects.

The incident comes on the heels of other violent attacks in the province that have been linked to mental health and substance use disorders.

On Dec. 4, Vancouver police fatally shot a man armed with a knife inside a 7-Eleven after he attacked two staff members while attempting to steal cigarettes. Earlier that day, the man had allegedly stolen alcohol from a nearby restaurant.

Three months earlier, on Sept. 4, a 34-year-old man with a history of assault and mental health problems randomly attacked two men in downtown Vancouver, leaving one dead and another with a severed hand.

These incidents have sparked growing calls from politicians, police and residents for governments to expand involuntary care and strengthen health-care interventions and law enforcement strategies.

“What is Premier Eby, the provincial and federal government going to do?” the volunteer community group Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association said in a Dec. 11 public statement.

“British Columbians are well past being fed-up with lip-service.”

Our content is always free. Subscribe to get BTN’s latest news and analysis, or donate to our journalism fund.

‘Extremely complex needs’

On Jan. 5, B.C.’s newly reelected premier, David Eby, announced the province will open two involuntary care sites this spring. One will be located at the Surrey Pretrial Centre in Surrey, and the other at the Alouette Correctional Facility in Maple Ridge, a city northeast of Vancouver.

Eby said his aim is to address the cases of severe addiction, brain injury and mental illness that have contributed to violent incidents and public safety concerns.

Involuntary care allows authorities to mandate treatment for individuals with severe mental health or substance use disorders without their consent.

Amy Rosa, a BC Ministry of Health public affairs officer, confirmed to Canadian Affairs that the NDP government remains committed to expanding both voluntary and involuntary care as a solution to the rise in violent attacks.

“We’re grappling with a growing group of people with extremely complex needs — people with severe mental health and addictions issues, coupled with brain injuries from repeated overdoses,” Rosa said.

As part of its commitment to expanding involuntary care, the province plans to establish more secure facilities and mental health units within correctional centres and create 400 new mental health beds.

In response to follow-up questions, Rosa told Canadian Affairs that the province plans to introduce legal changes in the next legislative session “to provide clarity and ensure that people can receive care when they are unable to seek it themselves.” She noted these changes will be made in consultation with First Nations to ensure culturally safe treatment programs.

“The care provided at these facilities will be dignified, safe and respectful,” she said.
Maffeo Sutton Park, where on Dec. 10, 2024, a Nanaimo city worker was stabbed multiple times with a syringe; Sept. 1, 2024. [Photo credit: Alexandra Keeler]

‘Health-led approach’

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog says involuntary care is necessary to prevent violent incidents such as the syringe stabbing in the city’s park.

“Without secure involuntary care, supportive housing, and a full continuum of care from detox to housing, treatment and follow-up, little will change,” he said.

Elenore Sturko, BC Conservative MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, agrees that early intervention for mental health and substance use disorders is important. She supports laws that facilitate interventions outside of the criminal justice system.

“Psychosis and brain damage are things that need to be diagnosed by medical professionals,” said Sturko, who served as an officer in the RCMP for 13 years.

Sturko says although these diagnoses need to be given by medical professionals, first responders are trained to recognize signs.

“Police can be trained, and first responders are trained, to recognize the signs of those conditions. But whether or not these are regular parts of the assessment that are given to people who are arrested, I actually do not know that,” she said.

Staff Sergeant Kris Clark, a RCMP media relations officer, told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement that officers receive crisis intervention and de-escalation training but are not mental health professionals.

“All police officers in BC are mandated to undergo crisis intervention and de-escalation training and must recertify every three years,” he said. Additional online courses help officers recognize signs of “mental, emotional or psychological crisis, as well as other altered states of consciousness,” he said.

“It’s important to understand however that police officers are not medical/mental health professionals.”

Clark also referred Canadian Affairs to the BC Association of Chiefs of Police’s Nov. 28 statement. The statement says the association has changed its stance on decriminalization, which refers to policies that remove criminal penalties for illicit drug use.

“Based on evidence and ongoing evaluation, we no longer view decriminalization as a primary mechanism for addressing the systemic challenges associated with substance use,” says the statement. The association represents senior police leaders across the province.

Instead, the association is calling for greater investment in health services, enhanced programs to redirect individuals from the justice system to treatment services, and collaboration with government and community partners.
Vancouver Coastal Health’s Pender Community Health Centre in East Hastings, Vancouver, B.C., Aug. 31, 2024. [Photo credit: Alexandra Keeler]

‘Life or limb’

Police services are not the only agencies grappling with mental health and substance use disorders.

The City of Vancouver told Canadian Affairs it has expanded programs like the Indigenous Crisis Response Team, which offers non-police crisis services for Indigenous adults, and Car 87/88, which pairs a police officer with a psychiatric nurse to respond to mental health crises.

Vancouver Coastal Health, the city’s health authority, adjusted its hiring plan in 2023 to recruit 55 mental health workers, up from 35. And the city has funded 175 new officers in the Vancouver Police Department, a seven per cent increase in the force’s size.

The city has also indicated it supports involuntary care.

In September, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim was one of 11 B.C. mayors who issued a statement calling on the federal government to provide legal and financial support for provinces to implement involuntary care.

On Oct. 10, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would support mandatory involuntary treatment for minors and prisoners deemed incapable of making decisions.

The following day, Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks said in a news conference that provinces must first ensure they have adequate addiction and mental health services in place before discussions about involuntary care can proceed.

“Before we contemplate voluntary or involuntary treatment, I would like to see provinces and territories ensuring that they actually have treatment access scaled to need,” she said.

Some health-care providers have also expressed reservations about involuntary care.

In September, the Canadian Mental Health Association, a national organization that advocates for mental health awareness, issued a news release expressing concerns about involuntary care.

The association highlighted gaps in the current involuntary care system, including challenges in accessing voluntary care, reports of inadequate treatment for those undergoing involuntary care and an increased risk of death from drug poisoning upon release.

“Involuntary care must be a last resort, not a sweeping solution,” its release says.

“We must focus on prevention and early intervention, addressing the root causes of mental health and addiction crises before they escalate into violent incidents.”

Sturko agrees with focusing on early intervention, but emphasized the need for such interventions to be timely.

“We should not have to wait for someone to commit a criminal act in order for them to have court-imposed interventions … We need to be able to act before somebody loses their life or limb.”

This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism exploring addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.

Our content is always free – but if you want to help us commission more high-quality journalism, consider getting a voluntary paid subscription.

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Alberta

Electronic monitoring of repeat offenders begins

Published on January 19, 2025

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Offenders and accused who pose a public safety risk may now be subject to 24-7 court-ordered electronic monitoring by Alberta Correctional Services as part of their community supervision conditions

Alberta’s government is taking action to combat rising crime and restore safety by launching an electronic monitoring program as part of its Safe Street Action Plan.

Alberta’s government is keeping a promise and implementing a new ankle bracelet monitoring program in response to the country’s problematic bail system. The ongoing catch-and-release policy brought in by Ottawa forced Alberta’s government to take additional action to protect families and communities.

Starting Jan. 15, the new provincial ankle bracelet electronic monitoring program to help hold high-risk and repeat offenders accountable will officially launch. Through this program, offenders and accused who pose a public safety risk may now be subject to 24-7 court-ordered electronic monitoring by Alberta Correctional Services as part of their community supervision conditions.

“Ottawa’s Bill C-75 has broken the bail system. We are taking an important step toward combating rising crime. High-risk offenders pose a significant risk to public safety and require enhanced supervision in the community. As government, it’s our duty to protect Albertans and their communities. Ankle bracelet electronic monitoring is another tool in the toolbox for courts to consider when determining sentencing or bail conditions, helping us combat rising crime and create safer Alberta communities.”

Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services

Announced alongside other measures to enhance community safety in last spring’s Public Safety Statutes Amendments Act, 2024, individuals under a court-ordered electronic monitoring condition will be required to wear a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device monitored by a new unit within Alberta Correctional Services, ensuring compliance and consistent oversight of high-risk offenders on bail and community release throughout the province.

Ankle bracelet electronic monitoring will protect Albertans and communities by helping to secure offender-restricted areas, such as victims’ residences, places of employment or any other area deemed off-limits as part of an individual’s bail or community-release conditions. Probation officers within Alberta Correctional Services continue to supervise individuals under provincial community-based court conditions and bail supervision. Previously, this supervision primarily occurred during regular business hours and did not involve the use of GPS electronic monitoring ankle bracelets. Anyone under court-ordered electronic monitoring conditions will be informed of the program requirements, including the tracking of their location.

“Alberta’s government continues to call for federal bail and sentencing reform to stop violent criminals from re-entering our communities. We remain committed to prioritizing the safety of Albertans through measures like the use of ankle monitors, strengthening the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and policing to protect Albertans from violent criminals.”

Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Following extensive stakeholder engagements and an open technology vendor procurement process, the launch of the provincial electronic monitoring program enhances community supervision with around-the-clock monitoring and adds to the various methods and community supports already used by probation officers, including regular reporting, referrals to community programs and ongoing engagement with policing partners. Additionally, this program aligns Alberta with programs in other provinces across Canada.

Quick facts

  • The new program will supervise individuals whose conditions include court-ordered electronic monitoring.
  • Alberta’s electronic monitoring program is supported by $2.8 million to cover implementation costs for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
  • In August 2024, the government selected SCRAM Systems as the technology vendor for the ankle bracelet electronic monitoring program through an open procurement process.
  • The estimated end date for the electronic monitoring vendor contract is March 31, 2029.

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