OTTAWA – The federal transportation minister says nationwide co-operation is required to shut loopholes criminals can use to re-sell stolen vehicles.
Anita Anand’s workplace has despatched letters to her provincial and territorial counterparts calling for conferences to debate the difficulty of Automobile Identification Numbers being modified on stolen vehicles that are then resold, a course of often called “re-vinning” automobiles.
The minister’s workplace says within the letters that the long-standing Interprovincial Report Alternate can help in detecting re-vinning, and that each one provinces and territories must take part totally within the system.
Her workplace says provinces and territories want to make sure the file alternate know-how they’re utilizing is updated in an effort to talk with different jurisdictions, in any other case potential thieves may discover methods round it.
Again in Might, the federal authorities unveiled a national plan combatting auto theft which incorporates extra intelligence sharing amongst police forces and a working group involving all ranges of presidency.
It additionally requires extra interventions at ports, with the Canada Border Providers Company tasked with increasing searches of delivery containers in a bid to cease automobiles from being despatched abroad.
Anand’s workplace says though there was a drop in overall thefts, police have reported an increase in VINs being modified on stolen vehicles.
“Given the significance of addressing the difficulty of re-vinning, I’m asking all provinces and territories to prioritize this concern in an effort to additional deter and stop auto theft in Canada,” Anand writes in her letter.
Closing the loophole
“Whereas the long-standing Interprovincial Report Alternate can help in detecting the re-vinning of automobiles, all provinces and territories must take part totally on this system to shut the loophole that’s being exploited by criminals to re-sell stolen automobiles inside Canada.”
Greater than 1,900 stolen automobiles have been intercepted by the Canada Border Providers Company, the vast majority of which have been present in Quebec.
Statistics launched earlier this month by the Insurance coverage Bureau of Canada present greater than 4,000 fewer automobiles have been stolen within the first six months of 2024, in comparison with the identical interval a yr in the past, although the bureau cautioned the numbers are nonetheless greater than twice what they have been 10 years in the past.
A lot of the auto-theft downside is centred in Ontario and Quebec, with stolen automobiles being routed by way of the Port of Montreal after which shipped abroad.
Based on insurance coverage crime watchdog Équité Affiliation, 28,550 automobiles have been stolen in Canada within the first half of 2024. The watchdog’s discovering pointed to a 17 per cent lower in thefts from the yr prior.
Greater than 70,000 non-public automobiles have been stolen throughout Canada final yr, with greater than 30,000 taken in Ontario, in accordance with the Équité Affiliation, an anti-crime group funded by insurance coverage firms.
Requested about Anand’s letter on Sunday, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria agreed that extra needs to be completed to cease auto theft.
One of many potential options is bail reform, he stated at an unrelated morning information convention in Toronto.
“Let’s repair our justice system so these individuals which might be stealing these automobiles, coming into individuals’s homes at gunpoint, taking vehicles away from individuals in parking heaps…have stiffer penalties,” he stated.
Sarkaria added the province has been pushing for the “hardest penalties” on re-vinning and anybody making an attempt to steal automobiles.
“Nevertheless it’s vital that the federal authorities step up, do their half and put these individuals behind bars.”
This can be a corrected story. A earlier model stated Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy responded to Anita Anand’s letter. Actually, it was Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria.
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