‘Concerning’ rise in violence against first responders prompts calls for tougher punishment

Bill C-321 would amend the Criminal Code to make assaults against health-care workers and first responders an aggravating factor during sentencing

Published Oct 16, 2024  •  3 minute read

An ambulance rushes along a Toronto street. A 2023 study found that on average a member of nearby Peel Region's paramedic service was physically or sexually assaulted every 46 hours. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post/File

Canadian first responders put themselves at risk every day, and experts and frontline workers warn violence against this group is rising.

Justin Mausz, a paramedic and co-lead of the Violence Against Paramedics Project, said reports of violent attacks on health-care professionals and public safety personnel are growing at an alarming rate. Another paramedic, Paul Hills, testified to this trend last year.

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“I personally have had my life and my family’s lives threatened,” Hills told the federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. “I’ve had machetes and knives pulled on me and removed guns from patients while attending to their medical needs.”

Mausz said the scope of the problem is much larger than people realize.

“It points to a large community mental health crisis, an erosion of trust in institutions,” he said. “And that social fabric is fraying.”

Bill C-321, which proposes harsher sentences for assaults against active-duty first responders, has built traction across Canada amidst this growing violence.

It currently sits for consideration by a Senate committee. If passed, it would amend the Criminal Code of Canada to make assaults against health-care workers and first responders an aggravating factor during sentencing. This provision could increase the amount of time an offender spends behind bars.

Mausz, an advocate of the bill, said his 2023 study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, revealed that nearly 50 per cent of active-duty paramedics in the Peel Region west of Toronto filed violence reports that year. Forty per cent of those reports documented a physical or sexual assault.

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He also observed that, on average, a member of that paramedic service was physically or sexually assaulted every 46 hours.

“It’s definitely concerning…. You see that, alongside other health professions, (violence) is on the rise,” Mausz told the National Post.

Todd Doherty, the Conservative MP who introduced the bill, said it would provide legal assurance to first responders who are attacked while on duty. He said there are currently no consequences for the perpetrators of such acts today.

“We need to ensure that harsher penalties are in place for those who knowingly and deliberately target our frontline heroes, as we are seeing far too often,” he said in a statement to the National Post.

Mandy Johnston, a paramedic and program lead for External Violence Against Paramedics, agrees. She also emphasized that with no legal safeguards, assaults often go unreported.

Paramedics “experience violence so often that there was no point in reporting because they had before and it resulted in no change,” she told National Post.

“The sole purpose of Bill C-321 is to provide those who serve us, those who protect us, protection,” said Doherty. “Everybody stands by the wayside and just watches. That is unacceptable.”

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Johnston said Peel Regional Paramedic Services, where she works, recorded nearly 2,000 violent incident reports over the last three years.

This summer, Johnston recalled several female paramedics who were sexually assaulted while providing care.

“The actions of the patients were intentional, reaching out to grab paramedics’ breast, buttocks or genitals while they help or provide care – which is horrible, not excusable and unacceptable – which needs to be emphasized,” she said in a follow-up email.

“The resulting impact of these incidents is understandably distressing, they impact their work and worse, personal lives.”

The rise in violence against emergency responders is not limited to Ontario.

Victoria, B.C., police chief Del Manak recently touted similar concerns over aggression toward the city’s emergency personnel.

“It leads to a moral dilemma when the person you’re supposed to care for is the person that’s treating you this way,” Johnston said.

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