If you missed the news, read the post below from Ontario:
Today, Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) announced the results of Project Jetsetter – a coordinated enforcement and investigative response focused on criminal tourism.
Project Jetsetter is the culmination of multiple major investigations into organized criminal activity in Durham Region and across the Greater Toronto Area. This initiative targeted organized groups travelling to Canada for the purpose of executing high-profit crimes, often connected to international criminal networks. These activities are deliberate, coordinated, and profit-driven; not random or opportunistic. Through more than nine separate investigations and over 5,000 investigative hours, the DRPS Financial Crimes Unit has tracked more than 200 incidents tied to criminal tourism, resulting in over $2.61 million in confirmed financial losses in Durham Region alone.
I feel Canada has always prided itself on being welcoming — a country built on immigration, diversity, and compassion. But there is a growing crisis that Canadians are talking about more openly: people entering the country, committing crimes, and then slipping back out before facing justice. It’s a problem that doesn’t target any nationality or community — it targets the loopholes that allow bad actors to take advantage of our openness.
And Canadians are right to demand better. Surrey's problems are definately the result of a weak and inconsistent border strategy. We hear young men are offered $1,000 to fly to Vancouver, carry out an extortion shooting and fly right back to India. I don't know if that is true, but Durham catches them and Surrey and Vancouver don't.
Canada’s border system is designed around the assumption that most visitors are honest, law‑abiding people. And the truth is, the overwhelming majority are. But a small number have learned how to exploit the gaps:
Enter Canada legally as visitors
Commit crimes — often theft, fraud, organized retail crime, or coordinated property offences
Leave the country before charges are laid or before police can identify them
Police departments across the country have raised alarms about transnational crime groups who fly in, carry out targeted operations, and fly out again. These aren’t refugees or immigrants building a life here — these are individuals using Canada as a temporary playground for criminal activity.
The problem isn’t that Canada welcomes newcomers. The problem is that our systems haven’t kept up with modern criminal networks.
1. Slow identification
By the time police gather evidence, the offenders are often already gone.
2. Weak exit controls
Canada does not have the same strict exit‑tracking systems that countries like the U.S. or U.K. use.
3. Visa‑free travel loopholes
Some visitors don’t require visas — only an eTA — making it easier to enter quickly and anonymously.
4. Cross‑border crime rings
Organized groups know exactly how long they can stay before raising suspicion.
This isn’t about ordinary travellers. It’s about organized, intentional exploitation.
Communities across Canada — including right here in B.C. — are feeling the effects:
Retailers losing millions to coordinated theft
Seniors targeted by fraud schemes
Police stretched thin trying to track offenders who are already back overseas
Residents feeling less safe in their own neighbourhoods
Canadians are generous, but we are not naïve. We know when something isn’t working.
We need:
Stronger exit controls so offenders can’t simply fly home
Faster information‑sharing between police and border agencies
Mandatory biometric checks for high‑risk travellers
Harsher penalties for organized crime groups operating across borders
Better tracking of repeat visitors connected to criminal networks
Enough police officers and Border Service Agents to make this happen
