“The toxic supply of drugs is causing a devastating number of overdose deaths across the country. Prosecuting criminal organizations involved in all facets of high-level commercial drug trafficking remains one of our priorities,” the PPSC said in the report.
Of the 45,720 files that the PPSC worked on between April 1, 2023, and March 21, 2024, drug-related offences accounted for 32,351 files (71.2 per cent), Criminal Code offences accounted for 8,351 files (18.3 per cent) and regulatory and economic offences accounted for 4,415 files (9.7 per cent).
The PPSC also worked on 423 files (0.9 per cent) involving other offences.
Between January and March 2024, there were a total of 1,906 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Canada, as well as 1,505 Opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations. 81 per cent of these deaths involved fentanyl, up from 43 per cent in 2016, when national surveillance began.
The PPSC noted that it is focusing resources and attention on the prosecution of individuals responsible for creating and supplying illegal drug markets. It stated that it is treating simple possession offences as a public health issue and only prosecuting the most serious cases that engage significant public safety concerns.
“Since August 2020, we, in consultation with health officials and the police, have moved away from prosecuting any offence related to possession of a controlled substance for personal use except in cases where the alleged offending conduct poses serious and direct harm to others, in particular children,” the report noted.
The PPSC said that the reduction in work prosecuting simple possession charges has contributed to its efforts to dedicate greater resources to prosecutions related to trafficking and the importing/exporting of illicit substances.
The report also noted that the service has changed Drug Treatment Court (DTC) policies to provide prosecutors with greater flexibility in determining eligibility for DTC programs.
Drug Treatment Court is a judicially supervised treatment program aimed at reducing the likelihood that its participants will commit a criminal offence that is related to their substance use disorders. The treatment program provides a non-adversarial environment supported by a multidisciplinary team that includes judges, prosecutors, defence counsel and law enforcement.
Changes to DTC policies mean that individuals previously convicted of a violent offence or those who are accused of committing a violent offence will no longer be automatically excluded from participating in a DTC program.
The PPSC noted that an application to a DTC may now occur at any time throughout a prosecution and does not require a guilty plea prior to admission.
The largest number of drug-offence-related files originated in Ontario (13,184 files), the national capital (5,395 files), Alberta (4,585 files) and British Columbia (3,346 files).
The largest number of Criminal Code-related files originated in the Northwest Territories (3,323 files), Nunavut (2,531 files) and Yukon (1,775 files).
About 62 per cent or 11,126 of 17,959 individuals who had charges laid against them in 2023-24 had the charges withdrawn or proceedings against them stayed by the Crown, while 5,876 or 32.7 per cent entered a guilty plea.
Of the remaining accused 590 9 (3.3 per cent) were found guilty after trial, 293 (1.6 per cent) were acquitted after trial and the courts stayed proceeding against 49 (0.2 per cent) individuals who were charged.
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