Ontario’s justice system is failing fraud victims, data shows

Fraud is exploding in Ontario, with incidents more than doubling in the last decade.

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Fraud is exploding in Ontario, with incidents more than doubling in the last decade. Yet, thanks to “COVID-19-related backlogs,” the majority of these fraud cases have ended without a single conviction since 2020, revealing a justice system that is failing victims.

The OCAA links this trend to an “understaffed justice system that lacks the necessary resources to effectively prosecute complex and time-consuming fraud cases.”

Lesley Pasquino, the association’s president, told CBC that the “lack of resources” forces Crown attorneys into “the unenviable position of having to prioritize” files—resulting in more than half of fraud cases being dropped.

The true number of fraudsters walking away without a charge or conviction is likely far higher than already bleak Statistics Canada data suggests. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that only five to 10 per cent of fraud incidents are ever reported to police.

Of those reported cases, fewer than 10 per cent result in police laying charges. Even when charges are laid, more than half are later tossed out in court.

The trend raises pressing questions about which cases Ontario prosecutors choose to prioritize.

Although the case did not involve fraud, Ontario prosecutors spent millions—at least $21 million, according to Blacklock’s—pursuing peaceful protestors Tamara Lich and Chris Barber in what has been widely described as “the longest and most expensive mischief trial in Canadian history.”

Ontarians reported losing nearly $193.5 million to fraud from January through September, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Nationally, reported losses reached $544 million over the same period.