‘A matter of public safety’: number of withdrawn criminal charges rises dramatically in Ontario

Residents of a housing co-op where a cat named Mildred was killed are upset after judge tosses charges.

The number of criminal charges in a category that includes homicides and assaults that are being withdrawn before they are tested at trial has risen dramatically, according to Ontario court statistics.

The new figures are a sign that the province’s justice system hasn’t kept up with tens of thousands more charges laid by police, or provided Crown counsel resources to track files that often have much more evidence than they used to, said Lesley Pasquino of the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association.

“The pressure has landed on my Crowns to get those cases through the system one way or another, and then to add to that this perfect storm, the advancement of electronic evidence,” Pasquino said, referring to emails, texts, documents and hours of surveillance video or body camera video that wouldn’t have been included in cases years ago.

“This is a matter of public safety,” Pasquino said. “The decision makers, the people with the power of the purse, they need to think about the justice system that the people of Ontario deserve and then pay for it.”

The statistics, published recently by the Ontario Court of Justice, show that the number of charges in the category of crimes against a person, which includes homicides and assaults, has risen from about 57,000 in 2015 to about 80,000 in 2025.

The number of charges withdrawn before trial has risen from 19,000 to about 39,000 in that time.

The withdrawal rate in 2015 was about 33 per cent, or one in three. In 2025, that had risen to 48 per cent, or about one in two.

NDP Justice Critic Kristyn Wong-Tam said chronic underfunding of the courts is a major problem, especially if it could mean potentially guilty people are going unpunished.

“If those individuals have been charged, that meant there was enough evidence to have the possibility of a conviction. But if those charges are dropped or stayed, the province is not going to be safer if people who have committed a crime face zero consequences, in [Premier] Doug Ford’s lawless province. We need to take this issue seriously,” they said.

“We cannot have a safer Ontario until we adequately address the underfunding and the crisis that we now see in courtrooms,” they said.

Charges withdrawn against teen accused of killing cat

One case that hit an east-end Toronto neighbourhood hard this week was that against a teenager accused of harming a raccoon and mutilating and killing a cat.

The Crown had already withdrawn two charges of causing unnecessary harm to a raccoon, but in a scathing decision, a judge tossed the remaining charges after finding that it was “inexcusable” for Toronto Police to lose track of photos and witness statements.

• ‘I was stunned’: Owner of slain cat speaks out after charges dropped against Toronto teen

Many of the photos and videos in the case had been provided by neighbours in the complex where the cat, Mildred, roamed, before being found shaved under a nearby shed.

“It’s astounding” that no one will be held responsible for Mildred’s treatment, said Mildred’s owner, Sara Downing, in an interview Friday. “Knowing that there’s no justice? That’s terrible.”

Neighbour Sue Enberg told CTV News, “All the sadness and grief and pain and sorrow that was caused in our community – it all came back.”

The Toronto Police have started a review of the officers’ actions to see if any of them should be disciplined. Also this week, officers received a new evidence handling protocol designed to speed up disclosure.

Ontario’s Ministry of Attorney General has said in its plans that its top “operational risk continues to be the potential for lost cases in the criminal context,” and has invested in the prosecution of gun and gang, auto theft, and serious violent cases.

In a statement, Attorney General Doug Downey’s press secretary, Julia Facca, said that stays for delay under the strict timelines mandated by the Jordan decision by Canada’s Supreme Court remain “exceptionally rare” at less than 0.1 per cent.

“Our government is taking historic action to strengthen Ontario’s justice system by investing millions to build court capacity, appoint more judges, and deliver modern technology. By 2027-2028, Ontario will have invested more than half a billion dollars to help the courts address backlogs and manage a growing number of complex cases. This includes allocating up to 52 new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice and hiring nearly 700 additional Crown prosecutors, victim support and court staff,” she said.

Crown association warns of “stacking”

One policy introduced in 2023 was known as “stacking”, said Pasquino.

“What that means is four, five, six cases in a courtroom, all scheduled for the same day. So everybody turns up expecting to have their trial, but then there has to be a triage of those cases…and necessarily some of those cases have to be withdrawn,” she said.

Not all withdrawn cases are a loss, said Pasquino, as sometimes the Crown withdraws after reviewing evidence they believe won’t result in a conviction at trial. Sometimes, settlements can be made that are in the interest of justice as well, she said.

Downing and Enberg are considering making a submission to Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaint Agency about what happened in that case.

Officers did track down Mildred’s body, Downing said, and she is considering getting a private autopsy done.

“She will then get cremated. There’s a number of people in the community who will receive a small jar of her ashes, and then we’ll take her to the garden to bury her, in the community,” Downing said.