Canada’s small businesses are warning change is needed to tackle crime as a new report finds almost half report having had a direct experience of criminal activity.
The report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), released Thursday, showed 45 per cent reporting being directly impacted by crime and community safety issues this past year, ranging from vandalism to litter like drug paraphernalia.
That’s up from 24 per cent who said the same last year.
Among the biggest concerns were vandalism and breaking and entering, and theft and shoplifting at 63 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively.
“Small businesses are increasingly getting worried,” SeoRhin Yoo, the CFIB’s senior policy analyst and co-author of the report, told Global News. “They’re struggling to kind of get a handle on the increase in crime that they’re seeing across Canada.”
According to the report, in the past three years small businesses reported a median cost of $5,000 spent on responding to crime, including covering losses from theft, repairs from break-ins and investments into security to better protect themselves.
The CFIB added the amount was a “conservative estimate” and did not include costs from a loss of productivity or businesses opportunities.
“It’s definitely taking a financial toll, you know, an emotional toll on a lot of the small business owners as well,” Yoo said. “It definitely is impacting them revenue-wise, just because they are seeing that customer deterrence.”
Const. Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association and a Vancouver officer, told Global News he’s not surprised by the numbers and said a lack of resources for police are creating more of an issue.
“This is an example of where you need more resources so that police have greater capacity to respond to these needs,” he said.
He added police are “one part of the equation,” saying that Canada needs a criminal justice system with capacity to prosecute offences and find alternatives where needed such as if the person is dealing with mental health or substance abuse.
It’s not just break-ins or thefts either that are causing a problem, with 63 per cent of businesses reporting community safety issues with waste and litter the biggest concern.
While people may think of these terms to refer to a discarded candy wrapper or other type of trash, the CFIB says it also refers to things like drug paraphernalia or even human excrement, which could require a call to a professional to remove.
“This also creates a sense of broken window theory, where if you see something like a broken window, it kind of promotes a little more crime in the area just because people believe that the area is not being taken care of and that kind of prompts people to act a little more chaotic,” Yoo said.
The issues have both the CFIB and the Canadian Police Association urging more action by governments, and 92 per cent of small businesses calling for improvement of how repeat offenders are handled by the federal government.
They say provincial lawmakers need to prioritize action on poverty reduction and mental health issues.
“What small businesses would like to see is governments working a little bit more together to solve this problem a little bit more efficiently,” Yoo said.
When the crimes happen, a majority of small businesses — 54 per cent — said they file a police report, but just 33 per cent say they’re satisfied with police response times and the services received.
Another 37 per cent don’t always reach out to police, of which 83 per cent said they don’t think it will make a difference and 53 per cent say it’s due to a lack of police response.
Stamatakis said the lack of resources make it difficult to respond to every crime.
“If you’re a small business and you’re calling the police and you’re in a queue sometimes for hours, other times for days and you’re not getting the response you think you should be getting, eventually you’re going to stop calling,” he said.