Vancouver striking task force to understand root causes and effects of retail theft
Vancouver city councillors have voted to strike a mayor's task force composed of police, BIAs, merchants, legal experts and social service organizations to come up with solutions to curb shoplifting and retail theft.
The motion brought by Coun. Brian Montague, a former police officer, passed unanimously at the city's Standing Committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities on Wednesday.
"A large number of businesses here in Vancouver don't expect to last the next four years," said Montague. "A lot of that is due to loss from crime, retail theft in Vancouver. It continues to increase."
As the COVID-19 pandemic waned in 2022, police said they saw a more-than-30 per cent increase in shoplifting crimes compared to 2021.
The latest numbers show a 12 per cent citywide increase in shoplifting incidents in 2024 compared to 2023, with a 40 per cent increase in Vancouver's downtown core for that time period.
Retailers, businesses and community groups have provided the narrative to those numbers over the past three years with stories of repetitive crime in their shops and workers facing unsafe conditions.
"Businesses were put at risk and we've had store closures, some other significant companies that are desperately trying to hang on and not close, hoping that something will come along and help," said Jess Ketchum, co-founder of the Save our Street Coalition, which includes retailers such as London Drugs, Lululemon, Aritizia and Save-on-Foods.
The purpose of the task force is to bring together stakeholders to conduct "a thorough assessment of the root causes and effects of retail theft, including but not limited to organized retail crime, social factors, enforcement challenges, and existing legislative and policy frameworks," according to Montague's original motion posted online.
The final amended version put the task force under the mayor's office, similar to Ken Sim's budgetary task force, meaning his office would determine the membership and terms of reference for what's to be called Retail Security Task Force.
The amended motion also struck a section directing staff to explore potential funding partnerships with other levels of government.
That could come after results in six months from the task force forming, outlining its findings and making "evidence-based recommendations for immediate, short-term, and long-term solutions and strategies to reduce retail theft and enhance business security," according to the motion.
Montague told councillors the task force would look to other jurisdictions about "what's working in other cities, what isn't working," and hoped the task force would provide solutions that have so far eluded the city.
In early March, Vancouver police hosted a forum to tackle retail crime, which involved 200 businesses, law enforcement, and public policy leaders from across the country.
Police said at the time that its Project Barcode, which involves officers waiting outside stores while staff watch for known and new shoplifters, had made approximately 1,500 arrests since 2023.
Businesses and both local and provincial governments have said part of the solutions rest with the federal government over bail reform, with drug decriminalization, policing resources and mental-health reform also factors that need to be addressed in concert.
Ketchum said that reform is needed, but did welcome the new task force, in hopes it would be another approach to solving a seemingly entrenched problem that exists across B.C.
"The issues that are here in Vancouver will also apply or relate to Prince George, Victoria, Kamloops," he said. "I'm hopeful that the work that this task force will do will come up with some programs and projects that will apply provincewide."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cision Canada
32 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
The Legacy Paper Group Announces Restart of Paper Machine #8 in Port Huron, Michigan
30,000 Tons of Specialty Paper Capacity Returns Online to Meet Growing Demand for Sustainable Food Packaging PORT HURON, Mich., June 11, 2025 /CNW/ - The Legacy Paper Group, a subsidiary of BMI Group US, today announced plans to restart Paper Machine #8 (PM8) at its Port Huron facility, bringing 30,000 tons of annual production capacity back online after a four-year shutdown. The restart addresses growing market demand for sustainable, lightweight specialty papers used in food packaging and other critical applications. The mill has operated continuously since 1888 under various owners including Port Huron Sulphite and Paper Co., Port Huron Paper, Pentair, EB Eddy Paper, and Domtar Specialty Papers. PM8 itself specializes in producing high-quality, ultra-lightweight papers for quick-serve restaurant packaging, candy wrappers, medical table covers, tissue overwraps, and other sustainable applications. "The fundamentals driving specialty paper demand have never been stronger," said Mark Bessette, Managing Director of The Legacy Paper Group. "Consumer behavior shifts accelerated by the pandemic, combined with intensifying focus on packaging sustainability, have created a significant supply-demand imbalance that PM8 is uniquely positioned to address." Market Dynamics Drive Restart Decision The COVID-19 pandemic permanently altered consumer dining habits, with food delivery and takeout services experiencing sustained growth through platforms like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. This shift created enduring demand for functional, compliant packaging materials that meet the standards of leading global food brands. Simultaneously, public scrutiny of packaging sustainability has intensified, particularly through social media channels. Paper-based packaging offers distinct advantages over plastic alternatives, providing renewable, biodegradable, and compostable solutions without the environmental concerns associated with oil-based plastics and microplastic pollution. "Our customers are demanding sustainable packaging solutions that don't compromise on performance," added Bessette. "The specialty grades we'll produce on PM8 deliver both environmental benefits and the functional properties required for demanding food service applications." Strategic Investment in Growing Market The PM8 restart represents a strategic investment in the expanding lightweight food-grade paper sector. The facility's geographic location provides cost-effective access to key markets throughout the Midwest and Northeast, while established supply chains and experienced workforce enable rapid production ramp-up. "Legacy Port Huron Paper represents the rebirth of our community's rich history of making quality paper. The good-paying jobs created are well needed and will bolster our economic position in the state," said James Freed, Port Huron City Manager. "The restart builds on nearly 140 years of papermaking expertise at the Port Huron site", said Bessette. "We're combining that legacy with new investment to meet evolving customer needs while strengthening our position in the specialty packaging sector." About The Legacy Paper Group
Japan Forward
6 hours ago
- Japan Forward
AI Tool 'KIBIT': A Game Changer in New Drug Development
このページを 日本語 で読む The COVID-19 pandemic reminded the world of the importance of drug discovery. However, modern drug discoveries require massive financial investment. Meanwhile, the use of artificial intelligence for AI drug discovery is gaining attention as a way to control soaring pharmaceutical prices. And a Japanese-made AI tool named 'KIBIT' is about to open up a new stage in this field. President Donald Trump issued executive orders in April and May mandating the reduction of domestic drug prices in the United States. Accompanying White House fact sheets refer to the high cost Americans pay for prescriptions, which is 2.78 times higher than the OECD average. Prescription costs are also 3.47 times higher than in Japan. Trump sees these high costs to consumers as a serious issue. In Japan, a national drug pricing system sets medication prices, enabling access to affordable treatments due to governmental oversight. In contrast, US pharmaceutical companies can set prices freely. This often results in higher charges than in other countries. Following his May 12 executive order, Trump stated that his orders would cut prices by 59% to as much as 90% to align with the levels of other countries. This could potentially result in significant revenue losses for the pharmaceutical industry. In the case of Japan, major pharmaceutical companies such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Astellas Pharma Inc earn over 30% of their revenue from the US. According to his comments, the President could impose additional tariffs on foreign-manufactured drugs if prices are not reduced. In the search for new drugs and treatments (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) One major reason for rising drug prices is the increasing cost of research and development. The average R&D spending by Japanese pharmaceutical companies rose from ¥30.2 billion JPY ($298.7 million USD) in 1993 to 163.3 billion ($1.13 billion) in 2019 — a 5.4-fold increase over 26 years. US companies saw an even sharper rise, from $841 million (¥121.1 billion) to $7.449 billion (¥1.0725 trillion). That marked an 8.8-fold increase. Moreover, investing in R&D doesn't guarantee success. The probability of developing a successful drug in Japan dropped from 1 in 13,000 two decades ago to 1 in 23,000 recently. Despite the increasing costs, results are scarce. Consequently, the R&D-to-revenue ratio rose from about 10% in 1993 to around 18% in 2019 in both countries. Introducing KIBIT. (Screenshot ©FRONTEO Inc) AI is being eyed as a solution to reduce R&D costs by dramatically cutting time and expenses. Drug development involves four stages: Basic research & target identification Compound optimization Preclinical trials and Clinical trials. Many AI vendors are involved in drug discovery. In particular, they focus on reducing costs in the third (preclinical) and fourth (clinical) stages. However, most companies have yet to tackle the critical first stage — target identification. Introducing KIBIT. (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) The first enterprise to address this initial stage is the Japanese company FRONTEO. Utilizing its proprietary natural language processing AI engine KIBIT, the company analyzes vast medical and pharmaceutical literature to generate innovative drug ideas that researchers may not have considered. Human thinking is inherently biased. The more experienced a researcher is, the more difficult it becomes to identify novel molecular targets. Stated another way, the bias of experience often blocks new ideas. KIBIT, however, is free from such biases. It identifies new molecular targets that might be effective against specific diseases. To do so, it analyzes vast amounts of academic literature. It can even derive specific hypotheses. Furthermore, KIBIT can identify and suggest highly disease-relevant target molecules that are not explicitly mentioned in the literature. This significantly enhances drug discovery potential. How KIBIT works. (Screenshot, ©FRONTEO Inc) Only a few countries have the capacity to develop new drugs. In 2024, among newly approved pharmaceuticals in Japan, the US, and Europe, the US led with 143 products. Japan followed with just 12, roughly equal to the United Kingdom's 10. According to the statistics "Nationalities of companies creating the top 100 drugs in the world by sales (2022),": United States – 52 United Kingdom – 10 Switzerland – 9 Germany – 8 Denmark – 8 Japan – 7 Most countries, other than the US, struggle to produce blockbuster drugs. In this context, hopes are high for FRONTEO's KIBIT. If it can consistently generate innovative new drugs efficiently, it may help deliver affordable medicines to those in need, without Mr Trump's intervention. FRONTEO's AI drug discovery service, utilizing KIBIT, is already being adopted by several major pharmaceutical companies. Those leveraging KIBIT to create new drugs could become game changers in the industry. This article is contributed by FRONTEO Inc, a supporting member of JAPAN Forward. (Read the report in Japanese.) Author: FRONTEO Inc. このページを 日本語 で読む
Toronto Star
11 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Mark Carney says sacrifice is necessary to pay for defence spending. So what will Canadians be asked to do?
Mark Carney 's bold new plan to increase Canada's defence spending comes with two price tags. The prime minister's announcement was clear on one of them: more than $9 billion will be injected into military spending this year alone, and increases in the years after. The other price — 'sacrifice' — got a mention from Carney, but little more by way of detail. Federal Politics Canada plans huge boost in defence spending to hit NATO target by year's end, Carney says Prime Minister Mark Carney tore up Canada's timelines for boosted military spending on Monday 'None of these goals will come easily or quickly,' Carney said, listing the ways in which a stronger defence budget fits into his larger plans to make Canada a bigger, bolder, more independent nation. 'All will require ambition, collaboration and yes, on occasion, sacrifice.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Carney was asked at a news conference later what he meant by this. Did it mean, for instance, that all those dollars for defence would come ahead of health-care spending? This is where the prime minister got vague. He said: 'There's no true security without economic strength, and this is true for defence and security. It's true for our social programs as well. We can't redistribute what we don't have.' Carney, by his own admission, is still learning how to be a politician, but on this and in other areas, he is proving to be a quick study. It is very hard for politicians to ask citizens to make sacrifices. We saw this during the COVID pandemic, when governments and public-health authorities asked an awful lot of the citizens, whether that was mandatory vaccines, wearing a mask, or submitting to lockdowns for weeks and months on end. Canadians were remarkably good about these demands on them, by and large, but there's also no question that it took its toll on them too. The convoy protest was the most outward expression of the pent-up frustration among some of the population, but experts are also drawing some straight lines between the pandemic restrictions and the rising resistance to vaccines of other types too, such as measles. Star Columnists Opinion Andrew Phillips: Mark Carney takes a risk by choosing guns over butter The prime minister announced a 17 per cent hike in military spending on Monday. 'It will be a This is all to say that Carney is probably wise to speak in only general terms of what trade-offs the government — and Canadians — will have to make to turn Canada into a serious, fighting force. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Earlier this year, Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer, laid out for Global News what could be required to bring Canada's defence spending up to the target of two per cent of gross domestic product — which Carney said on Monday would now happen by the end of this fiscal year. Page didn't sugar-coat it. He said it would require either big spending cuts, or a budget deficit or a tax hike, or some combination of these measures. Raising the GST by one percentage point, Page offered as an example, would bring an extra $10 billion — that's just slightly more than Carney is promising to give defence this year. That last option would be political poison in a time when Canadians are reeling from affordability challenges and the havoc that Donald Trump's tariffs are wreaking on the economy. Besides, a government that just cut the carbon levy because of its unpopularity, which just received unanimous support for tax-cut measures last week, is unlikely to turn around and ask Canadians to pay more GST. Opinion Althia Raj: Mark Carney can't be allowed to ram through his plan to build big Bill C-5 has been quickly panned by Indigenous groups, human rights organizations, and There's the option of increasing taxes only on the wealthy, but Carney is in the midst of building back Liberals' standing with business and corporate Canada, which saw itself — rightly or wrongly — as under siege from Justin Trudeau's government. Assuming that running a deficit is also not on brand with Carney's fiscal-manager reputation, thus, not on at all, that leaves this government looking for big savings. Everyone always thinks this is a good idea, right up until their services or benefits or jobs get cut. As former PM Jean Chrétien liked to say, everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. None of this is to pour cold water on the idea of this big, bold boost in Canada's defence ambitions. Carney's speech on Monday was eloquent, even occasionally poetic, on this score. One of my favourite lines: 'In a darker, more competitive world, Canadian leadership will be defined not just by the strength of our values, but also by the value of our strength.' The announcement too, is buying the Liberals a lot of good words from unaccustomed places: the defence community and Conservatives. It will also give Carney and Canada some added heft at this weekend's G-7 meeting, which this country is hosting in Kananaskis, AB. Federal Politics Analysis Mark Carney revives tough talk about America and warns 'a new imperialism threatens' A Canadian government official told the Star that it is 'difficult to say whether or not we'll The prime minister is, then, to borrow from his own phrase, seeing some immediate value for his strong words on defence. Where the value of that strength will be tested is in the cost — not just the $9 billion the government is promising to lay out this year, but in the as-yet unspecified 'sacrifice' it requires from Canadians. Politics Headlines Newsletter Get the latest news and unmatched insights in your inbox every evening Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Yes, I'd also like to receive customized content suggestions and promotional messages from the Star. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Politics Headlines Newsletter You're signed up! You'll start getting Politics Headlines in your inbox soon. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
