The Ben Mulroney Show - Canadians on edge after yet another violent crime story makes headlines

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

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Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. Thank you so much for joining us on this Tuesday. September 2nd. We appreciate your time. We appreciate you joining us. The long weekend is behind us. Our kids are back at school. And we are now in, well, for all intents and purposes, it's fall. And some people feel we're experiencing the fall of Canada each and every day with the reporting almost every day of what feels like an increasing violent environment that we find ourselves in. The one place someone should feel safe is in their home. No matter what's going on in the world, you should be able to go into your house, lock the door, and spend time with the people you love in the safest of environments. And increasingly, that doesn't feel like the case.

Because on this show, I know personally we are reporting on home break-ins, home invasions, smash and gratin. You name it, far more than ever before. Carjackings. you name it. If there's something that you own that you should feel safe in, somebody is going to try to get into it. At least that's how it feels. There may be a disconnect between how much is being reported and how many are actually happening. But it does feel like we are currently in the middle of an epidemic of home invasions. And over the weekend, one of the worst ones that I've heard of sort of was laid bare. There was a homicide in Vaughn. Police say 46-year-old Abdul Alim Faruqi was killed during a home invasion in Kleinburg, Ontario, early Sunday morning. So apparently three people busted into this guy's house, put a gun to his daughter's head four years old, and took a whole bunch of stuff. And then once they were done, shot the man in the chest, killing him in front of his daughter.

In front of his daughter. The suspects are at large. Investigators believe the house was targeted for robbery, but the victim wasn't the intended target. I don't know if that makes it better. Probably not. The mayor of Vaughn is urging for bail reform. Police are seeking security footage as the investigation continues.

So, yeah, that happened. That happened. As we're sitting around debating whether or not somebody has the right to defend themselves in their own home and what is the appropriate use of force and people getting arrested for defending their homes and defending the people in their home, this happened. A bunch of criminals escalated and killed a man in front of his four-year-old daughter. And I heard earlier this morning, I don't know if this is true.

I heard that in Canada now, per capita, we have a higher rate of home invasion than the United States. Ooh, I'm going to have to look that up, but it's certainly possible. That was said by Greg Brady on the morning show here on 640, Toronto. He said that that's the number per capita, not raw numbers, but per capita. And look, the impact, even if you haven't experienced a home invasion, the fact that it's happening, the fact that it's happening in people's neighborhoods, it's like a virus, right? It's like a cold. It spreads.

People are apprehensive. They are nervous. They are worried. And we are seeing it play out in real time. here is a little bit of a of a YouTuber this is a guy all he does for a living is he reviews flashlights so he was out on a on a street reviewing a flashlight recording himself using a flashlight and he interacted with two homeowners who were none too happy seeing up someone walking by their house that they didn't know i review flashlights on youtube oh my god are you guys deaf i said a

You go to 11 o'clock at night. I am getting out of here. I wait for my kid to be done work. If you want to fucking trouble, I'll give it to you. Get the fuck. Dude. You do that. You record that.

I am recording this. Good, good. I review videos on YouTube about flashlights. Right. You are. Yeah. I mean, and by the way, one of those guys had what looked like a sniper rifle as he was like preparing to defend his home as soon as the lights went down.

So you just found. It was a hunting. rifle, but it certainly did look because it had a large scope. Yeah, yeah. They don't like the look of anyone they don't know. That's what we're dealing with now. Like people are, people are apprehensive of everyone. Back in the day, there was this story about the city of Toronto, the biggest city in Canada,

where people, as the story went, we didn't lock our doors in this city. Now, I don't know that that was true, but it was a nice thing to believe about this city. I promise you, everybody locks them. their doors now. Okay, so we found the numbers. Residential break-ins and burglaries in Canada in 2024, 293 per 100,000. In the United States, it's 270 per 100,000. So it's absolutely above the United States. And so, yeah, this is, this is who we are. Let's listen. Let's go back to a neighbor of the family where the dad was killed in front of the daughter. Let's just listen. this guy. I heard like bang

like bang noises which and some screams I think we're getting this like scattered information there is no concrete information what exactly happened what transpired. The confusion the fear the apprehension and the lack of information and the lack

of information there's just in the in the face of the unknown you are going to want to like that guy have a gun to protect yourself I don't want to live in that world But in the absence of feeling like the situation is under control, people are going to, people are going to, out of an abundance of caution, do everything in their power to protect themselves. Including walking up to a guy with a flashlight with a large rifle to say, what are you doing?

Yeah. Yeah. And if you want to hear sort of the anger, the fear, the what I think is defraying of our social. cohesion. Listen to the audio of a man who was recording a, was recording during a break-in or during a shoplifting at a mall in Toronto. And the security guards, rather than focus on the shoplifter, were focused on the guy with the camera. I can record you. I can record you. I can record. You don't touch me. Yeah. What do you mean, move along? Shut up. You shut up. You shut up. You don't tell me to shut up. You shut up. You're telling us to shut up.

You shut up. You're telling me to not to record. You think I don't know the law? The point is, this guy's just there with his camera. Meanwhile, inside the store are people stealing. and the security guards are more focused on the guy with the camera than on the guys with the stolen goods. And so when I see that and when others see that, we wonder what's going on. Everything is upside down. Criminals are treated with kid gloves and the victims are treated like criminals. The guy with the camera is the focus instead of the people doing the stealing. Nothing makes sense anymore.

And because of that, you've got someone like Pierre Polia, the leader of the opposition, he came on this show last week where he is proposing a stand on guard, the stand on guard act. Essentially, this says you can do whatever the heck you want to defend your house. And if somebody walks in and tries to break into your house, what happens to that person, it's all on them. Meaning if they die in your house, that's on them. And the homeowner gets off scot-free. And a person like myself hears that, I was like, yes, I kind of want the person who was just mining

his own business in his own home, feeling comfortable enough to do whatever he needs to do to protect his family. And when that came on the show last week, I had some pushback from some people on social media saying, hey, Ben, this all stems from a law that Stephen Harper passed that Pierre Pollyev supported. So we looked into it. It's called Bill C-26, the Citizens Arrest and Self-Defense Act of 2013. And look, if you read this, it all makes a whole lot of sense but what it seems what seems to be happening

in my mind is it is being interpreted to the benefit of the person breaking into the home to the benefit of the criminal and at the expense

of the victim at the expense of the homeowner so yes the law is there the law was written Pierre Polly have supported it however we are not living in 2013 anymore We are living in a wildly different time

and it's time that we took what is actually happening very seriously and not poo-pooing it and saying it's rage-baiting. It's not rage-baiting. People are dying in their own homes and those who aren't because they're defending themselves are being treated like criminals and getting arrested. It's time for that to change.

All right, coming up, the psychological impact of violent crime. That's next on the Ben Maloney show. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Let's be honest. We've all shared our problems in some pretty funny places, the group chat, your barber, maybe even a stranger on a plane. And, hey, sometimes that helps. But when it comes to stuff like stress, anxiety, or relationships,

it makes a big difference to talk to somebody who's actually trained to help. That's what BetterHelp is all about. They connect you with credentialed professional therapists online. And what makes them stand out is their therapist match commitment. After a quick questionnaire, Better Help does the hard work of finding someone who fits your needs. Most people get it right the first time, but if it's not a match, you can switch counselors anytime at no extra cost.

It's flexible, totally online, and you can hit pause whenever you need to. With over 5 million people supported to date globally, BetterHelp is now available in Canada with a network of counselors who have expertise in a wide range of specialties. With a 4.9 out of 5 rating based on over 1.7 million client reviews, BetterHelp makes counseling affordable and convenient, and you can switch counselors at any time for no cost. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash Mulruni. That's betterhelp.com slash Mulruni. This podcast is brought you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe.

With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Plus, Wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallarta or sending euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit Wise.com. Tise and Cs apply. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. We appreciate you wherever you find us, be it as a podcast on the radio, on a streaming app, or you might find us on YouTube or on social media, wherever your ears are we say thank you. All right, on Sunday morning, early Sunday morning, there was a home

invasion, one of the most gruesome stories I have heard in a very long time. Someone broke in to a home and the end result was a, the father has died and it was witnessed, witnessed by the young daughter. And so now she's left to pick up the pieces of her life. And we wanted to spend a moment trying to figure out how does one recover from something like this? And the best person to talk to is Dr. Oran Amatei. Doc, welcome to the show. Thank you, Ben. Look, my humble opinion, Doc, is you should feel at your safest in your home. No matter what's going on in the world, you've got your home.

No matter how crazy the world is, you can lock the door and you can put your feet up and feel safe knowing that that is your little piece of the world that the world cannot get into. So when it does come in in such a violent fashion as we're seeing more and more across this country, I don't know how one recovers from that. Well, yes, I mean, we call it the psychological sanctuary. It's called territory theory where homes are perceived as an extension of ourselves. So when someone violates that sanctuary, it causes existential insecurity, existential trauma. So you are constantly hypervigilant. You're constantly in fear.

There is no safe place for you. So especially for the victims, a child who witnessed this, I mean, we can hope that they get as much therapy as they need, but they are always going to feel unsafe, insecure, on edge, because their own sense of being has been violated. Now, we're not going to try to diagnose what this poor child is going to have, but what are the types of knock-on effects from being part of being a victim in your own home of such a violent offense? Is it PTSD? Is it something else?

Well, yeah, so PTSD, it's not a guarantee. So you can have a traumatic experience, but it all depends on the narrative that you create either by yourself or by people around you about what happened to you. So the trauma itself does not necessarily dictate that you will have those experiences. is. But for, you know, as a child is four years old, because the brain goes through a developmental process, we have what's called child of an amnesia. So old memories before four or five years old, if dealt with properly or even just naturally, they can start to fade. They can be, like they become fragments. So she has a chance to recover more than a child who is five or older does. Okay. But if she doesn't, the fact is, you know, everywhere she goes in her home or anywhere else, she's going to be

constantly hypervigilant. She's going to be, you know, worried that there's danger around the corners. Yeah. On edge. How important is, when it comes to recovery, how important is it for the criminal to be brought to justice? Because I've got to, I've got to assume that if, if the crime has never solved, or if the person doesn't see the inside of a jail cell, it's sort of like an unfinished symphony. Well, exactly. And, and that's part of the narrative. There has to be a belief that even if it's what we call a positive illusion, even if it's a false belief that, you know, good things happen, a good thing, people, bad things happen, a bad people. If you are violated, if something bad happens to you, then justice is served. Having that belief system helps people gain a sense of existential security. They feel that, you know what, I am protected. Bad things won't happen to me if I'm a good person. And if they do happen to me, you know, the world will set things right. The authorities will make it right. And in Canada, unfortunately, you know, our ironically named justice system robs many people of that protective mechanism.

Let's zoom out and look more generally at the impact of home invasions. You know, as a father, I am there to protect my kids, protect my family, make sure everybody's safe. If this happened on my watch, I would feel like I had failed. Well, yes. I mean, it's It's, it's, we are wired. Most animals are wired to protect, because, you know, the homes, as I said, are extensions of ourselves. We are wired to protect our homes, ourselves, and most importantly, our family. So if we fail in that, we failed in, you know, basically our role as the, you know,

the father, the mother, the protector. So I could understand why you'd feel that way. Yeah, it's, I honestly, I don't, if that happened to me, Doc, I don't know that I would be able to find peace within the home that had been invaded. I think I would have to, I'd have to move. Oh, for sure. I mean, the triggers there, every time you, you know, walk past some, you know, one of the spaces where something had happened or, you know, a window or door, why didn't I check

this? Why didn't I do that? Why didn't we buy this kind of, you know, glass for our doors? They couldn't break in. All these thoughts would be plaguing you constantly. Now, even if you move, it's like a horror movie, even if you leave the haunted home, unfortunately, the trauma will follow you. But seeing those triggers daily, it would be too much for most people.

It just overwhelms you. You know, there used to be a narrative that Toronto was such a safe city that no one locked their doors. Now, I do not believe that that was actually true, but it was sort of a story that people told about Toronto. That is no longer the case. And, you know, I'm noticing on social media, I'm watching videos, it seems like people are on edge. It seems like people are apprehensive. They are worried that when the sun goes down, they don't know. know what's coming.

Is it possible that an entire community, an entire society, entire city could be, I don't know, be dealing with sort of the negative impacts of these home invasions, even if it's not happening to them? Oh, for sure. The collective or the communal trauma is real because everyone says that, yes, I'm not safe in my own home potentially if it could happen to somebody else. And here's the thing, about 32 years ago maybe, there was. the just desserts murder, which you might remember, I don't know, but it was a high-scale restaurant,

so it was a nice restaurant in an upscale neighborhood, and these monsters came in, they shot a woman, they shot a few people, and one woman died. And so suddenly, this thing that supposedly happened only to other people, okay, only in certain neighborhoods, only among certain people, you know, it was now brought to, you know, middle class population, it was brought to everybody else, and everybody, I mean, all the news was constantly reporting on this now, that everyone was terrified that I could be next because it's not only happening, again, in those neighborhoods, it happened right in the center of Toronto in a really nice place. And it shatters people's safety belief that they're safe. And again, when it happens within your own home,

if it was in some, you know, I hate to use language, in some ghetto, people go, oh, par for the course. That's supposed to happen. If it's, you know, gang shootings, that happens to the gang members. But when it happens to a regular family and a regular neighborhood, everybody starts to feel unsafe because I could be next. Yeah, the social cohesion, the sort of the sense of community is getting frayed. We don't feel like together

we are better, we are stronger, we are protecting each other. It feels like it's every person for themselves. And that is definitely not sort of the characteristic of what this country is. And I don't think that I'm being sort of baiting any sort of rage here.

I'm genuinely concerned because I've never seen anything like this. Yeah, no. Our whole national sense of identity has been assaulted. And what is real versus the narrative are two different things, but it's the narrative that carries the weight. So yes, many people, they're mistrusting others, their neighbors who, you know, society in general. And so they become more isolated. And that isolation exacerbates any fears that we already have. So, and, you know, the fact that, again, our justice system is a joke. The fact that we're not allowed to go with our own instincts. Many species have what's called the, you know, the home court advantage or the territorial advantage where when protecting our own home, we fight like hell. And, you know, within that species, the intruders, they know this. So even if the intruder is larger, they have a sense. We're talking even in different animals.

It's not just human nature. It's nature nature. Where animals know that this, you know, this target that I'm going after, that they are going to fight to the death. And so they're kind of wired to know, you know, it's not worth it. If they show resistance, back away. Canada, that's not true. We don't have the castle doctrine. So, of course, the criminals, the thugs, the monsters, they know this, and they have no fear.

There's no prohibition or inhibition against doing what they're doing. Oran Amatei, thank you very much. Thank you, Ben. Yeah, and just for context, Sean Fraser, the Minister of Justice, tweeted in response to Pierre Poliev's announcement that he wanted to put forth this Castle law piece of legislation, he said, this isn't the Wild West, it's Canada. Canadians deserve real solutions that make us safer, not slogans that inspire fear and chaos for Pierre's political survival. With all due respect, and I have a lot of respect for Sean Fraser.

I've known him for years, and he's always been great to me. This was tone deaf. And also given what happened on the heels of this tweet, what we talked about before, he maybe should be pulling that tweet. Thank you.