Honourable senators, I rise today to speak about the ceremony that was held on Sunday on Parliament Hill, when police officers from across the country came to pay tribute to colleagues who died in the line of duty over the past year.

Unfortunately, I could not attend this ceremony in person, but I can say that my thoughts are with my fellow police officers from every police force, but primarily those from the Sûreté du Québec, where I worked for 39 years.

This year’s event was rather significant because it showed that our society is in decline, while we basically sit back and do nothing. The growing prevalence of serious mental illness is contributing to this decline, yet federal, provincial and medical authorities seem to be unable to come up with effective and tangible measures to address the problem.

Eleven police officers were killed in the line of duty last year. That is unacceptable.

In addition to having an annual parade here in Ottawa, in addition to petitions signed by thousands of citizens, in addition to stories from the families of police officers, and even in addition to public pleas for help from family members of individuals who become dangerous as a result of an illness, what are we doing?

When I ask that question, all I get in response is a statement that discussions are under way to find solutions. How many years have these discussions been going on? How many more police officers and citizens will need to be killed before the government understands that aggressive people who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness cannot re-enter society?

A decade of work and consultation is not how we should be protecting our police officers and the country’s citizens from potential murderers who are being set free because someone believes they’ll take their medication and maintain self-control.

Among the 11 police officers honoured on Sunday was Sûreté du Québec Sergeant Maureen Breau, a mother who was married to another police officer. She was killed in March in Louiseville while attempting to subdue a madman armed with a sword. The individual, who was shot and killed by police officers, had already assaulted a psychiatrist in 2018 and had been identified as high risk since 2014. What was he doing on the loose?

I raise this question because just this past weekend, another mentally disturbed individual was intercepted as he was preparing to go and kill clearly identified police officers at the Sûreté du Québec station in Louiseville, where he had already committed — I kid you not — an axe attack in 2022.

There should be a limit to political, medical or judicial naivety. In my opinion, that limit has already been exceeded.

As a result, I will unreservedly support any steps taken by my police colleagues, both in Quebec and across Canada, to bring about change.