Anger spreads over homeowner charged with assault after fighting alleged intruder; Canadian cops double down: 'Don't engage'



As Blaze News recently reported, a Canadian homeowner has been charged with aggravated assault after fighting and injuring an armed male who allegedly broke into his Lindsay, Ontario, residence in the middle of the night last month.

Amid the growing outrage — including from Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said "something is broken" in the system when one is punished for self-defense — the chief of the Kawartha Lakes Police Service fired off a scolding message to the public on Facebook, calling the criticism against cops "unjust and inaccurate."

'But as it stands, we know the best defense for most people is to comply.'

Chief Kirk Robertson added that the "law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced. This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances."

Well, things are only getting more bizarre as the issue grows hotter up north.

Turns out the break-in suspect was armed with a crossbow while the homeowner was armed with a knife, the Toronto Star reported, citing court documents.

RELATED: Blaze News original: 5 infuriating times authorities punished victims of physical attacks — as well as a Good Samaritan

Photo by BfdF/RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images

The break-in suspect — 41-year-old Michael Breen — is no stranger to law enforcement, either. The Star said in addition to the list of charges against him in connection with the Lindsay incident, recent court records show other outstanding charges against Breen, including illegal use of a credit card. The paper added that Breen also allegedly failed to appear in court, after which a warrant for his arrest was issued June 19.

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Meanwhile, those who know the homeowner — Jeremy McDonald — told the Star he's "distraught about" the charges against him.

Jesse Kalabic — who operates Thirteen Tattoo shop in the unit directly below McDonald’s second-floor apartment — added to the paper that McDonald is "concerned" and that "it’s become a very big issue now, and he doesn’t want to be in the spotlight.”

What's more, Kalabic revealed to the Star an additional traumatic element for McDonald, saying the break-in suspect "went through his [young] daughter’s bedroom window. Luckily, she wasn’t there.”

Kalabic added to the paper it’s unfortunate that McDonald — who works in construction — is facing charges when he didn't start the altercation. Kalabic also told the Star he hopes the government will investigate legal reforms concerning the level of force one can use in self-defense that “doesn’t leave the burden on the homeowner, who should always be seen as the victim.”

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A pair of Canadian writers for Blaze News — Joe MacKinnon and Andrew Chapados — couldn't agree more.

"The fact that this homeowner was charged for non-lethally confronting an intruder not only is an indictment of the Canadian legal system but also serves notice to would-be criminals: Your victims are powerless under the law to take action against you. If a thug breaks into your home through your daughter's window, you should be criminally charged for not putting him six feet under the ground," MacKinnon told Blaze News.

Chapados added to Blaze News that "while sentiments from the premier are nice, federal laws need to change. In the meantime, Doug Ford needs to pressure the attorney general and Crown not to pursue charges against the homeowner."

As concern and anger over the issue spread throughout Canada, another recent headline out of Ontario has only underscored the public's frustration with police.

Amid a pair of violent home invasions — one that claimed a homeowner's life — the chief of the York Regional Police actually told homeowners that if their residences are invaded, “don’t engage unless absolutely necessary," the Star reported in a separate story.

“In the unlikely event that you find yourself the victim of a home invasion, we are urging citizens not to take matters into their own hands,” Chief Jim MacSween said. “While we don’t want homeowners to feel powerless, we urge you to call 911 and do everything you can to keep yourself and loves ones safe until police arrive and be the best witness possible. This could mean locking yourself in a room away from the perpetrators, hiding, fleeing the home, but don’t engage unless absolutely necessary.”

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The Star said MacSween sidestepped questions about politicians such as Ford who called for stronger self-defense laws in the wake of the Lindsay incident.

“The premier can make his own statement and his own mind up about that,” MacSween noted, according to the paper. “What I would say is as a police service, we’ll follow the laws as they’re written; if the laws change, we’ll change with the laws.”

The Star said the chief soon added: “But as it stands, we know the best defense for most people is to comply.”

As you might guess, commenters ripped MacSween just like they blasted the Kawartha Lakes Police Service after the Lindsay break-in:

  • "You just gave criminals a free pass," one commenter said.
  • "Instead of telling homeowners to 'comply,' why don't you tell criminals that they will be tossed into prison [with] no chance of bail or parole and the key thrown away??????" another commenter wondered.
  • "This clown is ridiculous. When seconds count, the cops are minutes away," another commenter stated. "When a criminal enters my dwelling, my home, my family's safe place, he/she/it forfeits his/her/zems life. The criminals can comply with the law and not enter my home."
  • "Fire this coward immediately," another commenter declared.

MacSween's sentiments mirror a directive last year from a Toronto police official, who told residents amid a spike in car thefts that they should leave their car keys at their front doors so car thieves don't harm them.

“To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at the front door because they are breaking into your home to steal your car; they don’t want anything else," Cst. Marco Ricciardi said, according to City News Toronto. "A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them, and they are not toy guns. They are real guns. They’re loaded.”

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Homeowner actually charged with assault after fighting alleged intruder — and furious observers are blasting Canadian cops



Police in Ontario, Canada, said they charged a homeowner after he fought with an alleged intruder earlier this week.

Kawartha Lakes Police Service said officers responded around 3:20 a.m. Monday to an apartment on Kent Street in Lindsay for a report of an altercation between two males. Lindsay is about 2.5 hours northeast of Toronto.

'I know if someone breaks into my house or someone else's, you're gonna fight for your life,' Ford added. 'This guy has a weapon. You're gonna use any force you possibly can to protect your family. I'm telling you, I know everyone would.'

Arriving officers learned that the resident woke up to find an intruder inside his apartment, police said, adding that the intruder received "serious life-threatening injuries" as a result of the altercation.

The intruder was taken to Ross Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to a Toronto hospital, police said, adding that there is no risk to public safety.

However, police said they charged the 44-year-old homeowner with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon and then released him with a future court date. While police did not describe the weapon, CTV News reported that court documents indicate the homeowner used a knife.

Police said they already wanted the 41-year-old intruder — also a Lindsay resident — for unrelated offenses at the time of the incident. Police said they charged the intruder with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; break, enter, and theft; mischief under $5,000; and "fail to comply probation."

Police said the intruder will be held in custody pending a bail hearing when he's released from the hospital. CTV News, citing court documents, said Michael Kyle Breen's criminal record includes prior break-and-enter charges.

The incident got the attention of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said the charges against the homeowner indicate “something is broken" in the system.

"I know if someone breaks into my house or someone else's, you're gonna fight for your life," Ford added. "This guy has a weapon. You're gonna use any force you possibly can to protect your family. I'm telling you, I know everyone would."

RELATED: Leave your car keys at your front door so car thieves don't hurt you, Toronto Police tell residents. Backlash is brutal.

Indeed, observers have been delivering a steady barrage of barbs against police on social media for charging the homeowner. Here's a sampling of comments underneath a completely unrelated post on the Kawartha Lakes Police page on X:

  • "Any idea why it's illegal to defend yourself/home from an intruder with a known criminal history?" one commenter wrote. "The whole world is waiting to hear some dumb-ass woke excuse for Canadas suicidal empathy."
  • "Which one of you dufus cops charged the guy for defending his home from a felon?" another user wondered. "The world can't wait til trial to see who it was and if it was your town's dingbat policy or his own personal nincompoopery. Every line of your trial will be scrutinized online. Congrats. Yer famous."
  • "Shame on you Kawartha cops," another commenter declared. "If you did your job in the first place you wouldn't have a wanted criminal running free breaking into people's houses. Way to alienate the public, especially those like me [who] back the blue."
  • "So if a wanted criminal broke into one of your officer's houses, you'd advise them to just bend over and take it? Would you help the thief pack up your belongings?" another user asked. "Biggest chicken s**t act I've read in the news in a long time … and in this day and age, that's saying something."

The invectives apparently hit cops so hard that the Kawartha Lakes chief of police found it necessary to fire off a scolding message to the public on Facebook, calling the criticism "unjust and inaccurate."

Chief Kirk Robertson added that while it's lawful in Canada for individuals to use reasonable force to protect themselves and their property if they believe they are facing a threat, the "law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced. This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances."

RELATED: Blaze News original: 5 infuriating times authorities punished victims of physical attacks — as well as a Good Samaritan

A pair of Blaze News writers who live in the Great White North offered their thoughts on the matter as well.

"If an intruder breaks into a person's home, the homeowner should not have to consider the intruder's feelings when protecting their property or family," Andrew Chapados said. "Ontario, and Canada as a whole, needs to introduce the castle doctrine as soon as possible."

Joe MacKinnon concluded the following: "Canadians voted in the same government that unlawfully declared martial law against peaceful protesters, shrugged off church burnings, stigmatizes lawful gun owners, pushed blood libels, strained the country with unprecedented amounts of unassimilable foreign nationals, and routinely euthanizes its most vulnerable citizens. I highly doubt that there will be sustained backlash now over the prosecution of a man who woke up to find a wanted thug in his apartment and acted defensively. Canada's criminal justice system not only gives certain races preferential treatment in terms of sentencing but — as evidenced by this case — holds the lawful to a higher standard than criminal elements. It's an increasingly unworkable system where the good are punished and the bad are rewarded."

Indeed, this wasn't the first time something like this has happened in Canada.

Back in January 2024, police in Peterborough, Ontario — which is about 45 minutes east of Lindsay — charged the victim of a bat attack with aggravated assault after the victim allegedly took the bat from the attacker and hit him with it several times.

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In that case, the public also got angry at cops for charging the victim — and Police Chief Stu Betts, like his counterpart on the Kawartha Lakes, took a defensive posture and called the criticism "unfair."

The Toronto Sun reported in April 2024 that the crook who hit the clerk with the baseball bat was sentenced to 18 months in jail, while the clerk who hit him back with the bat — international student Tejeshwar Kalia — faces up to 14 years in jail.

RELATED: Trudeau has resigned, but his persecution of Canadians continues

The Sun said the video shows Kalia didn't gain control of the bat until he and the assailant were outside, and at that point Kalia lunged at the assailant, who was reaching for his pocket and said he would "stab me," Kalia added.

The paper added in a follow-up story that while GoFundMe canceled Kalia's crowdfunding campaign after it had raised $16,000 to help him pay for legal help as well as rent, food, and school expenses, GiveSendGo and its co-founder reached out to Kalia to try to help him. The Sun added that Kalia is out on bail but under house arrest, which means he can't work and has no money.

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Trump jokes that Canada should become the 51st state, but THIS recent Canadian ruling is exactly why we DON’T want that



According to a report from Fox News, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently visited Mar-a-Lago and had dinner with President-elect Donald Trump, he pleaded against Trump’s tariff plan as it would “kill the Canadian economy.”

Trump purportedly responded by saying that “if Canada can't survive without ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor,” said Fox News’ Peter Doocy.

While Liz Wheeler finds Trump’s joke both “hilarious” and “savage,” she can’t help but cringe at the thought of Canada — the most “disgustingly woke” place in North America — being part of the United States.

She reflects on a Canadian ruling from last month as part of which the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario decided that the town of Emo would be fined a total of $15,000 for refusing to proclaim June Pride Month.

According to reports, Borderland Pride — “a 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride organization based in the Rainy River District of Ontario, Canada” — requested that the town of Emo declare June Pride Month and display a rainbow flag.

“But the township refused, resulting in a yearslong process in which the tribunal ruled against the township. The tribunal ruled that Borderland Pride will be awarded $15,000, with $10,000 coming from the township itself and the other $5,000 coming from Emo mayor Harold McQuaker,” Liz reads.

Lawyer and Borderland Pride director Douglas Judson said, “We didn't pursue this because of the money. We pursued this because we were treated in a discriminatory fashion by a municipal government, and municipalities have obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code not to discriminate in the provision of a service.”

Liz can’t understand how forcing a town to hang a flag qualifies as a “service.”

On top of the fines the town and its mayor must pay, “the Tribunal also ordered McQuaker and the chief administrative officer at the municipality to complete a Human Rights 101 training course offered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission within 30 days.”

“One of the messages it sends to other townships and municipalities is that Pride needs to be in the smallest and most remote communities just as it is in larger cities,” Judson stated.

And that right there — the idea that LGBTQ+ ideology must be forced down everyone’s throats regardless of where they choose to live — is exactly why Liz can’t stomach the idea of the United States absorbing Canada.

“The left never wanted inclusion; they never wanted tolerance; they never wanted to just live their lives and be left alone. They want to force you to worship at their satanic altar,” says Liz. “Canada is one step ahead of even the worst wokeism here in the United States, but we are headed in that direction, so tariff the hell out of them, Mr. President. We don't want them part of the United States.”

To hear more of Liz’s commentary, watch the episode above.

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Pseudo-court fines town for refusing to fly imperial LGBT flag. Emo mayor ordered to undergo re-education says he won't pay.



A pseudo-court recently fined a small Canadian town and its mayor for refusing in a 3-2 vote to proclaim the month of June "Pride Month" and to hoist the LGBT activists' colors. According to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, a failure to oblige the activist group Borderland Pride constitutes discrimination.

Harold McQuaker, a small construction business owner and the mayor of the Township of Emo, Ontario — just north of the Minnesota border — remains defiant, telling the Toronto Sun Monday, "I utterly refuse to pay the $5,000 because that's extortion."

McQuaker indicated that the town council, on which he has the deciding vote, will together determine what to do about the $10,000 the court ordered Emo to pay — a sum the Sun indicated is "tougher than most criminals ever receive."

"I have a lot of respect for our four councilors," said McQuaker. "We have a special meeting of council, and they will decide that and what to do next. Either pay the fine or appeal it?"

'There's no flags being flown for the straight people.'

Following the ruling, Borderland Pride gleefully noted that McQuaker might also have to reimburse taxpayers for the legal fees associated with his years-long defense, which are estimated to total at least six figures.

Extra to imposing the monetary penalties for a democratic vote unfavorable to outside radicals, Karen Dawson of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario — a nonjudicial government entity that nonetheless issues judicial-like rulings — also ordered McQuaker and the current chief administrative officer of the township to complete the woke tribunal's re-education program, titled "Human Rights 101," having determined that the Municipal Act of 2001 did not protect council members from liability under the Human Rights Code for supposedly discriminatory actions.

After all, McQuaker dared point out during a council meeting that "there's no flag being flown for the other side of the coin. … There's no flags being flown for the straight people."

'We just don't have a flagpole at our town hall.'

The so-called eLearning Module of "Human Rights 101" claims that discrimination can be overt, hidden, constructive, and systemic. Apparently, where the tribunal is concerned, perceived offense rather than intent is what actually counts. In other words, someone's anodyne remark or neutral behavior could be discriminatory depending on the interpretation of a thin-skinned ideologue.

"I will not pay the $5,000 I have been fined and will not take the training," McQuaker told the Sun. "I did not do anything wrong."

"If anybody needs training it's the LGBTQ2+ to quit pushing their weight around and make demands that people can't live with," added McQuaker.

Contrary to the regional activist group's suggestion, McQuaker insisted the claims of prejudice are all projection.

"I don't hate anybody," said McQuaker. "We just don't have a flagpole at our town hall."

'This is about the unilateral power of an unelected, unaccountable government agency to compel speech.'

"I am a husband to my wife for 51 years, father of two, a grandfather of seven and a great grandfather of one," he said. "I consider myself a very reasonable person and a good leader for our community and I would have a lot of support if there was an election."

Borderland Pride, ever difficult to please, lashed out at McQuaker over his comments Monday, stating, "What we are seeing is a public temper tantrum from an elected official who has been emboldened by the pattern of attacks on institutions and the rule of law from the political right. It is disturbing, inappropriate, and unlawful."

"Mayor McQuaker's comments reflect a flagrant disrespect for the laws governing his public office, and he should withdraw them," continued the activist group. "Mayor McQuaker is further governed by a municipal code of conduct, which requires him to respect the authority of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. He can be sanctioned by the integrity commissioner for failing to do so. We would caution him from engaging in any further misconduct of this nature. It is very clearly beneath the expectations and requirements of his office."

Allan Stratton, a gay Canadian playwright who has long engaged in LGBT activism, blasted Borderland Pride in a recent op-ed for the National Post, writing, "This is about the unilateral power of an unelected, unaccountable government agency to compel speech."

Stratton noted further that this case demonstrates the pseudo-court has "lost sight of its mission, broke public confidence in its legitimacy and provided a counter-productive example of left-wing authoritarianism."

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