Mauro Francis: Time is running out to restore order

Without a reversal, British Columbia will be stuck with the institutional disorder that topples civilisations.

(The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus, by Carle Vernet - 1789.)

Mauro Francis is the Executive Director of the South Vancouver Community Policing Centre.

Since the dawn of time, human societies have offered the basic trade-off of ceding certain freedoms in exchange for security and stability.

Empires and republics endured because they enforced order, something that benevolent theories can rarely accomplish. Enforcement takes many forms, from lax oversight and the rule of law applied through the courts to outright state repression. Regardless of the example, weak enforcement signals the beginning of the end, time and time again.

British Columbia now finds itself testing the limits of that historical lesson.

Rising crime and the normalisation of antisocial behaviour have gone on for so long that it has now become a generational issue. It has begun to shape how people function in their day-to-day lives, and whether they see a future in this province at all. A society that cannot guarantee basic public safety is not one worth participating in, and British Columbians are starting to notice.

As Canadians, we leaned heavily on structures passed down through generations, or what might be called our institutional inheritance. We respected the courts when they brought criminals to justice without hesitation, and law enforcement when it stood as a clear warning to would-be offenders. Building all of this took centuries of steady effort. Lately, though, many of the checks and balances embedded within our institutions have become visibly strained, and in many cases, outright undermined.

As many of us enter the next chapter of life and begin to think of starting a family, the challenges around us are more present than ever. Streets feel unsafe as repeat violent offenders cycle endlessly through our broken justice system, and our beloved institutions appear more focused on managing optics than addressing this millennia-old human need for safety.

B.C.’s trajectory is therefore not merely a provincial concern, but also a test of whether we, as a society, still understand public safety as a prerequisite for social cohesion. It is certainly not an aspect of society that we can take or leave, as progressives would like to have you believe.

Zooming out for a second and looking through a global lens, British Columbia’s challenges are unfortunately not isolated.

Across the Western world, countries that were once models of stability and civic cohesion now face similar crises. Places like Sweden and Germany, as well as much of the Anglosphere, have pursued radical social policies and encouraged degenerate social activity. We are seeing a global pattern of sheltered elites blowing our civilisational capital on anti-civilisational projects for what appear to be no good reason at all.

Remember, policies that normalise disorder are often created by those insulated from their consequences and removed from the realities of everyday working life. Those trying to put down roots and start families do not enjoy that luxury.

There is a common thread with B.C.:

Crime and gang activity have become everyday occurrences. Public spaces that used to function as neutral, shared spaces have become battlegrounds for endless ethnic conflicts and open drug use, while the burden of endless bureaucracy struggles to enforce order, leaving us all helpless.

Extortion of small businesses has now reached a breaking point in cities like Surrey, driving out commerce and entrepreneurial confidence. Our own province’s resource economy is being dragged down by the courts and foreign-funded anti-development activists, with no clear path back to certainty for investment.

Our own elected governments cannot decide if we should be proud of B.C. or ashamed of what made the province what it is today. Foreign interference has tarnished the integrity of our elections.

All of it feels like it is breaking down, and that ordinary citizens can do nothing about it. These are not the symptoms of a civilisation that has a future, but one that is destined to fade or be superseded by something better.

A society that does not ensure its citizens’ safety slowly loses the very conditions that allowed it to flourish in the first place. When civilisational capital is spent so carelessly, dysfunction becomes the norm and collapse begins. Once a country’s youth quickly recognise that safety is not guaranteed, they adjust their plans or leave altogether.

I often wonder whether we are in the final stages of this New World civilisation-building that began in the Americas in 1492, and is now being ended prematurely by rampant corruption and decadence that will destroy us from within.

Or, could we be living in our own late Roman Republic? That was a period defined by fragmentation and eroded institutions, which ultimately led to mass upheaval, reform, but also a revival of Roman civilisation.

The Romans themselves certainly never looked back once the Republic was vanquished by determined men within it, who wanted their people and country to be strong.

Perhaps we are on the cusp of our own Roman Empire, ideally without the bloody conquests that came with it. It was a time when brave reforms brought renewed civic responsibility and restored strong institutions, allowing society to flourish once more.

In short, the future of a country is measured by the prospects of its youth, and in B.C., things seem bleak. For our decision-makers, present and future, listen to what the youth are saying. That is where the future of B.C. lies.

Mauro Francis is the Executive Director of the South Vancouver Community Policing Centre. He was the Conservative candidate for Burnaby North—Seymour in the 2025 federal election.