Federal justice minister in London touts new crime bill targeting copper thieves

The Canadian federal justice minister was in London on Wednesday and proposed harsher penalties for copper thieves. CTV's Bryan Bicknell reports.

Those convicted of stealing copper from essential infrastructure such as hydro lines or telecommunications systems, could soon get zapped with stiffer penalties.

Canada’s federal justice minister and Attorney General, Sean Fraser, visited London Hydro Wednesday to explain how a new crime bill could target copper thieves.

Fraser told a warehouse full of London Hydro employees that Bill C-14, the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, would not consider the theft on its own, but the damage that it causes.

“To those who are considering taking part in copper theft or damaging our essential infrastructure: if you do damage our transit networks, putting the economic well-being and the safety of your community at risk, if you do damage to our electricity grids and don’t allow our communities to have access to power that they need, or if you take down our telecommunication networks you should expect a stiffer sentence,” Fraser stated.

Copper theft has long been an issue of concern for London, but it hit home last September when would be copper thieves attempted to steal copper from beneath the Adelaide Street bridge, knocking out power to 5,000 customers.

“How somebody didn’t die that morning, I’ll never be sure. They actually cut into live 27-thousand volt conductor. There was a fire and an explosion,” exclaimed London Hydro CEO Ysni Semsedini.

“It took us eight or nine months to re-route power in that area. We had to go from underground to overhead because the bridge was unusable. We spent over 1.1 million dollars last year in correcting, I guess the damage caused,” said Semsedini.

London Mayor Josh Morgan, who chairs the Big City Mayor’s Caucus, says copper theft disrupts critical infrastructure, putting people at risk.

“It disrupts people in their homes, it disrupts health care, traffic signalization. Everything that power supplies. You know, this is something that should have elevated status,” Morgan said.

While the new law aims to deter would-be copper thieves, the other challenge is enforcement. Fraser says the new bill will require collaboration with all levels of government, along with police.

“This conversation is going to engage not only questions of costs for cities and provinces that are going to have to ensure that they have the boots on the ground. It’s also going to require that we look at what resources, in terms of the tools, that law enforcement has access to,” Fraser said.

Meanwhile, London Hydro is hoping its new alert system will help police get to the scene of a crime much quicker. The utility has installed new tech that can detect the tilt of a manhole cover, said Semsedini.

“Our goal always is to get automation where we can, to protect the system as much as we can,” he said.

The new law comes into force July 15, 2026.