Following the conclusion of court proceedings related to the 2023 fatal Brampton fire
“The loss of a mother and her three-year-old daughter in the 2023 fire on Jade Crescent is a tragedy that Brampton will never forget.
I want to be very clear: I never want to receive another call in the middle of the night telling me that someone has lost their life because a landlord failed to do what they were legally and morally obligated to do to keep their tenants safe.
A rental property is not just an investment. There are human beings living inside those four walls. They are parents. They are children. They are families. Their lives cannot be treated as an afterthought in the pursuit of profit.
When a landlord ignores the rules, cuts corners, creates illegal units or fails to maintain basic life-safety equipment, they are not simply violating a regulation. They are putting human lives at risk.
The court proceedings arising from this tragedy have now resulted in convictions on seven charges, including offences relating to smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and fire separations. The property had been converted from a legal two-unit dwelling into four units without the required permits, and people were living there despite the property not meeting applicable Building Code and Fire Code requirements.
The sentence cannot bring back a mother and her young daughter. It cannot undo the lifelong injuries suffered by another family member. Nothing can.
But accountability matters.
And let me send a direct message to every landlord and property owner in Brampton: If you own a rental property, you have a responsibility to the people who live there. Period.
You cannot collect rent every month and then look the other way when it comes to the safety of your tenants.
You cannot treat Brampton’s rental housing as a place to maximize profits while ignoring the Fire Code, Building Code or basic standards of human decency.
And you cannot expect our firefighters, paramedics and police officers to clean up the consequences of your negligence.
Brampton will not tolerate slumlords putting tenants’ lives at risk.
That is why our Residential Rental Licensing Program matters. We are putting greater accountability into the rental housing sector and making sure landlords understand their obligations. We will continue to use every tool available to the City to make rental housing safer and to protect Brampton residents.
I also want to recognize Brampton Fire and Emergency Services for its work in investigating this tragedy and pursuing accountability. Our firefighters run toward danger to save lives. They should never have to respond to a preventable tragedy because a property owner chose not to follow basic safety requirements.
We cannot change what happened on Jade Crescent. But we can make sure that this tragedy was not in vain.
I want the last call I ever receive about a fatal residential fire to be the last one.
Not another mother.
Not another child.
Not another family.
If you are a landlord in Brampton, do your job. Follow the law. Maintain your property. Test the alarms. Protect your tenants.
Because when you rent out a home, you are responsible for the lives entrusted to you.”
– Patrick Brown, Mayor, City of Brampton
