Northwest communities have experienced a drastic spike in crime over the past two years; break-ins, robberies and in some cases, violent crimes have been on the rise and local community leaders are calling on their members of parliament and legislative assemblies, as well as the federal government, to take immediate action and institute public safety changes to legislation.

Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, Taylor Bachrach, has been meeting with municipal leaders in the region to get a ground floor look at what they’ve been dealing with.

Earlier this month Bachrach, along with Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, met with Terrace mayor Sean Bujtas to hear from him about the exponential increase in crime his community has been facing and what can be done in the short and long-term to deal with the situation.

In the House this week, Bachrach pressed Federal Justice Minister David Lametti about how the Liberal Government will address growing crimes rate in northwest BC and what his office is doing to rectify the situation and make changes to the federal bail program.

"Will he be introducing those reforms in this place to ensure our communities are safe?" Bachrach asked Lametti during question period.

Although funding increase in metal health service and housing would get to the root causes of some of these issues, mayors are calling for immediate action to increase public safety and ensure repeat offenders aren’t easily released.

Listen to the full interview below.