Question Period Note: Government Measures to Combat Gang Violence

The Government of Canada’s commitments to combat gun and gang violence and to counter the social conditions that lead to criminality.

• Gang activity and violence is a reality in Canada and it affects communities large and small across the country.

• We recognize that in order to reduce gang violence on our streets and in our communities, we must focus on countering the social conditions that lead to criminality.

• We will help create safer communities by giving young people the opportunities and resources they need to avoid choosing lives of crime by providing $250 million over five years directly to municipalities and Indigenous communities to support youth programming.

• This complements our government’s previous investments through the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence. More than $214 million, over five years, is being directed to our provincial and territorial partners to combat gun and gang violence under the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund. Over $8 million is allocated to the Youth Gang Prevention Fund to support Indigenous communities.

• Budget 2021 allocated $32.1 million to the RCMP to produce intelligence products, promote outreach and stakeholder engagement, and build capacity to intercept illegal firearms in Canada. The Budget also allocated CBSA to receive $92.9 million to enhance the operational response related to gun and gang violence, including new equipment and facilities.

• Public Safety is demonstrating leadership through supporting improved data gathering/reporting and research around gun and gang violence.

Increasingly public shootings are happening in Canada’s larger municipalities over the past year. In the Lower Mainland since January, these shootings have involved youth as young as 14 years old, potential mistaken identity of a corrections services officer, and retaliatory shooting deaths in public, high traffic areas, such as the Vancouver International Airport, a public recreation facility, a crowded park and a walking path connecting Vancouver’s downtown area with Stanley Park. In February, a 15-year old girl was shot to death on the street in a Montreal suburb. In May 2020, a six-year old boy narrowly escaped injury when caught in a shooting in downtown Toronto.

Generally, firearms-related homicide doubled from 2013 to 2017 (134 to 267), fell slightly in 2018 (249), and increased again in 2019 (261). Shootings are now the most common method of homicide. According to police, gang violence accounted for approximately 51% of firearms-related homicides in 2018 and 53% in 2019.

Program Design for the $250M to communities

In the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government committed to providing dedicated funding of $250 million over five years, beginning next fiscal year to municipalities and Indigenous communities to support prevention and intervention programs to reduce gun and gang violence. This funding will compliment work that is currently underway under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence (ITAAGGV).

The strategic goal of the program is to prevent and reduce gun and gang violence using a collaborative, multi-pronged approach which focuses on prevention and intervention activities at the community-level. According to the Fall Economic Statement:

‘’To crack down on gun crime and make our communities safer places to live, the government proposes to provide dedicated funding of $250 million over 5 years, starting in 2021-22, for municipalities, community-led initiatives and Indigenous communities, to support anti-gang programming. This investment will be delivered by Public Safety Canada and will support programs aimed at youth gang interventions through wrap-around supports. This funding will complement the government’s previous investments to support provincial and territorial initiatives.“
Source: 2020 Fall Economic Statement (https://www.budget.gc.ca/fes-eea/2020/home-accueil-en.html), p. 101

This funding of $250 million will flow directly to municipalities and Indigenous communities, including self-governing Indigenous communities over five years starting in 2021-2022. Communities are best placed to determine the solutions to suit their unique needs and this funding seeks to initiate momentum and complement existing programing to create lasting generational change in the gang landscape in Canada.

In accordance with the Fall Economic Statement, $15 million will be allocated for 2021-22, with $58.8 M allocated each year until 2025-2026.

Source: 2020 Fall Economic Statement (https://www.budget.gc.ca/fes-eea/2020/home-accueil-en.html), p. 110

[Redacted]. New terms and conditions will also be developed for the new program. PS will commence early engagement with PTs and larger municipalities to discuss the implementation approach.

Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence

The new funding builds on the Government’s earlier investments, in 2018, of $358.8 million over five years, and an anticipated $100 million ongoing, to establish the ITAAGGV. The majority of financial resources, approximately $226.3 million over five years, are allocated to provinces and territories (PTs) (over $214 million), under the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund (GGVAF), to combat the issue of gun and gang violence in communities across Canada by distributing to partners within their jurisdiction that can help:
• Develop and deliver gun and gang violence prevention and intervention initiatives;
• Enhance law enforcement and prosecution capacity to address gun and gang violence;
• Support data gathering/reporting, and research, knowledge development and information around gun and gang violence;
• Provide training for enforcement, prevention or other professionals; and,
• Support for the development/refinement of strategies on gun and gang violence and the measurement of results of initiatives.

All PTs have signed multi-year funding agreements under the GGVAF.

These resources complement existing efforts under the National Crime Prevention Strategy through the Youth Gang Prevention Fund, which received additional $8 million over four years beginning 2019, to fund prevention and intervention activities in Indigenous communities across the country.

As a horizontal initiative, the Government also provided $86 million to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada Border Services Agency to enhance firearms investigations and strengthen controls at the border to prevent illegal firearms from entering the country.

2020-21 Allocation of GGVAF Funding

• Newfoundland, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 21, 2019, received $162,233 in 2019-20 and $380,786 in 2020-21.
• Prince Edward Island, whose agreement length is pending, does not include totals for 2019 20 and received $387,316 in 2020-21.
• Nova Scotia, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 6, 2019, received $416,269 in 2019 20 and $977,051 in 2020-21.
• New Brunswick, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2019, received $238,406 in 2019-20 and $559,577 in 2020-21.
• Quebec, with a 5 year agreement signed on November 6, 2019, received $8,100,748 in 2019 20 and $9,635,901 in 2020-21.
• Ontario, with a 5 year agreement signed on December 10, 2019, received $9,377,756 in 2019 20 (including carryover funds from year 1) and $13,533,928 in 2020-21.
• Manitoba, with a 5 year agreement signed on February 4, 2020, received $1,174,313 in 2019 20 and $2,756,304 in 2020-21.
• Saskatchewan, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 1, 2019, received $1,046,695 in 2019-20 and $2,456,764 in 2020-21.
• Alberta, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2020, received $4,684,258 in 2019-20 and $6,166,714 in 2020-21.
• British Columbia, with a 5 year agreement signed on January 21, 2019, received $2,686,047 in 2019-20 and $6,304,591 in 2020-21.
• Yukon, with a 5 year agreement signed on December 21, 2018, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.
• Northwest Territories, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2019, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.
• Nunavut, with a 5 year agreement signed on February 21, 2019, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.

The Provinces and Territories complete an Annual Performance Report for the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund. The first report for this program was completed in June 2020 and covers the 2019-2020 results. Early analysis of the data shows that since the inception of the program, PTs have indicated a positive effect on their ability to address Gun and Gang violence within their respective jurisdictions. Moreover;

• 100% of Provinces and Territories indicated that GGVAF funding has enabled them to better respond to gun and gang violence in their jurisdiction,
• 58% of Provinces and Territories have integrated knowledge from funded initiatives into their practice or decision-making, and
• 67% of respondents have provided new resources dedicated to guns and gangs within their police services.

The main objective of the GGVAF is to provide funding to six (6) key areas including intervention programming, training, action-oriented research, prosecution activities, improvement of data, and law enforcement efforts. $26.2M has been distributed to date to the Provinces and Territories and redirected towards to the following five (5) key areas as follows:

• Intervention Programming: $13,081,886.00
• Training: $1,240,424.00
• Action-oriented research: $891,164.00
• Prosecution activities: $213,043.00
• Improvement of data: $10,732,120.00

The remainder has been directed to law enforcement efforts; there has been 59 police service personnel hired to date of the 265 expected personnel to be hired throughout the duration of the funding.

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