BC Gov News

Updated for clarity on April 23, 2019

• The Government of Canada has invested $327.6 million over five years to help support a variety of initiatives to reduce gun crime and criminal gang activities under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence.
• From the $327.6 million, $214 million will be made available to the provinces and territories through the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund over a period of five years. Through this fund, British Columbia will receive a total of $30 million over the full five years.
• The government's Policing and Security Branch has developed a two-year contribution agreement with Public Safety Canada confirming approximately $5.3 million in Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund funding over two years:
  • $2.6 million in 2018-19; and
  • $2.68 million in 2019-20.
• Government took immediate action to better equip youth to resist getting involved in gang-related activity:
  • provided $500,000 in secure annual funding to the Surrey Wraparound Program, which has supported more than 800 families and students to change their lives for the better;
  • provided an additional $239,000 for the Gang Exiting and Outreach Program to support those seeking to exit the gang lifestyle;
  • added $1.12 million in funding to expand the provincial Expect Respect and a Safe Education program, known as ERASE; and
  • provided over $6 million in Community Crime Prevention grants to programs that mentor youth to resist joining gangs, support women escaping violence and help Indigenous families heal from intergenerational traumas.
• In the fall of 2017, B.C.'s Premier John Horgan announced $31.3 million for initiatives to increase public safety, including:
  • more boots on the ground to go after violent drug traffickers and to disrupt drug supply lines in communities;
  • enforcement resources for all police agencies through the Province’s anti-gang unit — including more funding for projects that specifically target traffickers to stem the flow of fentanyl in B.C.;
  • increased support for police-based community outreach and funding for multidisciplinary approaches;
  • collaborating mental health social services and police agencies to proactively reach those who are seen to be at elevated risk; and
  • more funding to expand the BC Coroners Service’s Drug Death Investigation Team.
• Knowing gangs in B.C. are profit-driven and directly linked to the drug trade, government passed legislation to regulate pill presses and tableting machines, giving police more enforcement tools and making it more difficult for organized crime groups to produce and distribute illegal drugs.
• If passed, recent amendments to the Community Safety Act will give neighbours of nuisance properties – like drug labs and those commonly linked to gun and gang activity – a safe, effective and timely solution, and will give authorities more powers to shut down those sites.

• $977,966 to the Abbotsford Community Services Society's Abbotsford In It Together: Supporting Youth Involved in Gang Activity program. This program focuses on youth aged 12 to 30 years, who have been or currently are gang-involved, or are at a high risk of gang involvement. A wide range of services are offered, including recreation, mentoring, parent education, mediation, outreach, counselling for families, school support, employment readiness, skills development, monitoring and re-entry support.
• $225,000 to the Abbotsford Community Services Society's Enhancing Gang Prevention and Intervention Programming with South Asian Youth program to support South Asian female youth aged 12 to 22 years, who are at high risk of gang involvement by providing one-to-one services with a female youth worker. The program will provide mentoring services to both female and male South Asian youth who are at low to medium risk of gang involvement.
• $207,795 to the Cariboo-Chilcotin Child Development Centre Association's Future Forward program to provide protective factors to youth who are at high risk of involvement in crime and recidivism, focusing on youth aged 13 to 25 years with recent engagement in crime and gangs, and youth aged 12 to 18 years, who are at risk of involvement in gangs. The program will provide youth with customized plans including skills training, work experience and connections to mental-health supports and cultural development activities.
• $173,361 to the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre Society's Youth and Family Navigator program to engage directly with gang-involved and at-risk youth aged nine to 30 years (and their families) in and around the community of 100 Mile House. The navigator program will provide youth with assessment and connections to personalized supports, including mental-health counselling, mentoring, drug treatment, training, skill building, cultural development and work experiences.
• $450,000 to the Pacific Centre Family Services Association's Crime Reduction and Exploitation Diversion program to support individuals aged nine to 30 years in the Capital Region District, with a significant focus on Indigenous youth, who are at high risk of gang involvement or are displaying gang-related criminal behaviours and who are gang entrenched. The program will provide individualized support plans, which may include counselling, family counselling, life skills support, prosocial group activities and psychoeducational groups.
• $580,000 to the BC School Superintendents Association's Support for High Risk, Vulnerable Youth in BC Communities program to co-develop educational/crime prevention curriculum and tools with Indigenous partners. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the program will create learning resources for educators that connect to the new provincial K-12 curriculum that will align with First Nations curriculum content and First Peoples Principles of Learning. Online resources will also be explored for students and parents designed to increase awareness of local gang and drug issues, gang recruitment strategies and available supports for at-risk youth.