Tackle gangs to curb guns

When the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security asked McMaster University medical professor Dr. Caillin Langmann about the best use of resources to prevent gun violence, he didn’t even mention firearms:

“The best focus would be to spend this money on deterrents and reduction in the level of gang violence by reducing the number of youth who are starting to get involved in gang activity.”

Indeed, while a multi-faceted response to gun violence is essential, reducing gang membership must be a central part of any strategy. According to Statistics Canada, of the 297 gun homicides in Canada in 2021, police believe 137 (46 per cent) were gangrelated.

And this problem isn’t getting better: Last year, the rate of gang homicides reached its highest level since data collection began in 2005. Public Safety Canada further reports that the rate of gangrelated homicides in Canada’s largest cities has nearly doubled since 2013.

Given these statistics, it’s a good thing the committee’s report, A Path Forward: Reducing Gun and Gang Violence in Canada, devotes a substantial amount of space to gangs. Yet in response to the report, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino highlighted measures like gun control, law enforcement and border patrol.

Toward the end of his response, Mendicino did mention the Building Safer Communities Fund, which has earmarked some of its $250 million to support community-led projects that work with young people involved in gangs or at risk of joining them.

Nonetheless, the committee emphasized the need for more support for these initiatives. The committee heard about the numerous risk factors for engaging in gang violence: poverty, lack of access to housing, education and health care, racism, mental illness, social isolation and extremist ideologies.

While addressing some of these factors, such as poverty, housing and health care, requires a broad societal response, others can be modified through community-led projects.

Such programs are particularly important for Indigenous people who bear the burden of intergenerational trauma. The mass removal of Indigenous children from their families, combined with multiple placements in the foster care system or in residential schools, dramatically increased the risk of Indigenous youth joining gangs.

In fact, Marlene Orr of the Native Counselling Services of Alberta noted that involvement in child welfare systems that separate families, punish parents and children for historical trauma behaviours leads youth directly from foster care to the prison system. And prison itself is another risk factor, as inmates often join a gang for protection.

The best way to avoid this fate, is, of course, to avoid joining a gang in the first place, and this is why programs targeting youth are particularly valuable. But even if young people have become gang members, it’s still not too late, as many community programs offer exit strategies for leaving the gang.

Many of these programs are founded and run by ex-gang members, while others are operated by family members of those who have lost a relative to gang violence. Still others target a particular youth demographic, such as those run by and for Indigenous people.

And the value of such programs is undeniable. Langmann submitted a brief citing a 2012 Public Safety Canada report that found some youth anti-gang programs reduced gang participation by about 50 per cent.

Funding for these initiatives is, however, lacking. The Building Safer Communities Fund is helpful, but many witnesses testified that programs serving vulnerable communities remain “significantly underfunded and that to effectively reduce gun and gang violence, additional investments to support them are required.”

To that end, the committee recommended Ottawa provide streamlined and stable funding for gang diversion and exit programs. Mendicino didn’t commit to doing so, but did say the government “agrees in principle” with the committee report. And if that principle involves stopping gun violence before it starts, Ottawa will provide the funding the programs need, and Canadians deserve.