Ontario to get $121M from federal government to fight gun and gang violence

The province will receive the funds as part of a $390 million investment from Ottawa.

Thestar.com
May 8, 2023
Marissa Brinie

Ontario is getting $121 million to fight gun crimes and gang violence as part of a $390 million investment from the federal government.

Minister of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino will make the announcement at Peel Regional Police headquarters in Mississauga on Monday along with Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner.

The federal government will provide funding to the provinces and territories over the next five years to support law enforcement and crime prevention initiatives.

“Strong prevention strategies like these are (a) central pillar in our plan to ensure Canadians are safe in their communities,” Mendicino said in a press release prior to the announcement.

The program is a renewal of the Initiative To Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence, a federal crime prevention program first announced in 2017, which initially earmarked $65 million for Ontario between 2018 and 2023.

The government said previous funds went to programs like Quebec’s Operation Centaur, which fights firearms trafficking, and the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, an independent police force tasked with fighting organized crime.

Funding also improved law enforcement’s collection and analysis of firearms-related intelligence and allowed Canada Border Services Agency to enhance its detection equipment to better prevent illegal firearms from entering Canada, the government said.

The federal investment is complemented by the $250 million Building Safer Communities Fund announced last March, which provides direct funding to municipalities and Indigenous communities to support gun and gang violence prevention.

A Statistics Canada report from 2022 said that firearm-related violent crime has been increasing, and that the rate of firearm-related violent crime in 2021 was 25 per cent higher compared to ten years earlier.

In 2021, Doug Ford said his government would invest $75 million over the next three years to fight gun and gang violence.