Feds giving B.C. $54M to fight gang violence as conflict goes provincewide

B.C. will get more than $54 million in federal funding to help tackle an expanding gang and gun violence problem, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced Monday.

The cash is part of a commitment to invest $390 million across the country for programs “to stop gun crime and gang violence before it starts.”

The money will be provided over the next five years as part of the “Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence,” which was first announced in 2017 for an array of efforts to combat gang violence.

From 2018 to 2023, B.C. was allotted $30,530,488 under the program — so would be seeing a substantial increase.

Past funding in this province has been used to support the Organized Crime Agency of B.C., which targets “gun smuggling, drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime,” Mendicino said.