Quebec allocates $65 million to fight rise in gun violence related to organized crime
Posted October 20, 2020 12:54 pm.
Last Updated October 20, 2020 1:08 pm.
QUEBEC — The Quebec government is allocating about $65 million to combat gun violence and organized crime.
Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said today the combination of federal and provincial funds will be used to bolster existing police squads and to create more specialized units.
Big-city police forces say gun crime is rising in places such as Montreal and Quebec City and that officers in recent months have been seizing more weapons than in the past.
The money will fund units in the provincial police and in the Montreal and Quebec City police that specialize in online weapons trafficking and in organized crime.
About $28 million of the funding is coming from the federal government’s program to reduce violence tied to guns and to gangs.
Quebec will invest $38 million — $4.5 million of which will be taken from a fund that is composed of assets seized from people convicted of crime.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2020.
The Canadian Press
