Feds announce $12 million for community groups aimed at stopping gun violence before it happens
Posted June 29, 2022 12:17 pm.
Last Updated June 29, 2022 5:23 pm.
The federal government is investing over $12 million in Toronto community organizations aimed at ending guns and gang violence by tackling the root causes of crime.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino made the announcement alongside Mayor John Tory saying this funding will come from the Building Safer Communities Fund and will target initiatives that combat violence among youth who are involved in, or at risk of joining gangs.
It comes as the city has seen an increase in gun violence. In 2022, there have already been over 200 incidents of guns being discharged that have killed or injured 95 people.
There has already been 24 gun-related deaths, a 41.2 per cent increase over the same time period last year.
Just over a week ago on Father’s Day weekend, two people was killed and nine others were injured in six separate shooting incidents.
Mendocino said there are also other concerning statistics on the rise, including the alarming trend between intimate partner violence and gun violence.
“We’ve seen the connection between domestic and intimate partner and gender-based violence in the presence of guns go up in between the years of 2013 and 2019. The connection between domestic violence and guns went up over 30 per cent.”
The $12.3 million fund will be key to address knowledge gaps around the impacts of intervention, Mendocino said.
“This new fund uses data and evidence, including population and crime statistics, to determine where investments should be allocated. It’s a very smart and targeted approach that will ensure that communities who are most at risk will receive the support in a timely manner to invest in the safety of their residents.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory, who was present at the announcement, said it doesn’t just take the government and police to stop gun violence, but community organizations and the health care system as well.
“We need to combine [this funding] with ours and hopefully some from the province as well to put into investing in kids and families and communities to make sure that we provide an environment especially for those who are struggling in in some of the neighborhoods to prevent crime before it happens,” said Tory.
The mayor added the city has allocated $15 million for community safety programs.
“That’s going to be the best way to reduce gun crime is to stop it before it happens.”
When asked about the effectiveness of these investments related to actually stopping gun violence, Tory reiterated that point.
“I proceed from a very simple assumption which is that nobody in this city or nobody in the world is born bad,” he said. “People grow up in different circumstances. And so it is incumbent upon us in government and working with community leaders to make the investments for those who need a little bit of help and need a little bit of encouragement to be able to be on the right path.”
Founder of the One By One Movement Marcell Wilson said it will still take work from the communities.
“We have seen slow progress in combatting gun violence so in my opinion the most poignant component of combating the violence would be the community itself,” said Wilson.
“I really hope that we see this as a sustainable thing something that happens for a long time because prevention is cheaper than intervention,” he added.
Mendocino said this is just one part of how they plan to tackle gun violence. The federal government has tabled a bill that would introduce a national ban on importing, buying, or selling handguns.
