North Vancouver receives almost $2M in anti-gun, gang violence funding

A North Vancouver youth worker says keeping kids out of gangs starts with community care.

Natasha Rivard-Morton, the youth centre coordinator at Parkgate Society, is hoping a nearly $2 million investment from the federal government, will help the organization hire more staff to do that.

“Having staff who are trained that can work regular hours, building rapport with youth is number one when trying to build any relations. Sometimes in a one-on-one session with youth, it can take up to a month before they open up and give you the heavy load,” she told CityNews.

The federal funding, announced on Thursday, is part of the nationwide program “Building Safer Communities Fund” — a federal plan to get guns off the streets and to stop gang violence. The District of North Vancouver will receive just under $1.8 million out of the national $250 million program.

“People [with] power are targeting young folks to steal for them, maybe it’s sexual exploitation, maybe it’s recruiting other youth in various structures that promote racism and transphobia. These different groups of people attach themselves to young folks who are not being supported at home or at school,” Rivard-Morton said.

Burnaby – North Seymour MP Terry Beech says he plans to use the money to address the root of the crime before it starts.

“Here today, we are making new and direct incremental investments in public safety,” Beech said. “This new fund will use data and evidence including population and crime stats and on-the-ground feedback to determine where investments should go should be allocated”

According to Statistics Canada, in 2021 there were more than 8,000 incidents of violent crime where a firearm was used. In the same year, there were 125 homicides linked to organized crime or gangs in B.C. alone.

District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little says he’d like some of the federal money to go to mental health resources in the community, which he thinks is crucial to keeping kids from turning to gangs, which often lead to interactions with police.

“When your social services have a gap, what often happens is that the RCMP is used to fill all those holes. They are there at your family’s worst, they are there when there is a mental health crisis but they are only there because they is a gap in the system

“While the police do the best job they can, they are quite often not the right resource to be responding to issues in our community. When you call 911, you get police, fire, or ambulance. Well, what if you got police, fire, or ambulance and mental health call? That person may not want the police showing up at the door and can use the other tools available,” Little explained.

There are no official plans yet on how the money will be used in the district, but the residents will have a chance to weigh in during community consultations this year.