The Conservatives unveiled their plan to tackle gang violence on Friday, including targeting gun smuggling operations.
Kenny Chiu, running for re-election with the party in Steveston-Richmond East, said the majority of gun violence crime in Canada is committed with smuggled weapons.
He said the Conservatives, if elected to government, would, for example, work with CBSA, RCMP and American authorities to target smuggling operations.
Conservatives would also amend the Criminal Code to make it easier for police and prosecutors to go after gang networks and prevent the import of illegal guns, Chiu said. However, he said, Conservatives would stop proposed legislation, introduced by the Liberal government, that would remove mandatory minimum penalties for some firearm and drug offences.
He also said the party would work with organizations on prevention programs to help keep youth out of gangs and partner with the private sector to create a gang exit strategy to give members a way out, particularly young recruits.
“You know, 99 per cent of us are law-abiding, peaceful citizens of this country, but it’s the thugs, the people who don’t care about other people’s lives, that are roaming around, and as a federal government we have to put this as a priority and tackle the problem,” said Chiu.
He said he was at the Vancouver International Airport boarding a flight for Ottawa, just an hour before a fatal, targeted shooting took place there in the spring.
“It gets to you personally,” he said.
It was one of several targeted shootings seen in Richmond and across the Lower Mainland in recent months related to the ongoing gang conflict.
Meanwhile, Sandra Nixon, NDP candidate in Richmond Centre, said she wants to see “greater efforts to target the root causes of why people join gangs,” such as youth feeling alienated from their communities.
Nixon said that each community is unique and the NDP would work on tackling the issue from “a local perspective.”
“So the NDP would be wanting to prioritize funding for anti-gang projects that help deter at-risk youth from joining gangs…and funding community-led initiatives.”
She pointed out she’s long been involved with and advocated for restorative justice, for example, supporting the school district's partnership with the Richmond-based restorative justice program, which works with victims and youth involved in crimes.
“They have to face their victims, they have to face the consequences of their actions, and try to work through it, and we often hear really positive stories about that turning peoples’ lives around. And then those people go on to become speakers to youth, in terms of preventing youth from joining gangs.
“So that would be a place where I would like to focus our efforts.”
Nixon added that promoting mental health, food security, access to education and affordable housing also help to reduce crime.
Further, she said, the NDP would work to fight money laundering which fuels organized crime and set up dedicated hate crime units in local police forces, as well as convene a national working group to counter online hate.
