Ottawa offering millions for youth anti-gang strategy

Kelowna is getting $2 million in federal funding over the next four years to come up with ideas to stop what officials call the ‘root cause’ of gang-related gun violence.

It will be targeted towards at-risk youth and young adults.

The money is part of nearly $7 million from the Liberal government’s national Building Safer Communities Fund of $250 million, going to several B.C. Interior communities.

In Kelowna, the money will be focused on school-based initiatives to interrupt the pathways to a life of crime that can tempt vulnerable youth.

“We know we can’t arrest our way out of the problems on our streets and in our communities and that’s why we’re steadfast in our commitment to focus on the grassroots causes of gun violence,” Ontario MP Pam Damoff said at a media event outside Parkinson Recreation Centre. She’s the Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino.

“For too long we’ve neglected the root causes. We’re providing funding directly to municipalities."

The money will help address social conditions for the most vulnerable youth. The initiatives will come via the school district, which aims to create programs- recreational and cultural- that can interrupt the potential for young people to choose a life among gangs.

Money is also going to Vernon, Kamloops, and Penticton among other Interior communities.

“If we make it not cool to be involved with guns and give young people positive role models and positive social experiences, you’re getting to the root of the problem by giving those kids the opportunity to avoid gangs and crime in the first place,” Damoff said.

Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas, standing alongside his Vernon counterpart Victor Cumming, said the city has already started work on its Youth Gang Prevention and Reduction Strategy.

“There’ll be elements of working with the various service providers and their contacts in the community… but initially it is a relationship that is established with the school district, and the RCMP and City,” he said.

Kevin Kaardal, Superintendent of Schools/CEO for Central Okanagan Public Schools, said the funding would improve their capacity to engage students and ensure they have positive paths forward.

"We are grateful to be working with the City of Kelowna and our community partners to increase support and protection for high-risk vulnerable youth in our school communities," he said. "Our school teams work hard to identify and support youth early."