Surrey gets $7.5 million for anti-gang programs

The federal Liberal party sent two senior ministers to Surrey Tuesday morning to announce $7.5 million in funding over the next five years for anti-gang initiatives in the city.

Flanked by local MPs and Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum,  Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan posed for pictures and shook hands with local politicians and police.

"This is my fourth time in the last several months that I've come to Surrey," said Blair, who was Toronto's police chief before he launched his political career.

"I understand the gang environment in Toronto very well — I worked on that for decades and I was responsible for those investigations for decades — but it was was important to travel across the country and come to Surrey."

The community-based anti-crime group, Wake Up Surrey — which has been critical in the past of the federal government's response to gang violence in the city — says the announcement is a positive step but much more funding is needed.

"This is not a time to celebrate photo ops or ribbon cuttings, because, in the past year, [more than] 10 South Asian youth have been killed in the Lower Mainland due to targeted shootings or their association with gang lifestyle," the organization said in a news release.

"Many more have been lured into this harmful path."

Who gets the money?

The $7.5 million will be used to fund fund 11 separate programs aimed at addressing gang violence in Surrey.

Surrey RCMP Supt. Shawn Gill says part of the money will go toward hiring two new outreach workers whose duties will include following up on calls that come in to the gang parent helpline.

"We've been given a million dollars over five years that we're going to use to hire counsellors that will work with our officers," Gill said.

"We started the helpline approximately two and a half years ago and I think, to date, we've had about 178 calls."

McCallum says each group that receives funding will have to report back to the city.

"We are going to hold the organizations that are working with us accountable," he said.

"They are going to give back to us examples of how they are spending it and how effective they're going to be."

The remainder of the money will be spent on the following programs:

• SAFE Centre - Collaboration Hub.
• Children And Youth At Risk (CHART).
• Clinical Counselling.
• Clinical Counselling/Caregiver Education.
• Female Youth Gang Intervention Program.
• High Risk Youth Justice Program.
• Intercultural Family Intervention.
• Peer Leadership Program.
• South Asian Family Strengthening Team.
• Youth and Parent Outreach Team.
• Youth Hub and Social Enterprise.