To view video of Response to Motion 8 - Government Action on Gang Violence http://bcleg-ds1.insinc.com/ibc/mp/md/open/f/8/8/20090921wv150en?f=w&m=v...
2009 Legislative Session: First Session, 39th Parliament
HANSARD
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The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
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Official Report of
DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
(Hansard)
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
Morning Sitting
Volume 2, Number 8
Private Members' Motions
MOTION 8 — GOVERNMENT ACTION
ON GANG VIOLENCE
G. Gentner: Everybody deserves to feel safe in their own community neighbourhoods and at their place of work. It's time to take real measures to bring gang violence under control.
In my community, North Delta, it's interesting…. In a suburban community you wouldn't think this would be such a major issue, but it's hit us all — every community. I remember six years ago I had a guest in from California to stay with us. I called him a granola cruncher; he was a bike racer. He was from Sacramento, and he said to me how safe it was in Canada. He was quite overwhelmed with how safe he felt on the streets.
Ironically, that night about midnight the semiautomatics just down the street in my suburban, Sleepy Hollow bedroom community rang out, and I was embarrassed. The front door of the neighbour down the street was shot right out. It brought home the fact that gang violence is everywhere.
We also must recognize in this discussion that violence goes beyond gang violence. We sometimes forget the other part that's hitting our communities hard, and that's domestic violence.
Violence has been around and gang warfare has been around for some time — the Bindy Johal situation, his murder in the late '90s. During this particular decade it seemed to culminate. We know about the chronology and over these many years how gang violence has escalated. Even during the early part of this decade criminologists had warned of the consequences.
By the summer of 2007 the city of Vancouver prompted one of the largest police investigations in the city's history against gang-related violence, amidst fears that perhaps bystanders that were narrowly missed would soon be caught in gang-related violence.
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The Premier was quoted at the time of the situation in 2007, and he said: "It's a concern for all of us." And that was it. You know, what was the result by the fall, by November? We had a dispute by then–police chief of West Vancouver, now the Solicitor General, with the then–Solicitor General with no result. The bell rang, the clarion rang, but we had no action.
This was not simply confined to Vancouver or just gang members. Innocents were to be victims. A couple of months later the predictions came true, with innocent bystanders being Ed Schellenberg and, of course, Chris Mohan. Two innocent bystanders were killed while they were busy doing what they do best — working. Of course, there were four others with criminal backgrounds who were also shot and killed.
It took almost two years since that incident before there seemed to be any action from this government to act. Today family members still mourn. The question is: where was the action then?
Miraculously, 2½ months before an election this government seemed as though it was concerned. We were involved with the slaughter on the streets of the Bacon brothers' foray, and suddenly, we also knew that the Schellenberg and Mohan families were going to go to Ottawa and, there, talk to the Justice Committee on March 11. Just a month before then, the government decides and announces it's going to do something about it. Yes, the Attorney General did wind up going to Ottawa and joining the family, but it almost seemed too little too late.
Here we are today with a rise of gang violence in our streets that is truly appalling, and certainly it has to stop, but we also need a comprehensive plan. It doesn't excuse this government, the province, to simply walk away and say: "It's an Ottawa problem."
Since coming to office with this government in 2001, this government closed ten jails, 24 courthouses and the Vancouver Pretrial Centre. In my community of Delta it shut down our courthouse, and it moved the family courthouse elsewhere, and jails were impacted.
While this government inflicted these cuts, the number of gangs grew from ten to 129. Who's counting? I hear the members opposite say it's much higher today. The House Leader from this side was talking briefly about…. There's no initiative in the throne speech. There's nothing in the February throne speech. Frankly, I didn't read anything in this throne speech, not one mention, about gang violence.
Perhaps this is being reinvented because the government is in trouble politically. It's in trouble because of its cuts to social services, family, kids, sports. We know through the
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peer pressure that bully groups, bullying, is on the rise. We've got to go beyond simply agreeing with a plan with that of the federal government. We've got to inveigh a plan that is far more comprehensive.
It is a culture that has grown and is out of control today. The major problems with fighting gangs is that you are also fighting against drug trafficking. It seems to be the fire behind the furnace within the gang problem. It's driving the issue. It is the heart of the turf wars. We know that drugs are well beyond a $6 billion item per annum. We know that's traded in the U.S. for cocaine, which comes back to Canada, and it's traded for guns.
I have to quote Sgt. John Ward, who said: "Organized crime has stretched into every corner of B.C. and onto most city streets. It is not an exaggeration to say that organized crime is a cancer eating away at the social and moral fabric of British Columbia." Sergeant Ward was talking about every corner, including the Legislature. Let's not forget that it was a drug deal that led investigators in the raid in this Legislature.
You know, it's all amongst us. Jasmohan Singh Bains, a 33-year-old who recently went down, was fined $242,000…. It was his connection with the drug war that led to the investigation here. I'm not going to drive any aspersions on the government relative to this. I know it's before the courts. But I'm bringing to view that….
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Interjection.
G. Gentner: No, of course not.
It brings to view that it's all around us. The drug culture is all around us. It's on every corner, every street. We have got to fully understand that, yes, we have to make a pitch to the federal government. We have to work with the federal government. But this is out of hand, and we've got to certainly do something about it from a comprehensive….
I leave that with you, hon. Speaker, with the knowledge that we've got to stop the rhetoric and talk, and we've got to work together and solve this gang violence situation in the province.