Canadians continue to feel plagued by gang violence despite the hundreds of millions that have been allocated to deter the problem, says research for the Public Safety Department.
“Seven in 10 agree Canada has a gang violence problem,” said the research, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
In addition, 20% of Canadians personally know of gang violence despite the feds’ multi-million-dollar Guns and Gang Violence Action Fund. Ottawa budgeted $390 million over five years for its anti-gang initiative..
“One in five Canadians report they or someone close to them has been affected by gang-related violence,” according to the Guns And Gangs Awareness Campaign. The rate was 24% among parents and 26% among young adults.
However, the report — based on polling of 2,069 people in Canada by Ekos Research Associates — says fear of gangland violence is now widespread.
“Perceived performance of the Government of Canada when it comes to introducing measures to address gang-related violence is quite low,” said the report.
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“Seven in 10 feel the performance has been poor (43%) or fair (27%). Only one in 10 believe it to be good.”
When asked: “How concerned are you that gangs and gang-related violence are a threat to public safety in your community?” 50% expressed concern.
When asked to rate the threat “outside your local community,” 78% said they were concerned.
When asked: “How would you rate the performance of the Government of Canada when it comes to introducing measures to address gang-related violence?” only 1% rated it “excellent.”
“Support for measures to address firearm and gang-related crime and violence in Canada is high, particularly for investments to other levels of government to fund crime prevention and enforcement programs,” wrote researchers.
The research, which cost taxpayers $96,000, found most Canadians support the introduction of more anti-gun and anti-gang measures, like tighter border controls on gun smugglers.