IN THE LEDGE – ‘In Kamloops, we have open gang war and unchecked violence’
RCMP officer guards crime scene in Kamloops. (Image: File photo)
Excerpt from Question Period on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
Hon. M. Farnworth: We are going to do everything we can to keep communities safe, and it’s working.
T. Stone: Well, tell that to the young mother who was breastfeeding her four-month-old and was violently assaulted by a stranger. Nobody believes this minister. He can rattle off all the statistics that he wants to. The fact of the matter is that the results on crime are terrible.
In Kamloops, we have an open gang war and unchecked violence, with five brazen shootings over four days. The RCMP have issued unprecedented warnings telling people in Kamloops to watch out for flying bullets in broad daylight in neighbourhoods across our city, from the south shore to the north shore. Parents are, frankly, terrified to let their children play outside fearing that any street could become the next gang battleground.
My question to the Premier is this. Why has this soft-on-crime Premier so badly failed to protect so many communities, leaving people in cities like Kamloops fearing for their safety?
Hon. M. Farnworth: I heard the comment from the Leader of the Opposition, which once again illustrates just how little he really does take public safety in the province of British Columbia. The member says he doesn’t care about bike theft. Tell that to a kid who worked really hard to earn money to save for a bike, and he says he doesn’t care if the bike gets stolen. That is shameful.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Members. Members. Shhh. Shhh.
Hon. M. Farnworth: In the case of the gang activity in Kamloops, what I can tell the hon. member is that police have devoted significant resources in terms of…. The gang enforcement unit is up in Kamloops. They are providing additional resources to police on the street. The warning that was put out was put out deliberately in terms of two individuals. A number of arrests have been made already, and there’s a surge of resources into that community.
It’s one of the reasons why this side of the House put in place the first witness security program, so that police have the tools and resources they need to be able to deal with gang violence. It’s why we just announced the creation of the new integrated gang homicide team, which brings together resources to focus specifically on gang activity. We’re putting in place the resources that communities have asked for. We’re putting in place the resources, the tools, that police have asked for. We will continue to do that to keep communities safe.
The Speaker: Opposition House Leader, supplemental.
T. Stone: The recent announcement from the minister devoting some resources to a new integrated gang homicide team made very clear that this team does not “provide resources to anywhere outside of the Lower Mainland. It’s to disrupt gang activity in the Lower Mainland.”
The minister, this government, has forgotten that there’s actually gang activity taking place all across the province. Our beef is not with the RCMP in Kamloops. It’s not with the hard-working men and women in the police that are doing their jobs. Our beef is with this minister, who’s not doing his job.
Now, 18 months ago, it was this NDP Premier who, again, promised that people would feel safe in their communities. Yet in Kamloops, in addition to this unprecedented gang activity that’s taking place, this gang warfare, there’s continuous residential break-ins from repeat offenders that have left residents in the Dufferin, Pineview and Brocklehurst neighbourhoods of Kamloops feeling terrorized and helpless. Known criminals are brazenly entering homes and stealing property. They’re facing no consequences under this Premier’s catch-and-release policies. Residents have had to go to the extreme lengths of establishing their own community patrols out of sheer desperation.
So my question, again, to the minister is this: when will this soft-on-crime Premier stop prioritizing the rights of repeat offenders over the rights of honest, hard-working, law-abiding citizens to be safe in their homes and in their neighbourhoods?
Hon. M. Farnworth: I appreciate the question from the member. This government takes public safety in the communities extremely seriously. That’s why, since the very beginning, our plan was to put in place a witness security program to allow the RCMP to solve many of the kinds of violent, difficult types of crimes that have taken place that the member refers to, something that they failed to do when they sat on this side of the House.
That’s why we funded sexual assault centres, unlike the cuts that were made when they sat on this side of the House. That’s why this side of the House put in place the repeat violent offender program, the ReVOII Program, which used to be a program which they cut when they sat on this side of the House.
That’s why we’ve spent more than $230 million on hiring 277 RCMP officers…
Interjections.
The Speaker: Shh. Members.
Hon. M. Farnworth: …something they could have done, again, which they failed to do.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Shh. Members. Members.
Minister.
Hon. M. Farnworth: Thank you, hon. Speaker.
Major crime unit impacts Kamloops. Highway patrol impacts Kamloops. Small rural communities that surround Kamloops are benefiting from those investments. The freeing up of resources around IHIT, because of the creation of the new gang homicide unit helps Kamloops. We have put significant resources into communities right across the program. The site fund…
Interjections.
The Speaker: Members. Let the minister conclude.
Hon. M. Farnworth: The only thing missing in action on public safety was that side of the House when they sat on this side of the House. They all made cuts. We make investments, and we’re going to continue to do that.
Source: BC Hansard.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Our society is polarized and the blame must be placed directly where it belongs on the political atmosphere created by politicians who are desperate to get re-elected. These politicians fear mongering and do not provide evidence for their comments. Voters believe what they hear when the message aligns with their view of the world. These voters want the guillotine for criminal offenses.
In the Middle Ages those who picked pockets and were caught their head was placed on the chopping block, however, these events were favorite hunting grounds for pickpockets. In Iran drug use and possession is punishable by death or life imprisonment and yet there are 1.2 million drug-dependent people in the country out of a total population of 75 million.
Currently, China, India and Mexico remain the primary sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances even though they have strict laws against their production. What political party was in power in 2015 when three men were found guilty in BC Supreme Court for production of methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and cocaine in a lab in Barnhartvale?
Politicians must deal with the policy and provide verifiable alternatives to that policy rather than feed the fear factor in crime. Politicians know as long as PROFIT exists dirty drugs and crime associated with drug use will remain and turf wars will get worse regardless of what political party is in power.
Decriminalization eliminates the profit and politicians know that. The key to decriminalization is to provide support to those already addicted and work at eliminating the factors that lead young people, mostly men, to become addicts.
Addiction is associated with many factors such as, and not limited to, poverty, unemployment, economic inequality, and social and economic disadvantage. Criminalization creates a market for street drugs which are strongly associated with overdoses and crime, particularly the most serious offences including assault, robbery and homicide.
Punish the dealer with long jail sentences, and that is where law reform must come in and implement treatment with strict regulations with decriminalization will lead to better results. The real problem starts when a child asks his teacher “which parent do you want to sign this report card: my natural father, my stepfather, my mother’s third husband, my real mother: or my natural father’s fourth wife who lives with us”
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Decriminalization and the wacko supporters of the BC implementation have heavily contributed to these gang wars and the resulting shootings in the community. Layer on top a sprinkle of no consequence justice, and here we go.
And isn’t it so that supporters of decriminalization inherently support the manufacture and distribution of hardcore drugs? If the drugs stopped, there would be no drugs to sell or abuse! Unless of course the government steps in to fill the void, as it eagerly does with opioids, now sold for a couple bucks on the street. An amount easily within reach for youth.
Also still waiting for Bepple’s revised Gaza motion. It’s now significantly overdue according to her last statements. The sidebar negotiations with council must be tense. Or maybe she’s waiting for Mr. Braun’s response to her solicitation of mentorship whilst in the middle of his report.
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