Following the heartbreaking murder of young Thomas Trudel, 16, the Prime Minister, François Legault, the Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, and the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, showed signs of impatience in front of Ottawa’s inaction on gun control.
While Prime Minister Legault said he no longer recognized Montreal, the Deputy Prime Minister sounded the charge. “Ottawa needs to do more,” she said. It is a problem which is inescapable, complex and profound and which goes beyond the sole responsibility of the government of Quebec or the City of Montreal. “
Minister Guilbault has still not received responses to her requests to meet with her federal counterpart, Marco Mendicino, and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Bill Blair. This silence is surprising to say the least in the current context of heightened tensions in Montreal, but it comes as no surprise from the Trudeau government, known for its slowness and indecision on the issue of gun control.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are participating in the efforts of the new operation Centaur– a $ 90 million police collaboration project aimed at combating gun-related violence. According to Minister Guilbault, federal agencies could add resources on the ground. The Legault government and the Plante administration are perfectly right to stamp their feet on the federal government to tighten border control measures and increase handgun control. It is not for municipalities to do so, as the Trudeau government suggested with Bill C-21. Asked about this, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his intention to strengthen gun control, without specifying what he had in mind. The Liberals should consider transferring this jurisdiction to Quebec without further delay, the file would move faster that way.
In the process, the Legault government wants an increase in the prison sentences for offenses related to firearms. This is where he is on the wrong track. The homicide of young Trudel is a crime that is already punishable by a life sentence, but that did not prevent his assailant from committing the irreparable, in circumstances which have still not been clarified. The suspect is still running. The deterrent effect does not come from the severity of a sentence, but from the risk of being caught. The more likely the crimes are to be investigated and charged, the more the criminal temptation decreases.
Part of the solution to the problem therefore lies in improving the practices of collecting and sharing criminal intelligence between police organizations (without making shortcuts that would lead to racial profiling) and increasing police pressure on criminal groups. that fuel the illegal arms market. In this sense, Operation Centaur can generate results, provided you are patient.
There was something striking in the speech of the director of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Sylvain Caron, in reaction to the murder of this uneventful teenager. The inability of the police to stem the “culture of gun »Among young Montrealers could be read on his face. In the wake of this assassination, young people and parents expressed their fears of walking in the streets and parks of red light districts like Saint-Michel.
Montreal is a safe city, said Valérie Plante. Very accurate observation from the top of the mountain, in Outremont or Westmount. In the “far east” of poor and neglected neighborhoods, the feeling of security falters and despair sets in when a Thomas Trudel or a Meriem Boundaoui fall under the bullets.
On condition of anonymity, otherwise untold youth say they are procuring a weapon to defend themselves in the event of attack or retaliation from rival gangs. When young people have reached the point of illegally buying a weapon out of survival reflex, it is proof that many institutions have failed in the mission of ensuring their safety and their development.
Montreal is not the only city in North America to experience an outbreak of gun violence. It may be an epiphenomenon that will disappear with the last hints of the pandemic. It may also be a tipping point for the youth of idle neighborhoods who are growing up in a worrying climate of the trivialization and accessibility of firearms.
In this sense, Quebec and Montreal do not need to wait for Ottawa to invest in a sustainable manner in prevention, education, social and community work and other determinants of success. There is an urgent need to act to offer all young Montrealers equal opportunities and hope for a better future.