The murders of three teenagers in 2021, Meriem Boundaoui, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey and Thomas Trudel, and that of Amir Benayad in 2022, challenge us. Young victims of sexual exploitation also. The lack of respect for life and the feeling of impunity of street gang members are fostered, among other things, by the laxity of Canada’s laws.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
In order to prevent the 187 shooting events in Montreal in 2021 from joining the 450 similar events in Toronto, there is an urgent need to act. Our community of citizens proposes 16 concrete actions.
At the federal level, to Justin Trudeau and Marco Mendicino, we propose:
1. To create a parliamentary committee, transpartisan, to change the paradigms. Our community believes there are many solutions. Improvement of socio-economic conditions, prevention, partnership, introspection, youth mentoring, but also repression.
2. Revise sections 467.1 to 467.14 of the Criminal Code (organized crime and protection of persons associated with the justice system), adopted in 2001, in order to adapt the law on gangsterism to the new realities of organized crime, by criminalizing membership to a known street gang.
3. To revise Bill C-75, enacted on June 21, 2019. An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other laws and making changes to certain laws, so that minors involved in violent crimes against the person receive treatment that reflects the objective gravity of the crime committed.
4. To urgently review Bill C-5, on mandatory minimum sentences to be abolished, particularly with regard to crimes related to firearms. Currently under study, it is in total dichotomy with armed violence, caused by street gangs.
5. To invest in order to develop criminal sources and to improve control measures at borders and on the outskirts of Native reserves, in order to reduce the trafficking of illegal firearms used by criminals.
6. To ensure the independence of Canadian police organizations, which wish to intervene on Aboriginal reserves and among Aboriginal organized crime criminals, without political interventionism. Secure collaboration with existing Indigenous police forces.
7. Recognize the fact that legal firearms control is currently very effective and that the current reality requires that efforts be focused on criminal users of illegal firearms.
At the provincial level, to François Legault and Geneviève Guilbault, we offer:
8. To value your police officers, in words, but especially in actions, to avoid the disengagement that is growing in Quebec and at the SPVM, as demonstrated by the first phase of the study by the École nationale de police du Quebec, in November 2021.
9. To recognize that police officers are the experts in public safety and that the work of patrol officers includes stopping and stopping vehicles to arrest criminals, seize weapons, free victims of pimping, prevent crime and raise money. criminal information.
10. Promote section 636 of the Highway Safety Code, which allows random interceptions. This article is essential to the prevention and repression of several criminal offences, such as drivers without a licence, or with the abilities impaired by alcohol or narcotics.
11. At the same time, that the police and the Quebec Police Intelligence Center (CRPQ) be able to generate remarks, in order to reduce multiple interceptions of the same vehicle owner, sometimes assimilated to racial profiling.
12. Take legislative measures to a) appoint prosecutors specializing in street gangs, b) strengthen the conditions for release (curfew, ban on associating with another member, radius and electronic surveillance, etc.) .), c) give political support to designated police officers, such as the Éclipse group at the SPVM, who would rigorously ensure compliance with the conditions.
To the City of Montreal, to Valérie Plante and Alain Vaillancourt, we offer:
13. In the short term, set up a telephone line, managed by a multidisciplinary team (police, social workers, community workers – such as the Center for the Prevention of Radicalization), which could support parents who see their child sink into violence.
14. At the summit on armed violence, planned by the municipal administration, to broaden the reflection by taking into consideration all the actions proposed by our community.
15. Become aware of the fragility of the bond of trust between certain citizens and the police by implementing and promoting immersion and rapprochement initiatives, in close collaboration with the organizations already involved.
16. To involve the families of the victims, young people, police officers and social workers, in order to target the problems and put in place viable solutions. To educate young people on their rights, their responsibilities and the pitfalls associated with street gangs and sexual exploitation, through workshops involving victims of pimping similar to the Les Survivantes program1.
Finally, we invite the entire political class to minimize the disproportionate importance given to certain ideologues, struggling with prejudices against our police officers. The majority of the population trusts its police officers. The amalgams must stop, at the risk of further demobilization of the police and an increase in violent crimes.
* Stéphane Wall was a supervisor at the SPVM, he is now retired; Anie Samson was vice-president of the executive committee of Montreal from 2013 to 2017 and mayoress of the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension from 2006 to 2017; André Gélinas was a detective sergeant at the SPVM, he is now retired. Other signatories: Paul Evra, director general of the Lasallian Center, in Saint-Michel; Harry Delva, community worker in Saint-Michel; Sylvain St-Amour, retired SPVM police officer and teacher; Nawal Beckechi, holder of a Bachelor of Science from HEC; Isabelle Shamlian, holder of a master’s degree in social intervention; Sarto Blouin, entrepreneur and lawyer; Naouel Nacef, educator in schools