During a recent meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Montreal Mayoress Valérie Plante focused on the rising armed crimes in Montreal and its suburbs. That shows growing official concern with the affair, which is threatening the security of one of the major Canadian cities and bringing to attention, again, the issue of organised criminal gangs. This contrasts with the past, when counter measures were taken and some criminal masterminds were imprisoned, and when police operations and manhunts pushed gangsters to move their criminal activity to other cities and provinces…
Security corps worry that the new gangs’ structures are not yet fully discoverable. The gangs are still forming and expanding, emblazing the fight for influence in areas of interest or in ones where they’ve been unknown. Whereas certain communities used to be known as home to gangsters, some Arabs, too, have unfortunately formed their gangs, intensifying the fight recently and killing an Algerian-Canadian female by accident.
Earlier, victims of Lebanese origins were killed, and bullets struck the houses of Canadian Arabs. Abductions and thefts have also been committed, and citizens have become alarmed and fearful of the future…
Criminologist, organised crime researcher and former MP Maria Mourani has spoken to Radio Canada, saying the incidents are no surprise to her; official measures have been ineffective at eliminating the root causes of armed violence, and restrictions have not been tightened to halt gun trade and trafficking at the borders with the US. Prison sentences have been mitigated, letting out a number of criminal masterminds, who have resumed their criminal lives…
Premier of Quebec François Legault has asked officials to work with communities to find solutions for the rising gun violence. By that, Leagult has implied those committing violence often originate from certain ethnic communities. But eventually, direct intervention measures need to be taken to uproot the causes of criminal incidents.
University of Montreal’s Professor Mark Allain believes that the recent policies are often devised in the aftermath of problems. Therefore, Allain has called for replacing reactions to criminal incidents with devising a long-term plan in collaboration with social workers and community leaders and associations. That way problems can be dismantled since the very beginning...
An effective plan cannot be limited to increasing the number of crime stoppers; the government must set priorities to work on. That way criminal symbols of the street can be confronted instead of religious symbols in public workplaces.
The Editors