Attorney general Mike de Jong agreed that tackling the gangs of B.C. at the root - diverting kids away from gang-risk behaviour - would take a major change in the way the system works. That would mean a big change to the way healthcare, education, corrections, courts, social programs, etc. are funded and governed.
"The practical reality is, when you move to implement a new system, you have to be prepared for holy hell breaking out," he said to those assembled for the Community Solutions-Gang Crime Summit in Prince George this week.
Participants at the event expressed a desire for drastic changes to some of the social structures of the province. De Jong cautioned that it would take a sustained message to government and there would be sacrifices needed, but such changes were not impossible.
At the top of the list were things like a vastly different model for the foster care program, home visits by health-care and social professionals to the houses of at-risk families, significantly more support for classrooms especially for Grade 4 and under.
Not all of this required major provincial infrastructure change or new money, but big changes are not popular and require sacrifices, de Jong said, however, it was well known inside government that the stakes were as high as anyone could imagine, so anyone inclined to advocate for such changes within caucus or cabinet would have that on their side.
"The presence of education and (social safety nets) is no guarantee that gang activity won't happen," he said. "Having no education and social services is a guarantee they absolutely will."
The word "poverty" overarched all issues connected to gang proliferation. De Jong dismissed the idea of a provincial strategy for poverty eradication. He said the best solution was "education - and the earlier the better - and some prospect of economic promise. Hope."
While the cost for pushing the gangs down would be costly on some fronts, it would ultimately save much more in the long run, turn at-risk kids into economically productive adults instead of social burdens, and de Jong said, some of the gang activity already underway could help pay the costs. Civil forfeiture legislation allowing government to seize the proceeds of crime (luxury houses, expensive boats, flashy cars, jewelry, cash, clothing, anything owned by a gangster) and sell it off could generate funds for the investigation of and prevention of organized crime.
Other moves made recently in the legal realm may not seem related but are directly connected to the organized crime matters of the province, said de Jong. New impaired driving regulations and a revamp of the family court system are both measures being taken in order to put police and court resources to better public use, he said, while still head-on addressing those concerns.
