There will soon be a new way for neighbours of drug labs and other nuisance properties linked to drug and gang violence to get help.
B.C. has introduced a Community Safety Act (CSA), which focuses on targeting the sites of an array of activities conducted by, or on behalf of, gangs and organized crime.
The act will allow anyone to submit a confidential complaint about a nuisance property to a provincial government unit, who would then investigate, collaborate with property owners, and take escalating steps, including up to ending tenancy agreements or closing a property for up to 90 days.
“The community safety act will literally bring public safety home; we are giving neighbours of nuisance properties like drug labs and those commonly linked to gun and gang violence a safe, effective and timely solution and giving authorities more power to shut down these sites,” says Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general, during a teleconference Thursday (April 4).
He says this act will give authorities the teeth to shut down dangerous properties, quickly and for good.
The CSA was unanimously passed in 2013, but was never brought into force.
“We have moved quickly to modernize the act originally introduced in 2013 to address the current realities of organized crime in B.C. and lay the groundwork for safer communities across our province,” says Farnworth.
He says the act is designed to address safety concerns of the public without tying up court resources.
“A lot of these properties are well-known to local government, are well-known to police, so the unit will work with local communities on identifying what is the problem property and then our unit within the province will have the ability to try and resolve what the issues are,” says Farnworth.
“It allows for resolution for some of the issues around these kinds of properties without having to go to court.”
Specified nuisance or criminal activities include drug production and trafficking, possession of illegal firearms or explosives, after-hours sales of liquor, and providing liquor or drugs to minors.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Yukon all have similar legislation in place.
The province says most complaints in the other five provinces and one territory are resolved without the need for an application for a community safety order.
"There are properties that see hundreds of 911 calls for service because of an ever-changing group of criminals and offenders operating at those locations," says RCMP Supt. Ted de Jager in a news release.
"The experiences of other jurisdictions with community safety laws show that working with the property owners can bring about lasting solutions benefiting public safety."
Farnworth says the Community Safety Act unit is currently in its development stages, but the goal is to have it up and running by the end of the year.
“This is very frustrating for a lot of communities, they know habitual illegal activity is taking place and communities haven’t had the tools to be able to deal with them.”
