City of Calgary eyeing federal funding to help address gun, gang violence

A Calgary committee is recommending the city apply for federal funding to help support programs that tackle the root causes of gun and gang violence.

A city committee has recommended Calgary apply for federal funding aimed at preventing gun violence.

Between January and June, there were 63 shootings in Calgary; double the five-year average over the same time period, according to data from the Calgary Police Service.

In a unanimous vote, the city’s Community Development Committee recommended the city apply for the federal government’s Building Safer Communities Fund.

According to the federal government, the $250 million fund is meant to support community organizations that address the root cause of gun and gang violence.

A city report said Calgary is eligible for a share of up to $7.7 million over four years if the application is successful.

Committee heard the city has to send its application to Public Safety Canada by the end of the year so the money could be allocated to community-based organizations in early 2023.

While the money would flow through the City of Calgary, the federal government will have the final say on what organizations and initiatives the money would fund.

“This is that first step in that commitment into funding a very local, very specific, very municipal response that understands our own context better than the feds could,” Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said. “That is an important vote of confidence from the federal government that municipalities do actually know how to respond to the safety. We just need the support of all orders of government to do so.”