$90 million added to fight gun violence

The Quebec government will spend another $90 million to hire more than 100 police officers and experts to fight gun-related crime, Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault said Friday.

Surrounded by members of Quebec's various police forces at a news conference in Montreal, she said the government's newest initiative to reduce gun violence and gun trafficking will be called Operation Centaur.

The money will go toward new equipment and hiring 107 officers and other crime experts who will staff specialized units in police forces across the province and conduct investigations in an effort to disrupt gun-trafficking networks.

“We are sending one message with one strong voice to say that firearms violence, violence that disturbs and worries our citizens and our families, in Montreal and throughout Quebec — we've had enough,” she said.

The new police operation follows a series of recent shootings in the Greater Montreal Area involving organized criminals and street gangs. Guilbault said the number of attempted gun-related murders in the Montreal area has quadrupled between 2016 and 2020.

She said Operation Centaur has four main elements: reinforcing police forces with specialized units, disrupting firearms trafficking, increasing knowledge about gun-related violence, and preventing crime. She said the operation is based on the Wolverine squad the province created in 1995 to fight motorcycle gangs.

She said provincial police will co-ordinate the operation with the rest of Quebec's police forces, adding other forces, including the RCMP, First Nations police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will also take part.

“The first part of our action deals with repression, because we have to make sure we end the armed conflicts and be able to assure people they can live with peace of mind and security,” Guilbault said.