Montreal English-speaking community groups denounce disparities in crime prevention funding

Groups that serve the English-speaking Black communityand other minorities in Montreal's west end say they're being left out when it comes to government funding for crime prevention.

Community group leaders spoke at a virtual conferenceorganized by the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) Wednesdayto criticizethe Quebec government and the cityfor disproportionately allocating crime prevention funds to organizations that serve French-speaking communities, located predominantly east of St. Laurent Boulevard.

"The west gets less, and it's not equitable," said CRARR executive director Fo Niemi, referring to boroughs such asCte-Des-NeigesNotre-Dame-De-Grce,Lasalle, Ville Saint-Laurent, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and other municipalities

Ananalysis of datarecently released by the Ministry of Public Security shows that of the $1.65 million set aside for the island of Montreal through the ministry's four main crime prevention programs, 68 per cent went to 14 community groups east of St. Laurent Boulevard while 32 per cent went to four organizations west of it.

"Wehave never been contacted by Quebec or the city to inform us of this funding," said Joan Lee, president of the West Island Black Community Association (WIBCA), which has been serving parents and youth for 40 years.

"Being left out of programs that are fundamental to the West Island Black community's well-being because we're Black and English-speaking is morally wrong and socially counterproductive."

Auvril Edwards of the Lasalle Multicultural Resource Center (LMRC) says this chronic underfunding communicates to English-speaking young people of colourand their families that they don't have a right to equal treatment.

"It's as if we don't existor that our needs and rights are not important," she said. "We are tired of this blatant exclusion as English-speaking Quebecers."

The groups, including the Filipino Parents Association of Quebec and Dare Every Soul to Achieve (DESTA) inLittle Burgundy, also criticized their exclusion from a recent summit ongun violence, organized by the city of Montreal and its respective police force.

The forum, which began in February and continues on two separate dates this month,is intended to find concrete solutions to curbingthe surge in armed violence Montreal has seen in recent years.

"There's no active or any outreach to the English-speaking organizations to ensure a fair representation and adequate representation of these groups at the summit on violence," said Niemi. "[It's as if] half of the city is being written off or being left out of an important city-wide initiative."

Of all the groups that attended the conference Wednesday, not one was invited to participate in the summit.

Mark Henry, president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal inCte-Des-NeigesNotre-Dame-De-Grce, saidorganizers had done a disservice to the community he serves by leaving them off the invitation list

Shaheen Ashraf, who is on the boardof the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said shebelieveswest-end groups weren't invited to the forum because "they only invite people that will add voices as a 'yes man' or a 'yes woman.'"

Monique Barling from DESTA says she'd like to give parents concrete answers when they ask her what's being done to fight armed violence, but she can't do that if the government keeps "placing band-aids [on the problem] when it needs to be stitched."

"We wouldn't be here today if what was meant to be working was in fact working," she said.

Niemi saidCRARR wrote to the city and the Quebec governmentin January, demanding anglophone groups be included in crime prevention discussions, but they never got a response.

In a written statement to CBC News, the city said prevention is at the heart of its urban security strategy and that these efforts include the entire population without distinction. It says more than a dozen young Montrealers, including somefrom Anglophone communities, will attend theMarch 17th forumon the fight against armed violence. The final date of the forum is March 31.

The groups are demanding their communities be included in all measures aimed at combatting systemic racism and youth violence.

They are calling on the city to include themimmediately in all consultations on crime prevention, to review and overhaul the funding criteria and to put in place proceduresto make sure race, language and geography are given fair consideration.