Kamloops nets $2 million in federal gun crime prevention funding

KELOWNA — Kamloops is getting $2 million from the federal public safety ministry to prevent gun crime and gang violence.

The announcement was made in Kelowna yesterday by Pam Damoff, the parliamentary secretary to federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendecino. Damoff announced a total of $6.9 million spread between Kamloops, Kelowna ($2 million), Vernon ($953,000), Penticton (just over $1 million) and Salmon Arm ($828,000).

The money comes from the government’s $250-million Building Safer Communities Fund.

Damoff says the money will “help address the underlying conditions that give rise to crime.”

“The municipality will distribute it to community-led projects for young people involved in gangs or at risk of joining them – helping them set themselves up for success in life,” she continued.

“On behalf of the citizens of Kamloops and surrounding communities I would like to thank the Federal Government for the funding to support the RCMP in its challenges to make for a safer community and to fight all criminal activity in our communities,” Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson is quoted in a news release.