SURREY, B.C. - Canada's public safety minister says keeping guns out of the hands of gang members is difficult because criminals always seem to find a way around the law.
Stockwell Day said Thursday enforcement teams along the Canada- U.S. border have been seizing more firearms, but police are always uncovering new ways that the criminals are getting guns.
"The other area, which is equally disturbing, is guns are being manufactured in basement-type machine shops,'' he said.
Day was in the Vancouver area at a time when the region has been gripped by a spate of gang violence that has left 10 dead in the last month.
Day told an audience in Surrey, southeast of Vancouver, the federal government has increased funding for 1,000 new RCMP officers and is negotiating an increase for another 2,500 officers for municipal police forces across the country.
"This type of gang activity, gun activity is something that we want to make sure, from a federal level, all the resources possible are flowing to the men and women in uniform who are out there, working very aggressively to reduce this type of activity.''
Earlier in the morning, Day held an impromptu news conference on the scene of a stabbing on Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside.
The Vancouver police department had tersely described the matter as a "serious police incident," prompting reporters to rush to the area to check it out in light of the recent spate of targeted shootings.
Day drove by and couldn't pass up the opportunity for a comment.
He commended officers for being "right on the scene doing a good job'' and then offered that the attack underlines the need for the recently announced Conservative initiative to fight violent crime.
The minister also applauded the formation of the Lower Mainland's new violence suppression team, saying it will yield positive results.
Day refused to offer an opinion on calls for a regional police force to target gangs in Metro Vancouver.
Day was in the Vancouver-area city to announce federal funding of $350,000 for two crime prevention programs involving youth.
He said the program that works with teens after their first school suspension is especially important.
"If they're facing a suspension, there's two ways for them to go. There's the fork in the road and often they are led and drawn into being accepted into gangs because they're accepted for who they are. These individuals need to know that the community wants to accept them.''
