Young people in the pay of street gangs, an unacceptable situation, deplores Legault

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “What is currently happening with our youth does not make sense,” lamented François Legault while he was being bombarded with questions in the National Assembly by the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

Stéphanie Marin

Published yesterday at 12:48 p.m. Updated yesterday at 4:59 p.m.

• Québec

“I will never accept that,” said Prime Minister François Legault, regarding young Quebecers who are recruited by street gangs to commit crimes.

“What is currently happening with our youth does not make sense,” he lamented while being peppered with questions in the National Assembly by the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

The PQ political party put the issue of youth crime back on the agenda by requesting Wednesday evening that a parliamentary commission be held on the increase in armed violence and on the recruitment of young people by criminal gangs to commit various crimes, including arson, car theft and even murder.

It must be said that the last few weeks have been eventful, marked in particular by the arrest of teenagers, including a group of seven minors who are allegedly involved in several violent crimes in Montreal, including arson and extortion. The day before, a 15-year-old teenager was arrested for arson in a Montreal restaurant, which had already been targeted shortly before. The extortion of restaurant owners is being investigated, as is the case for last week's fire in a heritage building in Old Montreal, in which a mother and her seven-year-old daughter died. And at the end of September, Quebec was shocked to learn that a 14-year-old from Montreal was found dead near the Hells Angels training club hideout in Frampton, Beauce.

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This is “a serious societal issue,” the PQ leader commented Thursday morning. “Our youth, particularly in the Montreal region, are literally being used as cannon fodder in a war between criminal groups.”

“Between prevention and repression”

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon recalled that he had notably asked for more police officers, more resources and the return of the community prevention squad of the Montreal Police Service (SPVM), but that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) underestimated and trivialized the seriousness of the situation. Its approach is “passive.”

The criticism stung the premier. “We didn’t sit back and do nothing,” he defended himself, detailing the additions of police officers and funding under the CAQ.

Mr. Legault argued that gun violence is down, but agreed that “it’s not enough” and that “we need to do more.”

“I don’t accept the situation,” he repeated. “Quebecers can count on me. I will never accept that Quebec, and especially Montreal, becomes a place that is not safe.”

Asked about this by journalists on Thursday morning, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said he would meet with Quebec’s two main police forces — the Sûreté du Québec and the SPVM — on Friday to take stock of the situation and decide on the way forward.

We were asked for more police officers, and we’re going to train more police officers, the minister said, referring to the addition of places at the National Police Academy.

That being said, the minister said that “there is a balance to be struck between prevention and repression.”

He says Public Safety supports police forces that are trying to “bring young people back on the right path,” because some get off track and decide to start with “petty crime,” which then becomes serious crime, he explained. The minister says a parliamentary committee can take up the issue, but what is important “is the work on the ground,” particularly in schools.

And while the PQ leader recalled the work done by the Carcajou squad to tackle the biker war in Quebec in the 1990s, in order to motivate his demands for increased police resources, Minister Bonnardel retorted that there has been a paradigm shift since that time. “Organized crime” has become “disorganized” in the sense that hierarchical structures and roles are now more decentralized, with criminalized youth who do not respect the codes of the past. It has therefore become much more difficult for the police, he said.

Moreover, SPVM chief Fady Dagher, at a press briefing Thursday afternoon, was not in favour of setting up a specialized squad for “13-year-olds”.

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