First, thank you again, Ms. Diab, for welcoming me into your community. It's always a pleasure to see you and to meet with your community leaders.
There were two announcements we made there that build upon the investments we are making, both at the border.... We had a chance to go to the port of Halifax terminal to see the direct benefits of the approximately $450 million we're investing in the CBSA.
I would encourage all colleagues to acknowledge and express gratitude to the CBSA for the work they are doing by stopping year after year more and more illegal firearms. That's good, but it's not the only thing we need to be doing. We need to do more than just support law enforcement. We have to look at the root causes of crime, so that we can stop it before it starts. That includes through the announcement we made with 902 Man Up under the national crime prevention funding programs.
This is an organization that started with two individuals, members of the Black community, who were fed up after a spate of gun violence, who had seen too much bloodshed and who said, “Enough is enough. That's it. C'est assez.” They started this organization. We've given them some additional support so they can increase their programming and their reach and invite more people who may be at risk to being exposed to criminal elements into their shelter, into their safe and inclusive space, to give them all the skills they need to make the right choices.
We did the same thing, along with you, our colleague Darren Fisher and the mayor of Halifax, Mike Savage, under the building safer communities fund. Right across Halifax and Dartmouth, we'll also be able to do similar initiatives under that federal initiative.