Thank you, Minister.
I do appreciate the investments made. I just feel that a billion dollars can make a world of a difference for stopping this growing issue that's increasing in capacity as the days and years go by. I saw it with my own eyes.
Another issue is youth diversion programs. Your government has also invested money in that, which I appreciate, but we've been hearing from organizations on the ground that they have yet to see a significant amount of that five-year investment of $250 million. That hasn't quite trickled down to have the effect your government had hoped.
We heard from Marcell Wilson, for example, who is an ex-gang member. He used to smuggle firearms into Canada almost at an organized crime professional level. He's pretty much an expert in this regard.
We also heard from the Bear Clan, which is an indigenous, matriarch-led organization at the grassroots level in Winnipeg. They're saying that just because something is banned, no one anticipates that criminals who handle these guns illegally, who own them illegally or who possess already prohibited firearms, are going to hand over their guns to you. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest otherwise. I've asked you this question before.
The point they were making was that if your government is going to spend billions of dollars, please give it to them so they can divert youth from going into gangs. It would really have an impact long-term on gun violence if we can inject a billion dollars, for example, into youth diversion programs rather than to the buyback and the handgun ban.
I think it's urgent and I would much rather see your government divert that money to youth diversion programs.