Mr. Speaker, youth gang and gun violence has impacted my community in Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland for decades. Last week, I was able to meet with Brian Aasebo from the Surrey Anti-gang Family Empowerment program, a federally funded program that received $7.5 million from Public Safety Canada in January 2019.
Brian was able to report the promising early benefits that this program is bringing to our community. In the 18 months it has been operating, SAFE, as it is called, has already provided support for 1,460 separate children and youth clients, and has supported over 269 parents and caregivers. The program also provided culturally sensitive support, such as counselling in one's preferred language, to over 243 clients.
This is amazing work, and I commend all of the SAFE partners for working to reduce the prevalence of youth gang violence in our community.