Public Safety committee  It's been quite effective, actually. We have a program specifically designed for those who are incarcerated. Then we have a program that is tailor-made for those who are either on the verge or just coming out. One of our very first steps is to guide these young guys who trust us through the internal realization and transformation process.

Public Safety committee  We've spoken quite a bit about having an acute focus on the root-cause risk factors and the motivations behind why a child or a person would even want to pick up a gun,. If we can tackle that issue, we can focus a lot less on the tools of destruction. For me, I had experiences and certain things that happened to me that built me up to wanting to react.

Public Safety committee  They are directly linked, absolutely.

Public Safety committee  One hundred per cent.

Public Safety committee  From my direct experience, I don't recall there ever being a time when we had sourced any gun legally. Any of the guns that may have been from a legal source would come from a robbery or from them being taken. That was also a very rare occurrence. I don't see how, in any way....

Public Safety committee  Unfortunately, at one point in my life, I was a person who was involved at some level with importing and exporting firearms in this country. Now I look at what's happening in our communities and how easily accessible they are to very young children, and I know for a fact that most of the guns that are used now are guns that have been imported.

Public Safety committee  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and Mr. Chair. Once again I'm honoured to be here. More so, I'm honoured to speak on behalf of the people and the communities that the One By One Movement serves, ensuring that their voices are amplified. I've had the privilege to speak as a subject matter expert on gang culture theory and violence prevention at a number of round tables and events on the impacts of violence, gun violence in particular.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Shipley, for the question. What an unfortunate and tragic loss. I will tell you from being boots on the ground and from working with people in those communities, one thing we face over and over in dealing with these shootings is the community trauma component. There's been a complete lack of victim services, essentially, to not only assist these families, but to assist the communities in dealing with the traumas of these shootings.

Public Safety committee  My short answer is yes. We are definitely not seeing enough resources going into preventative measures. As we all know through common sense and deductive reasoning, prevention is a lot cheaper for the taxpaying citizen than intervention.

Public Safety committee  No, we do not.

Public Safety committee  As I stated in my testimony, I think there should be much more focus—or a main focus—on community-led organizations involving people with lived experience who understand how the streets work. There is a huge disconnect from the street level to the government level when dealing with this subject matter.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I'll speak of one of our members, Mr. Edward Hertrich. He was convicted of murder some time back and served, I believe, over 35 years in prison. He has now written a book and he is a public speaker. He now comes into communities and works with people who have taken a similar path to his.

Public Safety committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and ladies and gentlemen. First, thank you for having me here today. It's an honour, especially with my background and coming from where I have come from. I could have never imagined there would be a day where I'd be speaking in the House of Commons.