Canadian officials announced their plans on Friday to address the issue of “poly-criminality,” which is contributing to B.C.’s extortion crisis, according to the federal public safety minister.<\/p>\n
Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the term poly-criminiality refers to an individual or crime group’s involvement in more than one type of criminal activity, which includes but is not limited to extortion and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately, this is about money. People who are involved in these heinous crimes are bad people whose singular focus is money and it’s not about, what they do to get the money, it’s about the end goal,” Anandasangaree said.<\/p>\n
Anandasangaree was part of a large roundtable meeting in Surrey on Friday morning that also included Premier David Eby, Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, and Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, focused on “strengthening the response to extortion threats and support for victims.” The mayors of Delta and While Rock, and many other local MLAs, MPs, and law enforcement officials attended the summit.<\/p>\n
The focus of the trilateral summit was to discuss the work being done to tackle the extortion crisis and identify areas for improvement.<\/p>\n
“Leaders examined enforcement challenges and the critical role of federal, provincial and local agencies, including as part of the B.C. Extortion Task Force,” noted a press release from the Ministry of Public Safety on Friday.<\/p>\n
ADDITIONAL FUNDING ANNOUNCED<\/strong><\/p>\n At the start of the summit, the provincial and federal governments announced $1 million in funding to support victims of extortion through victim services.<\/p>\n Victim services often have limited resources and are the ones tasked with updating the victims about their cases. This funding will help bolster these services.<\/p>\n “So that families can get up-to-date information from police about what’s happening, so that they know how to make a safety plan, if that’s required, and are supported in that,” Eby said. “That they understand what’s happening with their file, and they’re able to move on with their lives instead of wondering what’s happening.”<\/p>\n The federal government also announced $4 million over four years for an integrated drug and gang team that will focus on drug trafficking.<\/p>\n “This team will bring together law and border enforcement resources from multiple agencies and jurisdictions to fight organized drug crime and combat extortion. To maximize collaboration, participants will co-locate in a centralized hub,” noted a press release from Anandasangaree on Friday.<\/p>\n Anandasangaree added that, “The investments of $4 million are part of the investments we’re making to make sure that whether they follow the money and take down drug cartels or those who are involved in drug trafficking or release additional resources that B.C. is already spending towards these investigations, towards extortion. So it is a two-pronged approach, either direct investigations or the ability for this money to be used for extortion in freeing up the resources from British Columbia.”<\/p>\n One reporter asked Anandasangaree if he could share any information about how the extortions are tied to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n While he did not directly answer the question, Anandasangaree said it comes down to money.<\/p>\n “Organized criminal groups work in many different organized criminal spaces,” Anandasangaree said. “Increasingly, there is a great deal of interrelatedness and interconnections, where there is either a partnership or a direct level of organized criminality.”<\/p>\n It is not so much about what they do to get the money as the end goal, he said.<\/p>\n TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION<\/strong><\/p>\n The topic of transnational repression plays a key role in the poly-criminality surrounding the extortion crisis, but it is not the only role, Anandasangaree said.<\/p>\n “There are many other elements as well, including drug trafficking. So that’s one of the things that we’re investing in today. It’s about drugs, like fentanyl and other illicit drugs that are trafficked and that are being deployed into our communities, and we believe that there are a lot of links to these different illegal entities,” Anandasangaree said.<\/p>\n Anandasangaree, in an interview with Surrey Now-Leader<\/em> early Friday morning (Nov. 28), said a senior team from Canada – including the National Security and Intelligence Advisor, the director of CSIS and RCMP Commissioner Michael Duhame – went to India several weeks ago for very “high-level conversations” about greater cooperation on transnational repression.<\/p>\n Anandasangaree said Canada wants to make sure the two countries share information “that will curtail the activities and, frankly, the brazen level of involvement of those who work across boundaries.”<\/p>\n “I do think there’s positive movement on this,” he said. “Of course there’s more to do.”<\/p>\n The minister also revealed that the Canada Border Services Agency has now removed five people from Canada in connection with the ongoing extortion crisis, with a further 95 cases under investigation.<\/p>\n NO LONGER AN ISLAND<\/strong><\/p>\n Locke said she felt hopeful after today’s meeting.<\/p>\n “I made the comment some time ago that Surrey has felt like an island for a very long time. We are not an island today, and I felt that today. So I am very hopeful moving forward, we’re supposed to have a secondary meeting in 90 days, and I certainly look forward to seeing how that rolls out,” Locke said.<\/p>\n She was happy to see that there was a lot of discussion around supporting victims of extortion.<\/p>\n “Because I know victims have felt like they were not acknowledged, so that is something, that there is going to be more effort and federal provincial dollars going into supporting victims, Locke said.<\/p>\n The meeting comes amid more than 100 extortion-related police files this year in Surrey. Surrey Police Service said Thursday (Nov. 27) there have also been 44 extortion-related shootings and 75 “unique victims” in 2025.<\/p>\n Both the provincial and municipal governments have, within their own jurisdictions, announced steps being taken to tackle the crisis.<\/p>\n In September, the province set up a provincial task force to tackle the surge in extortion-related crimes affecting B.C.’s South Asian community. The task force includes representatives from Lower Mainland RCMP detachments, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, Surrey Police Service, Abbotsford Police, Delta Police, the Canadian Border Services Agency and Metro Vancouver Transit Police.<\/p>\n The City of Surrey created a public safety department to support the Surrey Police and is offering $250,000 reward for information <\/a>leading to convictions in the Surrey extortion cases.<\/p>\n At the end of October, Mayor Brenda Locke also asked the federal and provincial governments to provide 150 more police officers for Surrey to tackle the extortion crisis.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Opposition leader calls for emergency debate on Canada’s rising extortion crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: B.C. lawyers threatened with extortion-related violence<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n READ MORE: Surrey town hall addresses surge in extortion cases: community voices concerns<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n About the Author: Anna Burns<\/strong><\/p>\n I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com<\/a> Follow Anna on Twitter<\/a>.<\/i><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Premier and federal public safety minister will be in Surrey Friday morning <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":160913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-regional-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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