Akwesasne police force in Canada gets $6M to stop gun smuggling from the U.S.
Gun smuggling from the U.S. into Canada is a growing problem for Canadian law enforcement. Police for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne are getting $6 million from the Quebec government for more equipment and staff to combat gun smuggling across the St. Lawrence River.
The MCA governs the northern side of Akwesasne Mohawk territory.
Gun violence in Quebec and Ontario has increased in the past year. Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Police chief Shawn Dulude says some guns involved in recent incidents have come illegally from the United States and through Akwesasne.
"Why it's become such an issue right now in the last year, year and a half is because of the multiple street gang shootings in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto," he said.
Another big issue is that Canada has stricter gun laws, so Canadians who want certain kinds of weapons can only buy them illegally.
Dulude said the new funding will be used to hire more staff and a new patrol boat that will operate along the St. Lawrence River. He said they’re necessary because of gaps in law enforcement coverage that make it easier for smugglers to get anything illegal into Canada.
"Because our territory is divided by an international border, and where there's many unmanned roads where there is no CBSA border agents or United States border agency, as well, keeping an eye on things, it's prosperous for anybody that wants to bring any commodity in there," he said.
Dulude said the trafficking is not coming from within Akwesasne.
"And it's not because we're Mohawk people. It's because of the geographics. They're profiting from the border and the fact that it's unmanned in certain places on the streets and on the waterways to go through there," he said.
President Biden signed a new gun control law this past weekend. It makes trafficking guns across state lines a federal crime.
