Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree — the politician gun owners have long dubbed “Gun Grab Gary” — picked the single worst possible day to peddle his favourite fairy tale.
On March 31, 2026, as Toronto Police were releasing jaw-dropping numbers showing homicides slashed by up to 67 percent, shootings down 46 percent, and hundreds of crime guns ripped off the streets through aggressive enforcement, Anandasangaree stood inside a Scarborough recreation centre and announced yet another $157.5 million taxpayer handout for the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF).
He called the program “a proven model of success.” He declared it “works.” And he looked Canadians dead in the eye and claimed that arresting criminals and putting them in jail “cannot” solve gun and gang violence — only his favourite “upstream investments” in root causes could.
Every single word was a lie. And Canadian taxpayers are once again on the hook for this expensive, evidence-free fraud.
Gary’s Falsehoods — Straight from the Transcript
Anandasangaree didn’t offer a single statistic, evaluation, or before-and-after crime number in his entire speech. He didn’t have to. The press release and friendly media let him skate on pure assertion. Here’s what he actually said — and why it collapses under basic facts:
“Over the past four years, the Building Safer Communities Fund has done exactly that (prevent gun and gang violence).”
False. BSCF launched in 2022. Firearm-related violent crime hit a 14-year high that same year. It stayed 55% above 2013 levels in 2023 and only dropped a measly 1.7% — still far above pre-Liberal trends. National firearm homicides are up nearly 90% since 2013. Gary’s fund didn’t bend the curve; it watched it climb.
“We’re not just extending a program, we’re doubling down on a proven model of success.”
False. There is zero independent proof of success. Public Safety Canada’s own documents admit a full evaluation of the BSCF is only planned for 2025-26 — it has never been completed. No Auditor General audit. No third-party validation. Just self-reported forms from the very groups getting paid.
“We cannot do it by arresting people into submission.”
The most brazen lie of all. While Gary was talking, Toronto Police Service data for 2025 was already showing record drops: homicides down 48-67%, shootings down 39-46%, firearm discharges down over 40%. Chief Myron Demkiw and his team credit exactly what Gary dismissed — targeted enforcement, frontline arrests, and the seizure of 582 crime guns in 2025 alone. Visible policing, data-driven deployments, and disrupting criminals on the street, Gary insists, produced impossible results.
Anecdotal fairy tales about “youth I talk to across the country whose lives were saved.”
Classic politician sleight-of-hand. Individual kids may benefit from mentoring. That proves nothing about city-wide or national crime trends. Gary offered zero recidivism rates, zero longitudinal studies, and zero evidence that these “saved youth” represent anything beyond cherry-picked photo-ops.
Funding Announcement:
Follow the Money: From Ottawa to Unaudited NGOs
Here’s how the grift actually works. The federal government cuts cheques directly to 90 municipalities, 17 Indigenous communities and organizations, and the Province of Quebec. Those recipients are required to spend every dollar on so-called “prevention and intervention” programs—mentoring, counselling, recreation, skills training, trauma-informed yoga sessions, and whatever the latest consultant buzzword happens to be.
In reality, 90 to 95 percent or more of the cash is simply re-granted downstream to non-profit organizations and community groups. Cities run local grant competitions where NGOs submit proposals and walk away with the cheques. The eligibility rules are crystal clear on one thing only: none of this money can touch actual policing—no salaries for cops, no border enforcement, no gun seizures. Soft social programming is the only game allowed.
On the ground, it looks exactly as you’d expect. In Lethbridge, the funds support youth outreach built around self-scored “risk assessments.” Vancouver measures success through surveys on how much participants feel a greater “sense of belonging.” Edmonton and Toronto funnel money to Indigenous and Black-focused organizations running “culturally grounded” initiatives. It all sounds compassionate on paper. Yet none of it has ever been proven to move the StatsCan needle on actual gun crime.
The Audit Black Hole: No One Checks If the Data Is Real
Public Safety Canada’s own terms and conditions demand “Annual Performance Reports” from every project. Those reports ask for the number of kids served, “type of evaluation used,” self-reported risk-score drops (Lethbridge bragged about an average of 10.9 point improvement on a youth risk scale), and participant surveys about “feeling safer.”
That’s it. No mandatory third-party audit. No requirement to link program participation to actual police occurrence data city-wide. No independent verification that the surveys aren’t faked or the “risk scores” gamed.
Departmental Results Reports brag about dollars disbursed ($72 million in 2023-24 alone) and “positive changes in risk profiles.” They never — not once — show a causal drop in gun homicides, gang shootings, or violent crime severity tied to BSCF cash. The Auditor General has never examined this program. The planned 2025-26 evaluation? Still not released. In other words: Ottawa hands out hundreds of millions, collects glossy self-reports from the grant recipients, and calls it evidence-based policy.
This is not oversight. It is a taxpayer-funded feedback loop where the NGOs that get the money are also the ones grading their own homework.
The Real Fraud
Gary Anandasangaree knows the numbers better than most. He knows Toronto’s dramatic drop in gun violence throughout 2025 had nothing to do with “upstream investments” and everything to do with police making arrests, seizing hundreds of illegal firearms, and actively disrupting criminal networks. He knows the Building Safer Communities Fund has never produced a single piece of rigorous, independent evidence showing it reduces gun crime despite four years and over a quarter-billion dollars already spent. Yet on March 31 he stood in Scarborough and demanded another $157.5 million for the same unproven programs.
This isn’t compassionate governance — it’s a self-serving patronage machine wrapped in the language of social justice. While illegal handguns continue to flood Canadian streets and frontline officers are left to clean up the mess, Gary Anandasangaree’s priority remains protecting the flow of taxpayer dollars to his friends in the non-profit sector.
Canadians should be asking some hard questions: Why has this program never undergone a proper independent audit? Why does the government accept self-reported surveys and risk scores from the very organizations cashing the cheques? Why does the Minister continue to dismiss policing strategies that are clearly producing results? And how much more money are taxpayers expected to waste before real accountability is demanded?
Canadian taxpayers should demand a full forensic audit of the Building Safer Communities Fund immediately. Demand the raw data. Demand proof. And demand that Gary Anandasangaree stop lying to the public about what actually works.
The gravy train ends when the public finally says, “Enough.”
Sources:
Government of Canada Official Press Release – “Government of Canada renews support for gun violence prevention initiatives across Canada”
URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2026/03/government-of-canada-renews-support-for-gun-violence-prevention-initiatives-across-canada.html
Date: March 31, 2026
Supports: The $157.5 million BSCF renewal announcement, Gary Anandasangaree’s attendance at the Scarborough event, and his core claims that the program is “a proven model of success,” “works,” and that arrests “cannot” solve gun/gang violence (only “upstream investments” can).
Full Press Conference Video (CPAC broadcast)
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akPeVzu4tp4
Date: March 31, 2026 (Gary’s full remarks run 0:00–45:00)
Supports: Verbatim quotes including “Over the past four years, the Building Safer Communities Fund has done exactly that,” “doubling down on a proven model of success,” the arrest criticism, and the anecdotal “youth I talk to across the country whose lives were saved.”
Statistics Canada – Firearms and Violent Crime in Canada, 2023 (Juristat)
URL: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2025001/article/00002-eng.htm
Date: Released February 2025 (covers 2023 data)
Supports: BSCF launched in 2022 amid a 14-year high in firearm-related violent crime; 55% increase since 2013; only 1.7% drop in 2023; national firearm homicides up nearly 90% (population-adjusted) since 2013.
Toronto Police Service Board Reports & Chief Myron Demkiw Public Statements – 2025 Year-to-Date Crime Statistics
URL: https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/reports-and-stats/ (Q1–Q2 2025 updates and Chief’s March 2026 briefings)
Supporting coverage: Toronto Star / CP24 summaries of the exact figures cited.
Date: January–March 2026 releases
Supports: 2025 Toronto drops (homicides down 48–67%, shootings down 39–46%, firearm discharges down over 40%, 582 crime guns seized) and explicit police attribution to targeted enforcement, arrests, and disruption of criminal networks.
Public Safety Canada – Building Safer Communities Fund Program Overview
URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/fndng-prgrms/bldng-sfr-cmmnts-fnd/index-en.aspx
Date: Last updated March 2026
Supports: Direct recipients (90 municipalities, 17 Indigenous communities/organizations, Province of Quebec), original $250 million pot, new $157.5 million extension, and the selection formula.
Public Safety Canada – Building Safer Communities Fund Terms & Conditions
URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/fndng-prgrms/bldng-sfr-cmmnts-fnd/trms-cndtns-en.aspx
Date: Current as of 2026
Supports: Mandatory spending on “prevention and intervention” only (no policing/enforcement), 90–95%+ downstream re-granting to NGOs, Annual Performance Report requirements (self-reported risk scores, surveys, no mandatory independent audit), and the prohibition on funding salaries for cops, border enforcement, or gun seizures.
City of Lethbridge – Building Safer Communities Fund Annual Report 2023–2024
URL: https://www.lethbridge.ca/media/vlufjyis/building-safer-communities-report.pdf
Date: 2024
Supports: Self-scored youth risk assessments and the specific claim of an average –10.9 point improvement.
City of Vancouver – Building Safer Communities Program Preliminary Findings Report
URL: https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/march-2025-building-safer-communities-program-preliminary-findings-report.pdf
Date: March 2025
Supports: Participant surveys measuring improvements in “sense of belonging,” confidence, and other soft metrics.
Public Safety Canada – Departmental Results Report 2023–2024
URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/dprtmntl-rslts-rprt-2023-24/index-en.aspx (search “Building Safer Communities Fund”)
Date: 2024
Supports: $72 million disbursed in 2023-24 and the language about “positive changes in risk profiles” with zero linkage to actual crime reduction.
Public Safety Canada – Building Safer Communities Fund Evaluation Plan
URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/fndng-prgrms/bldng-sfr-cmmnts-fnd/evltn-pln-en.aspx
Date: 2024 (updated)
Supports: Full national evaluation only planned for 2025-26; no completed independent evaluation or Auditor General audit exists.