VICTORIA, B.C.: Conservative Attorney General Critic Steve Kooner has raised the alarm on extortions for over six months. Earlier this year, MLA Kooner sent letters to the Attorney General of British Columbia, Niki Sharma and the Attorney General of Canada, Hon. Sean Fraser, demanding aggressive action to fight extortion terrorists.

Following the Attorney General of Canada’s response, MLA Kooner sent a letter requesting the federal government create a general-class terrorist organization definition within the terrorism-offence provisions of the Criminal Code to include all criminals engaged in extortion, regardless of gang affiliations.

Such a framework will ensure affiliates, copycats and decentralized networks are not excluded from terrorism designations, allow police to use national security and enhanced surveillance tools, enable faster deportations and asset freezes, and establish a consistent, nationwide legal mechanism to combat organized extortion.

In the letter, MLA Kooner states, “The extortion crisis in British Columbia has increased in severity with lawyers now being targeted… Moreover, when I asked the Attorney General of British Columbia in Question Period whether any judges or witnesses had been targeted, she declined to provide information.

“It is increasingly clear that the provincial government does not fully understand the scale, complexity, and rapidly evolving nature of this crisis. Their position that listing the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist organization is sufficient does not reflect what British Columbians are experiencing on the ground.

“This crisis is now being driven not only by the Bishnoi group but also by numerous nameless affiliates, copycat groups and decentralized criminal networks employing similar violent extortion tactics.

“Because the provincial Attorney General continues to view this crisis too narrowly, I am appealing directly to the Attorney General of Canada for stronger and more comprehensive federal action.”

Conservatives will continue demanding aggressive action from the provincial and federal governments until the justice system keeps British Columbians safe from extortion, terrorists, and foreign gangs.

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Read MLA Steve Kooner’s letter to Canada’s Attorney General Sean Fraser

Media Contact:
Francesca Guetchev, Communications Officer
Francesca.Guetchev@leg.bc.ca
+1 (672) 922-0948