A West Broadway street-youth resource centre says it has voluntarily suspended a homegrown weapons amnesty program after police indicated it was unlawful.
Kelly Holmes, executive director of Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY) -- which provides services to street youths -- said Thursday that a police investigation determined that the group was violating the Criminal Code by offering small honorariums for weapons surrendered by their clients.
Kelly Holmes, executive director of Resource Assistance for Youth.
Holmes said they had been offering small cash rewards to clients for weapons they would turn over to the centre. The weapons, in turn, would be handed to police.
Holmes said the centre did not solicit the weapons from their clients, but the centre had advertised the amnesty on its website.
The notice has since been removed.
"We're not asking the kids to come to us, the kids come to us. When we talk to them about it, we encourage them to do the right thing," Holmes said.
In the six months RaY was offering the service, Holmes said a sawed-off shotgun, a rifle, some knives and a machete were turned over.
She added that police were involved each time a weapon was handed over to the centre. She indicated the amnesty was helping build a relationship between police and the clients of the centre who often have a negative view of police.
Police did not know that any money was changing hands through the amnesty, Holmes said.
"We're trying to foster relationships where the kids can look at police in a different light, and this amnesty was sort of born out of that, where we're able to work together," Holmes said.
A youth surrendering a weapon to RaY would receive up to $20 for a gun and up to $10 for knives -- a small reward that Holmes said was offered innocently.
The centre plans to continue working with police to find a lawful way the amnesty can continue.
Police said they launched their investigation after a member of the force heard about it during a radio program Wednesday morning.
"It was the cash portion that concerned us, because it's illegal to solicit guns for cash," police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput said.
The law applies regardless of whether RaY was offering the money as an honorarium or as a direct incentive to turn over the weapons, she added.
Police said the alternative to the now-defunct amnesty would be for youths using the centre to notify a staff member of a weapon's location. Staff could then notify police, who would take action. The real issue driving police concern is that of people intentionally stealing weapons or committing crimes in order to obtain the cash reward.
james.turner@freepress.mb.ca
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