Police say gun violence is on the rise in this province and to that end, the federal government is putting up $1.8-million to fight it.

As VOCM’s Andrew Hawthorn reports, the announcement took place at RNC headquarters in Manuels just metres away from where two people were shot dead back in 2013.

RNC Chief Joe Boland says cases of gun violence in the province have doubled in the last year.

The funding announced today is part of a national initiative of over $327-million to combat gun and gang violence, first announced in 2017.

The funds will go to surveillance and forensic equipment for police, as well as the creation of a dedicated firearms offence officer at the RNC.

Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Bill Blair (above, second from right) announced the province’s share of the funds in CBS today at RNC headquarters, just next door to Villa Nova Plaza where Juliane Hibbs and fiancé Vince Dillon we’re gunned down by Hibbs’ jealous ex boyfriend Brian Dawe six years ago.

Blair, a former police chief himself, said gun crime in bigger cities attracts the media attention, but it’s a problem everywhere, and it requires the proper response.