young, armed, and ruthless. They differ in structure from region to region: more like conventional organized crime in the East, especially along the Ontario/Quebec/U.S. borders, where the main business is smuggling.
“In the West,” Dobson continued as a new PowerPoint presentation appeared on the screen, “they’re typical violent street gangs of young men attracted by excitement and a sense of belonging, likely to work for organized crime groups in a kind of adjunct and subordinate relationship. In Alberta the main gangs – the Red Alert, the Indian Posse, and the Alberta Warriors – are based mainly in Edmonton and Calgary. In Saskatchewan, the Native Syndicate has control of the action in Regina while the Indian Posse works out of Saskatoon. And in Manitoba, the main gangs are the Manitoba Warriors, the Indian Posse, and the Native Syndicate. They are – ”
Riley interrupted. “Are these gangs with the same names part of a bigger organization, like say the Hells Angels? When I was in the Manitoba government, the gangs were a bother, but not the national security threat you seem to be suggesting here.”
“The gangs, minister, are loosely related, but very much locally controlled. They work together to transport drugs and weapons for instance, but they are territorial.”
“Thank you, please go on.”
“The gangs are recruited from local populations, thus tending to be band- or clan-oriented, which increases their appeal to young people and their internal cohesion and loyalty. Recruiters target young people drifting into the cities, and others in community centres and correctional institutions – police refer to the jails as gangland community colleges. Of course, the recruiters are active on the reserves.
“In every province except Newfoundland, gangs are expanding into smaller towns and recruiting more aggressively, creating successor generations of members. Expansion, competition for ‘trade’ and new members, and a general sense that they are untouchable due to the, uh, political optics of aboriginal issues, is increasing the number of incidents and the level of violent behaviour, and it is spilling over into peaceful, settled communities. Police, courts, and jails are struggling to address the problem. In most provinces, but especially in the West, many prisons are dominated by native gangs and cults. They are very dangerous places.
“The gangs have typically been motivated by the usual factors: money, status, and inter-gang power struggles. They are fed by drug- and gun-running profits, prostitution of white and native boys and girls, petty crimes, ‘debt collections,’ and intimidation – ‘tax collection’ it’s called on the street. Until recently there has been little sign of any political motives or orientation in the West, but some officials suggest that this fact may be changing.
“In the East, the gangs are more entrepreneurial and actually run large networks of drug, booze, tobacco, and firearms smuggling; they also launder money on a significant scale. And, like the reserves in the West, they provide tax-fraud havens for these and other illegal activities.
“Nevertheless, minister, the NPA and our own security forces may be running behind the actual development of some of these gangs. They may be reaching a stage of evolution, so to speak, where they will challenge both organizations.” Dobson flipped to a new set of charts and maps.
“There are strong indications that some of the gangs are evolving into political organizations. That’s to say, they’re beginning to take an interest in political power as a way to advance their interests.”
“You mean,” Riley interjected, “they’re bribing politicians and so on?”
“Yes, they do that, of course, but what is happening is that gang leaders are using their so-called street smarts to build alliances with other gangs, and in the case of the native gangs, to organize gang territories under a type of congress of leaders from various gangs. These, what some investigators call ‘third-generation gangs,’ work together to divide market shares and to dominate larger and larger territories. In cities such as Winnipeg, these third-generation gangs may already be in existence.”
Jim Riley, unfailingly sensitive to matters connected with his riding, pointed to the slide. “Are there concrete examples where this is occurring? You have Winnipeg on your map. I know we have gang problems in Winnipeg. Are you suggesting we have, what did you call them, third-generation gangs there?”
“Yes, sir. These gangs now have virtually total control in several areas of the country – or at least ungoverned or contested spaces in many areas. In Ontario, the bands along Lake Ontario east to the Quebec border have a strong grip on the reserves in the area and are expanding into the rural community. The same is true in Quebec, especially along the St. Lawrence and near Montreal. The reserves in the north of most provinces are fast coming under gang political control and we can see this in the voting patterns for some chiefs – many are gang-related or supported, and voting is rigged more or less.
“Minister, many gang leaders have become popular figures. They dole out just enough cash and benefits to satisfy the poor native community – kind of bread and circuses – and ‘tax’ the legitimate native businesses in the zone, but not so much as to cause them to shut down. Every day they dig themselves into stronger positions.”
Riley took a sip of water, set his glass down carefully, took a deep breath. “Well, that’s a lot of info for one meeting. Look, we’ve created a sprawling bureaucracy to chase these Islamist terrorists, wild Indian kids, and the motorcycle gangs – I mean, Christ, we have the Department of Public Safety, how many people work in that maze? We have threat centres, cyber centres, operations centres, critical infrastructure protection centres, federal-provincial municipal conferences of ministers, Canada-wide policy networks. We just got rid of the gun registry, we have people in hazmat suits all over the place … yet you guys are still painting a picture of wide-scale insecurity …”
The CDS started to speak, but Riley waved him off.
“General, I know something about business and organization – might seem boring to you guys, but if I have a competitor who is fast and agile like this NPM and these gangs, I sure as hell wouldn’t build a big blundering organization to beat him. That’s what we have in Ottawa, battalions of committees – bureaucracy, public bureaucracy. People chasing budgets when they should be chasing bandits. How on earth is a big whole-of-government organization going to outpace an adroit, decentralized bunch like we are up against?
“As I said, that’s an impressive load of data; all that about the native demographics and such. But how can you be sure of the outcome? What makes you sure we are facing a threat of any scale? I mean, the raids were certainly serious, ominous even, but … a threat to the nation?”
The room fell silent. Everyone knew that only General Bishop could respond.
“Minister,” he began, “I have a great deal of sympathy for your point of view. My worry is that very few national leaders, or opinion makers, or members of the courts, seem willing to accept the central notion that as a first principle a liberal democracy has the right to defend itself against anti-democratic elements in its midst. So, minister, we do what we can within the limits our culture and democratic ways spell out for us. But I believe the evidence and this week’s events more than suggest that we are indeed facing a national security threat that for whatever reasons is being encouraged and directed by elements in our aboriginal community. I know also that if the native community actively joined such a movement, we do not have the military or police forces to address a nation-wide insurrection.”
Riley chose not to pursue the argument. “Well, I hope you’re wrong, General Bishop.”
Andy Bishop paused and looked Jim Riley in the eye. “Let me be absolutely clear, minister. You and the government will know exactly
