B.C. attorney general pushing for U.S.-style racketeering laws to combat organized crime
As the inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia winds to a close, CTV News has learned Attorney General David Eby has been asking the federal government to re-write parts of the Criminal Code to make it easier to target and convict people associated with organized crime groups.
Specifically, he would like to see Canada adopt tougher racketeering and money laundering laws similar to the United States Racketeering Influence and Corruption Act, which prosecutors have used to successfully target mafia families and other organized crime groups.
“The RICO statutes were very useful in bringing down organized crime with the five families in New York, with labour unions, with politicians,” said Scott Schumacher, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. “It adds a separate federal crime for organizations that commit existing crimes.”
Each RICO charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in a U.S. federal prison, and when the act is used the Justice Department can pre-emptively freeze a defendant's assets – and seize them outright in the event of a conviction.
Eby has been looking for enhanced federal laws to go after organized crime groups for more than two years.
“I’ve made many proposals to the federal government, including RICO-style United States-style laws, unexplained wealth orders, increasing and dedicated policing to go after money-laundering in the province,” he told CTV News.
The Cullen Commission has heard international organized crime groups have laundered hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in dirty money through the province.
In a January 2019 letter to Bill Blair, then federal minister of border security and organized crime reduction, Eby outlined the problem and suggested possible solutions, including enhanced racketeering laws.
“Law enforcement veterans who specialize in organized crime regularly raise concerns in the media and privately about the inability, under Canadian law, for successful large-scale prosecutions of the leaders of organized criminal groups to proceed, regardless of resources in law enforcement,” Eby wrote.
With the federal election in full swing, Eby promised to keep up the pressure no matter who wins.
"There are many opportunities available to the federal government,” he said. “And I look forward to working with whatever new administration comes in to address the issues.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'