B.C. civil forfeiture grants aim to turn ill-gotten gains into good

Millions of dollars, through B.C.'scivil forfeiture grant process,availablefor anti-gang initiatives and youth crime prevention, are up for grabs.

B.C. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton saysapplicationscan be made startingMonday, Nov. 9.

"We want criminals to know that they will find no safe haven in our province. With this year's grants now open, we will continue to invest in those organizations doing meaningful work to transform their communities for the better."

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Andrew Schofield of Street to Peak Initiativeis a fan of the grants.

The former principal received one in 2014 for theprogram that helps give at-risk youth, mainly from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside,the opportunity to get away from their everyday lives.

Schofieldtook a group of teens aged 13-17up Mount Kilimanjaro.

"When we were doing training hikes with the students ...It's just a way of engaging the kids and finding out information as to what's going on,which is more sophisticated than normal forms of policing," he said.

"It was building relationships whichare long-term and sustainable with the students and having them see that there are other ways of interacting with adults."

He and others applaud B.C.'s aggressive civil forfeiture laws and the grant process,which accepts applicationsuntil Dec. 17, 2015.

The program, which hasseized millionsin property, goods and cash since 2006,does havedetractors.

Six members of the Hells Angelsmotorcycle clubhired one ofCanada's leading constitutionaland human rights lawyers, Joe Arvay, in Oct.2013, to launch a challenge to B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act.

The office does not need a conviction or charge to pursue a case, and is described by some as a provincial cash cow.

The B.C. act allows the director of forfeiture to take civil court action against property deemed to be proceeds of unlawful activity or an instrument of unlawful activity.

In 2011, amendments were made to the act to allow the director of civil forfeiture to use administrative proceedings against property valued at $75,000 or less that is not real estate.