Feds commit $11.9M to address gang, gun violence in Sask.

Saskatchewan is getting an $11.9-million boost over five years to help prevent, disrupt and reduce violence related to guns and gangs.

"We clearly have a rising problem in those two areas," said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale at Monday's announcement in Regina.

• Gun violence in Sask. up by 47% in 2017: StatsCan

• Sask. leads provinces in gun-related violent crime: Statistics Canada

Goodale said that even though crime rates have been generally decreasing over the last five years, crimes related to gangs and guns have been increasing in many places across the country.

Some of the money announced Monday will go towards additional resources for a provincially-funded unit that specializes in gang issues and enforcement, according to Christine Tell, Saskatchewan's minister of corrections and policing.

"We're going to enhance that particular unit and probably do some reconfiguration, maybe expansion," Tell told reporters.

She said the money will also be used to focus on gang-related issues in correctional centres around Saskatchewan.

"We're going to look at ways in which we can improve our efforts because 30 per cent of of our inmates in our correctional facilities have some sort of gang affiliation," she said.

The goal of focusing on correctional centres, she said, is to improve safety for inmates while they're incarcerated and ensure community safety when an inmate with gang affiliations is released.

Help for community organizations, data collecting

The money will also go towards community organizations that work with former and current gang members, such Str8 Up in Saskatoon.

• Ex-gang member says she was ready to die before Saskatoon's Str8 Up stepped in

• Sask. one step closer to long-awaited provincial gang strategy

"They have the knowledge and the expertise, so we're looking at closer relationships with with some of those," said Tell.

Goodale said the funding is also meant to help collect data, especially around guns that are used to commit crimes and whether they're locally-sourced or being smuggled in.

"Data is absolutely critical to making sure that we're we're investing in the right way," said Goodale.

"You have to track results, which we will be doing and all of the provinces will be doing, to measure the degree of success that we have by the investment of these dollars over the next five years."