Toronto: The mayors of the towns of Brampton in Ontario and Surrey in British Columbia have jointly asked Ottawa to act to stem the menace of extortion attempts that have targeted South Asian businesses in their areas and also in other parts of Canada.
Brampton mayor Patrick Brown and his Surrey counterpart Brenda Locke sent a letter to Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc in this regard last week. According to the daily Toronto Star, the mayors expressed their “deep concern” over the increase in “extortion attempts and violent acts, including shootings”.
“This alarming development underscores the severity and widespread nature of these threats, which are predominantly targeting members of the South Asian business community. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local police departments, including Peel Regional Police (PRP), have acknowledged the gravity of the situation,” the letter noted.
“We implore you to prioritise this issue and engage in a concerted effort with local and provincial authorities, along with necessary federal agencies, to develop a comprehensive strategy to address these extortion threats,” the letter added.
It came as such extortion attempts targeting Indo-Canadian businesses have surged in recent months, and have been reported from the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, which includes Surrey, and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which includes Brampton, and also Edmonton in the province of Alberta.
Since October, police in the Lower Mainland and other provinces have been receiving reports of small businesses facing threats through phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and letters, compelling them to provide monetary concessions. Surrey had 3 confirmed cases, with the cities of West Vancouver, Abbotsford, Edmonton (Alberta), and Brampton (Ontario) also confirming similar threats.
In the ongoing extortion investigation, Surrey RCMP apprehended two individuals but subsequently released them without charges.
On January 6, a community forum was held in Surrey to address this matter. It was organised by the president of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Satish Kumar days after his son’s residence was peppered with bullets in the middle of the night on December 27. “This was to address our two main concerns – driveby shootings and extortion calls,” Kumar said after the event.
