STOP BIKER GANGS WITH EXISTING LAWS

MOTORCYCLE gangs in Quebec competing for the drug trade are blamed for 150
deaths from shootings and bombings in the past six years. A few of the
victims were not criminals - one was an 11-year-old boy hit by car-bomb
shrapnel - but all the incidents are an assault on public safety and
community democracy.

Given this violent record, it was no surprise for Quebec and other
politicians to demand more action against the Hells Angels and the Rock
Machine after Journal de Montreal crime reporter Michel Auger was shot. He
is expected to recover, but the attempted murder widens the attack by
gangsters on everyone's rights. Yet the outrage over the shooting cannot
justify provincial or federal governments bending that same law to outlaw
designated criminal organizations without due process.

First, it could only be done by suspending the Charter of Rights in that
instance through the dubious notwithstanding clause. That is because
otherwise Canadians would face the prospect of the Hells Angels defending -
on our behalf, if you will - the right to freedom of association. And by
overriding the charter, Quebec or any other province infuriated by gang
violence would be admitting defeat in fighting crime by lawful and
conventional means.

THE apparently simple solution of setting aside the charter for five years
to "solve" the problem of biker gangs (or Asian gangs or the Mafia) is a
knee-jerk response. The most effective answer of more resources for local
and national police has not only been ignored for budgetary convenience but
actually reduced. Quebec Crown prosecutors say working conditions are so
poor, colleagues are quitting to work for the federal government while the
province lacks adequate computers and is slow to hire more people or even
pay overtime.

These mundane matters lack the drama of the one quick fix of locking up all
the bikers - how long would it be before their lawyers had them back on the
street? - but the laws are already on the books to take down the gangs if
the will is there. And when federal justice officials meet in Quebec City
with their counterparts today, they might ponder why outfits like the Hells
Angels exist in the first place. They supply a public demand for hard
drugs. Without those customers, whose money funds the criminality, they are
out of business. A twin aim of curbing drug addiction by education and
shutting down gangs by police pressure is more valuable and certain than
risky new legislation.