Tuesday November 18, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Provincial grants are available for community safety projects.
Applications are being accepted for the 2025-26 Civil Forfeiture Grant program to support organizations dedicated to community safety in British Columbia. Applications will be accepted from November 17 to December 15, 2025.
“Community organizations play a crucial role in keeping people in British Columbia safe and this program allows us to support their important initiatives and programming,” said Nina Krieger, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
“By taking away the proceeds of crime and putting it into community safety and crime prevention projects, we’re directly targeting organized crime in B.C.”
This year, organizations can submit applications for projects in the following funding streams:
- crime prevention;
- gender-based violence;
- Indigenous healing; and
- restorative justice.
Uses funds from civil forfeiture:
The civil forfeiture grant program provides one-time funding to support community-based projects using the proceeds from the civil forfeiture process. In the 2024-25 funding cycle, $7.5 million was provided to support 166 community projects. Applicants to the grant program will be notified of the results in May 2026.
Funding for this program is made available through the Civil Forfeiture Office. The office was established in 2006 to remove the tools and proceeds of unlawful activity, and redirect them back into programs that support community safety and crime prevention.
Since its inception, more than $93 million in civil forfeiture recoveries have been disbursed as grants.
The Civil Forfeiture Office continues to evolve by implementing innovative new tools to identify and forfeit the proceeds of crime, such as unexplained wealth orders. By turning unlawful proceeds into supports for victims and those most at risk, government is addressing the root causes of crime, while disrupting the profit motive for criminal organizations.
Types of projects:
Some previous recipients of funding (2024-2025) include:
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Vancouver Island – Youth Early Preventio (YEP) / Nanaimo [$40,000]
- Child Abuse Prevention and Counseling Society of Greater Victoria (Victoria CYAC) – for Victoria & West Shore Child and Youth Advocacy Centres [$140,000]
- Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia – Youth Action Project [$40,000]
- Boys and Girls Club Services of Greater Victoria – Sooke Youth Connect Drop-In [$40,000]
- John Howard Society of Victoria – KidStart Mentoring Program [$40,000]
- Take a Hike Youth Mental Health Foundation – Take a Hike Program [$40,000]
- The Municipality of North Cowichan – The Crofton Youth Room [$12,046]
- Britannia Community Services Centre Society – Elders Participating in Society / Vancouver [$39,250]
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: 43rd BC PARLIAMENT