Laura Sky’s Documentary: ‘Crisis Call’ – Should Police Shoot The Mentally Ill? The Edmond Yu Story

On February 20th, 1997, Edmond Yu slapped an innocent bystander.  On a TTC bus at Queen’s Quay and Spadina Ave., Edmond sat with demons plaguing his mind, while Toronto police considered how to subdue and remove him from the empty bus.  A travelling bag full of assorted objects was pulled from under Edmond’s seat by one of the officers.  Officers confronted Edmond in a way that PC Jeff Rogers, one of the police officers present, labelled in an SIU report and later revealed at an inquest, as “inundating him with either  questions or demands and I don’t think he could handle that.”  It seemed to overwhelm Edmond, who was not answering immediately.  When asked for his ID, he handed over a TTC metropass.  The encounter deteriorated when police stated that he would be taken for a mental health assessment.

Witnesses say they saw Edmond rise slowly, reach inside his jacket and pull out a shiny object, holding it close to his chest.  Toronto police officer, Andria Cowan arriving last on the scene, screamed at Edmond to drop it as she reached for her pepper spray, PC Jeff Rogers stumbled backwards and lost his footing while a third officer, who had left the bus fired the fatal shots to Edmond’s head and neck from the rear window of the bus.

Laura Sky’s documentary, Crisis Call, asks the inevitable question:  Should police be our new front-line mental health workers?  Do police want to be our mental health front-line workers responding to these 911 calls?  And should those armed with weapons be our first choice in meeting the needs of those in mental health crisis?  Toronto police officer, Andria Cowan, featured in Crisis Call, speaks with empathy and openly of her experience and how it changed her views about police interactions with people in crisis and about her role in the Toronto police shooting death of Edmond Yu .  In Andria’s words,“I felt that society had let him down.”  PC Cowan says she feels “haunted” by the shooting. “[Police] have the authority under the Mental Health Act to make an assessment and take someone’s liberty away, but we don’t have the authority to make an assessment to get someone the help they need.”

What alternatives exist when someone in our community is in crisis?

There are currently four mobile crisis intervention teams (MCIT) that operate in 10 of Toronto’s 17 policing divisions.  The crisis teams operate at different times of the day, none of them 24 hours a day.  Mobile crisis intervention teams assist police in de-escalating situations involving psychiatric issues before they turn into fatal incidents.  However, police remain as the first responders and must secure the situation from any harm to the public before the team of one mental health nurse and one unarmed, plainclothes officer intervene.  MCITs remain as second responders and this is not expected to change due to the potential harm to the public and the directives of our policing system as it is currently mandated to secure the public from harm by use of force if deemed necessary.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), has decided in all cases where a weapon has been discharged by Toronto police, that it was a necessary use of force and not excessive use of force.  Do we want police to be the first responders, untrained in mental health crisis de-escalation, trained to respond to all potential danger with the discharging of a weapon aimed center mass with the intent to kill?  Do police themselves want to be first responders?  Two officers who participated in the Edmund Yu shooting death say no.  They were the two Toronto police officers who did not discharge the weapon that killed Edmond Yu.

Click on the following link to see a list in this Toronto Star article of  persons in mental health crisis shot by Toronto police:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/863157–why-did-mentally-ill-man-have-to-die

For information on how you can attend a screening of Laura Sky’s documentary ‘Crisis Call’, please see below:

Crisis Call will tour the country with community premieres and workshops.   For more information, call SkyWorks at :        (416) 536-6581 or email us at info@skyworksfoundation.org  for a copy of the DVD, call VTAPE at 94160 351-1317 or email wandav@vtape.org

Crescent Town: A TAVIS Patrolled Priority Neighbourhood?

Crescent Town is located near Victoria Park and Danforth Ave. in Toronto.  It boasts a beautiful community center with pool, a well-equipped gym, programs for children and youth, on-site daycare, a public school within walking distance, a convenience store, restaurant and other services and the Victoria Park Subway Station with a walkway access for residents.  It is a collection of high-rise and low-rise apartment buildings, interspersed with townhouses surrounded by lush parks and green space.  Views from the high-rise apartments are spectacular.  Parking for residents as well as a generous number of visitor parking spaces are available.

For a decade, my three nieces lived in this priority neighbourhood and loved where they lived.  We tobagganed together in the winter on the nearby hills in the park.  We celebrated a 9th birthday party at the beautiful community centre and played loud hip-hop music that drew a crowd of excited youngsters who joined in ‘unofficially’.  My sons were babysat by their auntie in their apartment in Crescent Town.  My nieces excelled in their studies at their local public school.  When their Mom worked, a willing friend from the building agreed to babysit for a very reasonable fee.  Their apartment was large and affordable.

Crescent Town was an enclave of immigrants who understood each other and how difficult the task of settling into a new country can be.  The challenges of learning a new language, finding employment, seeking affordable daycare, locating services that can help, and making a friend or two can feel overwhelming to newcomers to Canada.  I was glad that my nieces and their parents had this community of fellow immigrants to join with so they would feel accepted and part of a community as they navigated life as immigrants in a country with cultural experiences different from their homeland.

This was the 1990’s.  My nieces and their parents left Crescent Town in the early part of the 2000’s.

After they left Crescent Town, one of my nieces would say she missed it.  I would ask her what it was she missed and at first she would say things that would make me laugh.  And then we would laugh together.  The elevator.  The hallways.  Her mom chimed in, “People being around.  Here, in this house and in this community, there is no one around.  You see them all at once in the morning.  They go to their cars quickly and leave the street.  Then it’s like no one is here.  It is too quiet.  The girls go to school and I am all alone here.”  Eventually my niece tells me she misses her friends.

When Crescent Town became a priority neighbourhood is unclear to me.  Was it after the year of the gun in 2005?

I think back now to every memory I have of Crescent Town as a visitor.  I never felt unsafe in Crescent Town.  When my sons were in the good care of their Aunt in her apartment, I never worried about leaving them in this priority neighbourhood.  My car was never broken into, even when left unlocked.  The hallways I travelled though dark and eerie from the partial underground where I left my car to enter the building were without incident.  The families I met in the elevator were kind.  The children were happy.  Occasionally I would see some young men hanging out together.  It didn’t give me pause or concern.  Some tension was noted occasionally.  I ascribed it to the emotional tension of struggle – something I had been familiar with as a former single mom.  My nieces never informed me of anything that frightened them about their home.

The only negative memory I have of Crescent Town was that of the voice of authority.

One evening, we waited in the lobby for the return of my in-laws.  While my brother-in-law and I watched from the lobby windows, my young nieces chased each other around the lobby laughing and enjoying themselves.  Suddenly a young,  twenty-something blond-haired security guard entered the lobby and stared.  He stared for some time.  I wondered what the trouble was.  With a curt air of authority he told my brother-in-law that children of this age should be in bed.

A hot rage filled me as I realized this boy, who probably didn’t have any children of his own had only the authority given him to impose this absurd observation and the audacity to utter contemptuous words of obvious hatred for the immigrants he was commissioned to control.  As the security guard stared with disgust and judgement, my brother-in-law continued to look out the window.  As I stared at the guard and our eyes locked in non-verbal combat, my disgust for the manner in which he treated my brother-in-law obvious, the guard stood straighter and with chin in the air, refused to move until acknowledged.

If Crescent Town has become a priority neighbourhood, I wonder what the priority is.  Is it engaging the neighbourhood, uplifting it, supporting it and ensuring that immigrants feel welcome as newcomers so that they will adjust and become healthy thriving members of Canadian society?  Or, is it to over control and police them and remind them that they are somehow not behaving appropriately?

If you ask me from a Canadian’s viewpoint.  It looks like the latter.

Youth Workers Supporting Youth: Who Supports Youth Workers?

The year of the gun: 2005

What does the term ‘Year Of The Gun’ mean to you?  If you live in mainstream society in a non-marginalized area, outside the 13 designated priority neighbourhoods, words like gangs, guns, thugs may come to mind.  But, if you live in one of the 13 priority neighbourhoods, words like pain, heartache, frustration, forgotten, hopeless, nowhere to turn, misunderstood, self-loathing…come to mind and are the result of a non-inclusive society that judges, condemns, sidelines and criminalizes an entire community based on the desperate actions of youth grasping at any coping method within their reach.

So who can these youth turn to for guidance and help in a world that would rather criminalize them, jail them, fail to understand them and forget they exist?  Thankfully, there are youth workers who understand what these youth are feeling. Youth workers understand not only the community marginalized youth live in, but the how the effects of the outside world casting a blind eye, pretending not to see, adds insult to constant injury.  They know these aspects of living in a marginalized community because often, they too, live there or have lived there.

Youth workers, who are also young, help youth with their pain and cope by submerging their own feelings of pain, frustration, and concerns about their own precarious futures, to give everything they have to mentor and be a strong shoulder to lean on when youth they care for need it most.  They guide in a way that only one who understands, is able to.  They give the kind of non-judgemental, consistent, compassionate and unconditional acceptance and regard that is necessary for youth to flourish, and grow to be strong, empathic, caring and capable adults.

Without our youth workers, who would our children from marginalized communities turn to if a caring adult is not available for support and mentoring?  And who helps our youth workers remain strong?  Without good support for the supportive, caregiver burnout can easily result.  It was with these ideas in mind that Frontline Partners for Youth Network began in December of 2005, after the summer of the gun.

For the past 7 years, FPYN has gathered with youth workers in a supportive atmosphere to enable youth workers a space to discuss their feelings in a forum that lends itself to open and frank discussion about the realities of supporting youth in marginalized communities.  Along with a moderator who ensures that any speaker can find their own voice without interruption and speak the truth in a safe and supportive environment, a complimentary, delicious dinner to soothe the soul is an added pleasure at every meeting.

Please see below for information from the FPYN website:  www.fpyn.ca

Frontline Partners with Youth Network

Connecting frontline workers to heal, learn and work for change.

            Frontline Partners with Youth Network (FPYN) is a network of people working directly with youth across sectors and the GTA. It emerged in December 2005, when a group of frontline workers came together to support each other in dealing with the effects of gun violence. Since then, the network has continued to grow as an expression of the heartfelt need among frontline workers to connect with each other – there are over 1200 people signed up for our newsletter. At the core of our network is a bold, real, innovative, and dedicated group of people working from an anti-oppression framework directly with youth. Our network strives to continuously recognize the link between systemic oppression and the violence that initially brought us together in all that we do.  Our mission is to connect frontline workers to heal, learn and work for change. FPYN ensures that frontline workers, as community healers and builders, are able to access systems support and training, reflection and advocacy, and information/resource sharing. The network has also developed and will continue to develop resources specific to responding to the grief and trauma frontline workers face on a regular basis. FPYN continues to evolve and develop through supporting the energy, interests and passion of frontline workers to heal ourselves and to make systemic changes. If you would like to connect or for more information, email fpynadmin@gmail.com and check out our website at http://www.fpyn.ca.

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http://www.fpyn.ca

 

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Oversight Unseen: Should Police Be Policing Themselves?

 

In 2008, Ontario’s Ombudsman Andre Marin, wrote the following in a 124 page report, known as ‘Oversight Unseen’:

Canada received considerable unfavourable international attention last fall when millions witnessed the graphic video images of the last terrifying moments in the life of Robert Dziekanski. After a long and delayed international flight from his native Poland, Mr. Dziekanski arrived at Vancouver Airport, only to spend hours wandering hopelessly, unable to communicate or to obtain the assistance he needed to exit and meet up with his mother. As Mr. Dziekanski became increasingly confused and agitated, RCMP officers arrived and, within minutes, stunned him with a Taser. He was then restrained, and died shortly thereafter. In the aftermath of this tragedy, public accusations were made of coverup and police using excessive force. People demanded assurance that the truth surrounding his ill-fated encounter with police would be revealed, and many voiced distrust of any investigation that would involve police investigating police.

To Ontario’s great credit, incidents in this province involving serious injury and death of civilians resulting from police contact are not investigated by police officials, but by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a civilian criminal investigative agency. Created in 1990, the SIU’s existence is a testament to the strength of democratic principles in this province, and the value our government has placed on reinforcing public confidence in policing.

Unfortunately, over the past two years, several serious concerns have been raised by individuals, families, lawyers and community advocates who complained to my Office about the credibility and effectiveness of the SIU.  As previous independent reviews have documented, the SIU’s early history was marked by successive governments failing to

SIU investigations lab

provide it with adequate resources,and by police officials aggressively resisting its oversight. While its resources have increased over time, and regulatory requirements now more clearly define police obligations, my investigation found that the Special Investigations Unit continues to struggle to assert its authority, maintain its balance against powerful police interests, and carry out its mandate effectively.

The SIU is still very much a fledgling organization. It does not have its own constituting legislation, its mandate lacks clarity, it is administratively and technically challenged and it is dependent on the Ministry of the Attorney General.  In turn, the Ministry of the Attorney General has relied on the SIU to soothe police and community sensibilities and to ward off controversy. But in doing so, it has also overstepped the bounds of independent governance. The Director’s performance is subjectively evaluated and rewarded, compromising the SIU’s structural integrity and independence. Its credibility as an independent investigative agency is further undermined by the predominant presence and continuing police links of former police officials within the SIU. It is so steeped in police culture that it has, at times, even tolerated the blatant display of police insignia and police affiliation.

In addition to lacking the necessary statutory authority to act decisively when police officials fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the SIU often ignores the tools it does have, such as public censure, and adopts an impotent stance in the face of police challenge. Delays in police providing notice of incidents, in disclosing notes, and in submitting to interviews are endemic. Rather than vigorously inquiring into and documenting delays and other evidence of police resistance, the SIU deals with issues of police non-co-operation as isolated incidents. It ignores systemic implications and attempts to solve individual problems through a conciliatory approach.

The SIU has not only become complacent about ensuring that police officials follow the rules, it has bought into the fallacious argument that SIU investigations aren’t like other criminal cases, and that it is acceptable to treat police witnesses differently from civilians. Police interviews are rarely held within the regulatory time frames, and are all too often postponed – for weeks, sometimes even months.The SIU will not inconvenience officers or police forces by interviewing officers off duty. When it encounters overt resistance from police officials, the SIU pursues a low-key diplomatic approach that flies under the public radar. If disagreement cannot be resolved, the SIU more often than not simply accepts defeat.

The SIU also fails to respond to incidents with rigour and urgency – at times inexplicably overlooking the closest investigators, and following routines that result in precious investigative minutes, sometimes hours, being lost. It has become mired in its own internal events, and introspective focus.  The SIU’s system of oversight is out of balance. It must not only ensure accountability of police conduct, but be perceived by the public as doing so. At present, the public is expected to trust that the SIU conducts thorough and objective investigations and accept that its decisions are well founded when it decides, for example, not to charge officers. But much remains hidden from public view, including Director’s reports and significant policy issues. In order to properly serve the function it was created to fulfill, greater transparency is required with respect to the SIU’s investigative outcomes, as well as those of the police disciplinary system triggered by SIU investigations.

The Toronto Star reported on September 21st, 2012 that Ontario’s Community Services Minister, Madeleine Meilleur issued a statement saying,”..my office is not privy to details on ongoing police investigations.  It’s important to note that we do not interfere with or direct police operations.”

At a recent Toronto Police Services Board Meeting, questions were raised about a policing budget that has run rampantly out of control by the city auditor.  Why are police officers paid overtime to attend court appearances?  Why are police officers rather than civilian officers posted at construction sites for safety, when it would cost the taxpayer less to have civilian officers assist at construction sites.  Police Chief Bill Blair committed to amending the situation by ending the practice.  While the board debated the pros and cons of accepting a motion to accept the police chief’s and the city auditor’s proposed solution, the chief of police, seeing his advantage in the board’s hesitation, blurted out, “But, there will be lay-off’s.”  Without hesitation the board moved to accept the status quo – last years budget exactly as it was, without amendment.

A prior TPSB meeting in the spring raised concerns over the G-20 policing situation where a number of law-abiding citizens were contained in a make-shift jail, without charges laid against them, a shared toilet without a door for privacy, no water or sanitary products for menstruating women and no access to legal advice in a timely manner.  The board who oversees policing in Toronto was asked why they did not intervene or ask questions about the operational plan and organization of policing at the G-20.  They stated that they are not welcome to intervene and to stay out of policing matters.  Recently, the board has been told that they do have oversight and the power to intervene, even if it is to ask more questions to which they should get appropriate answers.

Which, begs the question:  If there is a government body that oversees policing in Toronto, why are they not exercising their right to properly oversee the Toronto Police on behalf of us, the taxpayers of Toronto?  Because, it seems as if the Toronto Police Services are policing themselves with our permission to do so any way they want, even if that overrides our civil and human rights.  Do we trust anyone with this much power to exercise it with impunity?  Should we  trust anyone with this much power to use it without effective oversight?

Anyone who carries weapons should be governed with checks and balances in place to offset the enormous amount of power to harm us.  Isn’t this why we jail those with guns who have harmed others?  The police should be no exception to this rule with blanket approval to discharge weapons in any way they see fit.  With a Special Investigations Unit looking the other way and covering their tracks for them, and the publics fears that the police may be getting out of control, it appears that a full investigation uncovers the questionable truth that the Toronto police have done no harm with every investigation.

To date, since the SIU has begun investigating in 1990, no Toronto Police officer has ever been convicted of wrongdoing in discharging a weapon.  Ever.

Yafet Tewelde, Phd student at York University, and member of the Justice Is Not Colour-Blind Campaign says, “What’s most disturbing about the current critiques of police abuse is that it is seen as a new phenomena.  The discourse is largely focused on how the police are “getting” out of control – they always were.  Well, that’s actually not true either because when they were/are killing Black people young and old no one batted an eye – this was acceptable.  However, when young white people are
targeted it is seen as a “real” abuse of power because they are not marked as “real” criminals.  This whole discourse about police abuse highlights the coded ways racism is deployed in our society.”

Yafet adds, “In the Boxing Day shooting of 2005 when young and white Jane Creba was shot and killed the city became outraged, however, when tens of Black youth were being shot and killed it was a minor story.  Today the same story is unfolding.  When the police are to atone for the G20 abuses who will still be voicing concerns when they continue to target the Black community – that is the true test of one’s understanding of justice.”

The Justice Is Not Colour-Blind Campaign is demanding an end to the Attorney General’s sole oversight to the Toronto Police Service.  One agent of the state should not have this much power.  Andre Marin, our Ontario Ombudsman agrees.  So does one other MPP and a growing list of university students, youth of various ethnicities and other adults.  Click on the link below to find out how you can become a part of the oversight unseen issue to end racist policing in Toronto:

Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign

Mobilize Our People, Maximize Our
Power!

Email: justicenotblind@gmail.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/justicenotblind/

Twitter:
@justicenoblind

Now Is Not Too Late, Or Is It?

In 1977, a report was released commissioned by Metro Toronto Chairman, Paul Godfrey.  Walter Pitman, commissioned to research and report on the state of racism in Toronto, wrote a report, `Now Is Not too Late.`  Speaking primarily on the racist treatment of brown and black Torontonians, the report centered on our Loyalist and Imperialist beginnings in this nation and how Canadians with a righteous sense of entitlement,  unfairly and unwelcoming name-called, wrote racist words of hate in public spaces, and physically attacked Torontonians of non-white culture and colour.  An impassioned speech was presented by Walter Pitman outlining the need to correct this racist hatred of other cultures of non-white origin before it is too late.

Is it too late?

In 1977, it was common to hear the words, `Paki` and `Nigger.`  Walter Pitman refers to this name-calling as a sign of racist times.  Since 1977 it is understood that name-calling is not politically correct and these words are not spoken often by those who would have uttered them in 1977 and those born since.  In fact, writers often ask whether these words should even be referred to in written form.  Would anyone be offended?  And while the signs and symptoms of name-calling signifying the degree of this insidious disease known as racism have been eradicated, have we arrived?  Do we live in a racist-free nation?  Have the prophetic words of Walter Pitman, words to the wise,  resulted in an end to racism?

If you ask any white person if racism exists, they will probably seem surprised.  They will think of the multi-cultural nature of Canada, their co-workers who are of many different colours and nations, advertising featuring models of different ethnic origin, their neighbours and friends who are also of varying backgrounds and colours and declare an emphatic `No.`  Since we no longer speak the words of racism – paki or nigger, believing that this is racism, then it must certainly not exist.

And this is why, it may be too late.

Because we have stopped saying the noxious words, we have halted awareness.  We believe that an end to the hatred spoken, infers that racism has been eradicated.  This inference would be wrong.  Racism has merely gone underground.  It is silent, yet, it continues to exist in the most obnoxious form.  The form of undeclared truth, hidden political agendas, and outright acceptance of a brutal and hidden form of hatred that for some, is unrecognizable to those who are most affected by racism – those of South Asian and Caribbean descent.

Consider the words of Deputy Chief of Toronto Police, Peter Sloly at a recent meeting at FYI in the Weston-Mount Dennis location beside the George Harvey High School.  An address to those concerned about racial profiling and carding of black youth in that priority neighbourhood including teens, youth workers, and those who care for teens of black and brown ethnicity, resulted in Deputy Chief of Toronto police stating that,  “Racism exists in everyone in the room.  It exists in the Toronto Police service.”  He further stated that, “Racial profiling does exist as has been stated by Toronto Chief of police, Bill Blair.”  He also firmly told the crowd that this would continue, as would carding of black youth, with a stoic expression, in support of and upholding the organization to which he is a member.  Audible, were gasps of surprise.  Peter Sloly is of Caribbean heritage.

Is it too late, Mr Pitman?

While white people may be convinced that it is a great majority of black folk who commit crime, belaying researchable facts that prove otherwise, they are certainly blind to the effects of silent racism because it does not affect them.  When all black and brown persons have been convinced that racial profiling and carding of black and brown youth is a useful, necessary evil to contain the outrageous criminal behaviour of a large percentage of the black and brown ethnicities of Toronto, it will then be too late.

To find out more about silent racism, racial profiling and carding of black youth, see what York University students and many other Toronto citizens are doing to fight back.  Click on the links below:

Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign

Mobilize Our People, Maximize Our
Power!

Email: justicenotblind@gmail.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/justicenotblind/

Twitter:
@justicenoblind

Religion and Sex Education in Schools: How Do We Make Peace With Opposing Viewpoints?

With an influx of new Canadians of other cultures and religions in a country founded on Christian values and mores, how do we approach the subject of teaching our children within the school system about their sexuality?  Should we teach from a science-based, factual approach or should we talk about the issues that face pre-teens and teens today?  Or, should we teach sexuality from a strictly religious standpoint?

Recently, a group of conservative Christians and Muslims have joined forces in opposing the current health teaching curriculum in our public school system.  According to a piece in the Toronto Star today, Muslim and Christian parents have suddenly started to ask schools across the GTA to notify them when their child’s class will discuss topics ranging from homosexuality and birth control to wizardry, evolution and ‘environmental worship’ so that they can withhold their child from any classes that contradict their religious beliefs.  So, the question begs an answer.  Should we imbue our children with a strict sense of religious upbringing that does not encourage them to explore alternatives in life that may conflict with our religious mores and values?

For the conservative and pious, this may seem like a silly question that resounds with an automatic, loud and firm – yes!

But, what if we played Devil’s advocate here?  Without intentional pun, what if we simply considered the question –  what if?  What if we were tolerant of opposing viewpoints and discussed these with our children in the context of our own religious beliefs?  Wouldn’t this be better than outright refusal to let our children hear other viewpoints?  Isn’t this why we save fervently for our children’s post-secondary education and send them to university?  Don’t we want our children to be independent, capable, resourceful, intelligent and thinking beings able to critically think for themselves?

Buddhism

And let’s look at the alternative.  Suppose we do thwart the efforts of the public education system to teach and enlighten our youngsters with all the information that they will certainly find on the internet.  Now our children will be informed with internet teachings that we are completely unaware of.  With the curriculum based on providing information that teens have already encountered via internet and comments from their formal and informal social media networks, we are able to open up a discussion.  We might also find that with the religious teachings they have already been raised with, we may be pleasantly surprised to find that their views will eventually mirror the values and mores they grew up with in the family home.

I believe that informing and enlightening anyone including teens is the best curriculum we could have.  Our public school curriculum is lauded, studied and researched worldwide as a model to follow in other multi-cultural countries.  This is because we are aiming to be a tolerant country with acceptance for all newcomers with their various religious belief systems.  When we look closely and without ‘acceptance as truth’ of the myriad stereotypes that abound regarding religious beliefs of others we may find that the commonality between many religions, including Christianity, Muslim, Sikh, Judaism, Hindu, Buddhism, are so similar that the core standards are almost identical.  These include a hope for a peaceful existence without war for our families and children, respect for others, values and mores that create a harmonious community that we can all live in with a focus on helpfulness and guidance for our children and others children, etc.

Perhaps this world can heal through a blending of faiths in an interfaith system of viewing the world?

Sikh man at the Golden Temple

Quran

I was raised in a Christian home that was not strictly conservative and pious.  The mores and values of Christianity have become who I am through interaction with others who are religious and others who are not.  This acceptance and tolerance of the viewpoints of others has opened up a rich world of interesting viewpoints and ideas that leads to creative solutions not strictly based on one religion.  In an interfaith position in society, we are able to view all religious ideas in the context they are presented.  These present ways of being and ideas for living that are not strictly required to be adhered to, but a collection of ideas that one may adopt in pursuit of a life well-lived.  And, don’t we collectively want that for our children – a life well-lived?

monks

Gay Muslims Demonstrate

And what about our child who may find out that he or she is gay?  Should they turn their back on everything that becomes who they are, to follow their faith?  Or, can we blend the values and mores of religious teachings into a set of values that LGBTQ youth can follow.  If we don’t, then we have underserved our youth, for they will find other ‘religions’ to follow that accept them as they are, leaving them at risk for losing faith entirely.  Losing faith could mean losing and turning a back on everything that the values and mores of society have in place to support a stable and healthy society.  It could mean turning their backs on us…and that means they have lost the best support system they could ever have – us, as parents.

I am still struck by the comments of a thirty-something young woman sitting with her female life-partner at a recent meeting at a Jane/Finch Health centre.  She angrily spoke to the pastor who had come to speak to the youth about sexual decision-making as unmarried young people and reminded them of the church’s values.  She stood and spoke firmly and proudly on waiting until marriage to have sex.  She said that having sex with a man was something she never wanted to do and she wasn’t waiting until marriage with a man to have sex.  She was also the angriest person who had spoken and an adversarial conversation began between herself and the pastor.  The woman who could rhyme off scripture faster than the pastor and spoke with the verve and elegance of a community leader, had the attention of all the teens in the room.  She also had the last word as the pastor sat down.

If we want the children to listen to us, we must speak their language..perhaps nuanced with the values and mores they have already come to accept provided that those values and norms include them.

Perhaps we should ask the children what they want to learn about, know about, and what unanswered questions they have and what facts they need to make good decisions for themselves.  One young woman spoke up at the Jane/Finch Health centre meeting and said it loud and clear, clearly upset,  “I don’t want to hear this from a pastor or a nurse or from my parents.  Could you just recommend some good books we can read?”  And isn’t that what good teaching is all about?  Providing the reading material to inform, with discussion where youth can speak freely and feel valued and understood.  Only in this context can we empower them.  With this empowerment, they will surely find their own answers and apply them with the religious values they have come to rely on as a part of their life.

The Dam: Develop Assist Mentor A Youth Drop-In’s Value

Behind the Shoppers Drugmart at 6677 Meadowvale Town Centre Circle in Mississauga, The Dam, an after school drop-in for teens 13 – 19 years old, is found.  Tucked away from the usual retail business is an enclave with comfy couches and chairs, a small stage, a functioning  kitchen and people to relate to.  Some of these people will be other teens and some will be adult or youth mentors providing guidance for those who want it.

The Dam: staff

The Dam also features events for youth and invites community members to speak.  Recently, on August 28th, The Dam in conjunction with PMC – Peel Multicultural Council, presented Guns and Gangs:  Gang Violence and Awareness.  Speakers included Mayor Hazel McCallion, Leena Aguilara, Phd and founder of the SNAP program for children, John Sawdon founder and executive director of BTC – Breaking The Cycle – a gang exit program, Peel Region Constable – Camille Chambers and others.

Stage at The Dam

This evening, The Dam couches and chairs were packed with youth, as well as many youth standing to listen to the entire presentation that lasted from 6:00pm to 9:30pm.  A pretty, young black woman, dressed casually in jeans, hair pulled up into a ponytail with mic in hand, leads the reluctant, shy youth in a rap:  ..”if I work hard at it, I can be what I want to be.”  She engages the youth with offers of prizes for jumping up on stage and rapping to the words and leading the crowd.  Youth hesitantly accept the mic and rap the words.  The crowd repeats the words.  Prizes are won.  Everyone claps.  Youth engage.

We watch a video:  Abberican.  A youth, Ross from Detroit, talks about his experience with the ‘bad’ section of Detroit – the East side and how he was shot by another teen whose initiation into gang was shooting him.  I compare Detroit with Toronto or Mississauga and note that our crime rate is much less than the United States.  Our current incarceration rate is also much less.  I wonder if a comparison will be made or if the youth will be left with the impression that Canadian gangs equal American gangs and American gang style ways and wars.  I wonder if this is merely a cautionary tale for Canadian youth – a picture of where things may go if we don’t get this gang thing under control as presented by adults.

Youth could probably inform us.  Youth have much to teach us if we listen.

Leena Aguilara, Phd, founder of SNAP – a program that teaches children how to stop and think, shares her passion and expertise.  SNAP teaches aggessive children as young as 7 years old who engage in bullying and violence, master self-control.  The SNAP program is now noted world-wide and has become a proven success.  Leena shows us a picture of her three brothers and shares with us her motivation for helping young offenders.  Two of her brothers have come in contact with the justice system.  One of them is coping.  The other brother is not.

The youth begin to listen.

Leena shows us pictures of a variety of smiling babies and youth in a collage on the screen.  She says, “Violent and angry children are not born like that, are they?  Do you think this baby here, was born this way?”  Leena asks, “What do you think makes a child this way, makes them get into trouble?  What makes a criminal?”

The youth have all the answers immediately.  They are good answers.  Family money issues, lack of supports and resources, feeling insecure, parent’s divorce, absent parents.  Leena adds, “Change.  Change everything from taking children from their parents and placing them in foster homes, changing foster homes to group homes, abuse – sexual, emotional and physical, change social workers and then when children turn to alcohol and drugs for comfort – treat them like a criminal.  But, the good news is that catching and helping  a child as early as age 7 can make a complete difference in a youth’s life.”  Leena’s passionate involvement is obvious and the youth lean in and listen.  They believe she is working hard to help youth.  They trust her.

“And who would you turn to for help?” Leena asks.  Teachers?  Youth like that answer.  Police?  Youth grumble audibly.

John Sawdon from Breaking the Cycle, a gang exit program, tells us his organization has served 389 kids since 2002.  He states it plainly.  Youth have weapons for their own personal safety.  Swarming and bullying causes fear that kids believe they can deal with by having weapons at their disposal.  Breaking the Cycle helps youth out of the gang trap.  Two youth who have been helped by BTC share their stories.  Their words are compelling, real and raw.  “I used to sell drugs, then I got into trouble and in jail.  My mom didn’t have enough money so I helped her out. I made a lot of money.  I carried a gun.  It felt powerful to have that gun.  Then I ended up in jail.  Even after I got out of jail, I continued to sell drugs, but I got caught again and went to jail.  Even after I started this program with BTC, I still thought about selling drugs, I won’t lie to you about that.  But, BCC helped me out.  Now I’m straightening out my life.”

“I’m 22 years old.  I was in trouble at school when I was younger and I was kicked out a bunch of times…..my Mom caught me with my older boyfriend at my house.  I was thirteen and he was in grade 10….I ,”  shyly, and softly spoken while looking at the ground and speaking of her childhood, “I was raped by my …he was older and I was only 9 years old.  I didn’t know what was happening.  Breaking the Cycle has helped me turn my life around for me and my kids.”

We, youth and adults alike, realize that breaking the cycle of gangs is much about breaking the cycle of social despair.  Breaking the cycle of hurt and pain.  Breaking the cycle of poverty.

Peel Regional Police in Malton

Peel Regional Police Constable, Camille Chambers, is invited to speak on stage.  Youth sit back in their chairs.  Some squirm as if trying to get comfortable.  Youth are not leaning in or trying to make eye-contact.  Two young women cross their arms and look at the floor.  I expect youth to leave, but they stay and listen respectfully.  Constable Chambers speaks firmly with the voice of authority, “… if you’re doing something illegal, you’re going to get caught.”  I glance about the room to absorb reaction.  Disenchantment.  Boredom.  Disengagement.  Eyes downcast.  Stillness.  Slumped bodies.

Constable Chambers does not offset this position with understanding for social circumstance.  She is all business.  All authority.  All Peel Regional Police presence.  And, she has lost the youth.  They are not listening.

Constable Chambers shows some images of gang emblems.  The five pointed crown and the three pointed crown and talks about the Crips and the Bloods.  I think about LA and wonder if she will convince the youth that these gangs exist here in Canada.  Then, constable Camille Chambers does the non-obvious and surprises me.  I hope the youth are listening.

Constable Chambers tells the truth.

She shares the fact that some Bloods and Crips exist here but they do not have turf wars like in the United States.  They do co-exist here and even intermingle with each other.  This is because Canada is a multi-cultural environment and cultures do not live in exclusive side-by-side areas geographically but live with each other in the same areas so there is less turf problems.  Turf, sharply defined is not a reality here.  This makes gang much less volatile.  Crips and Bloods can actually co-exist here.  Hang out together?  Be friends, I wonder?

Definition of gang.  Peel Regional Police definition of gang according to Constable Camille Chambers.  A gang is any three people doing a criminal activity together.  Any three.  So if you’ve got 7 people living together in a house, say you, your mom and your dad and siblings, maybe a cousin or two, and you steal your neighbours cable, you’ll be considered a gang by police definition.  Some giggles from the crowd and youth become re-engaged.  They are listening.  I am listening.

With media, politicians, police statements and people at the Toronto Police Services Board giving deputations that re-inforce the concept that gangs roam the streets and are full of thugs, conjuring up images of LA style gangs terrorizing the city, it is refreshing to hear Peel Regional Police contributing truth… represent.  This is something youth can pin hope on – that someone knows the truth and is divulging it, and not manipulating it, creating a climate of even greater fear.  That the adults running this city actually know what’s going on.  That someone like Christopher Husbands might just be a frightened youth, going to college and trying to turn his life around, who was violently attacked by a few friends he revenged – not a Bloods and Crips style gang member, or a Sic Thugz gang member, so called after they listened to the Sic Thugz rapper.  A youth better served by adults who know how to help rather than simply incarcerate him.

Perspective.  Refreshing, unexpected perspective.  Truth absent of propaganda.  Surprisingly supplied by one of our finest in blue – Constable Camille Chambers of Peel Regional Police.

To find out more truth on community policing, JINCB presents at Disorientation at York University and University of Toronto on the following dates.  Join us for a lively discussion on community policing in the 13 priority neighbourhoods:

Neighbourhood Watch Toronto: Confronting Police Brutality and the Prison System – Tuesday, September 18 at 3:00pm at University of Toronto Art Centre.

The Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign (JINCB) will be doing a workshop on police brutality at OPIRG-Toronto’s DisOrientation 2012, The City is a Battleground. 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.: Neighbourhood Watch Toronto: Confronting Police Brutality and the Prison System
University of Toronto Art’s Centre 15 King’s College Circle
Facilitation by Joan Rusza from the Prison’s HIV/AIDS Support Action Network and Yafet Tewelde from Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind

Police violence is not an anomaly in many neighbourhoods in Toronto. Racial profiling and criminalization is a reality for many people, and the resulting interactions with the prison system have been made all the more harsh with the passing of the Conservative government’s Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which includes more punitive sentences for youth, and longer sentences for a variety of different crimes. Policing and prisons go hand and hand, so join us for a discussion connecting criminalization and over-incarceration with a Conservative agenda of prison expansion. This workshop will focus on both campaigns against police brutality and changes to crime legislation, as well as prison support and community mobilization.

Racial Profiling: An Approach to Address with Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind (JINCB), Rights Watch Network – Friday, September 28 at 12:00pm until 4:00pm at York University
Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign (JINCB) and Rights Watch Network (RWN) will be doing a workshop on racial profiling at OPIRG-York’s DisOrientation 2012. Racial Profiling: An Approach to Address is an interactive action packed half day session giving participants an uninhibited opportunity to become aware of racial profiling. The workshop will give many an eye opening experience in the structures surrounding racial profiling and a clear, informed knowledge of political actions on the horizons to address and eradicate the practice of racial profiling.

For more information about JINCB and the workshops, please call us at OPRIG-YORK, 416-736-5724 or justicenotblind@gmail.com. 

Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign (JINCB)       

— Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign
Mobilize Our People, Maximize Our Power!
Email: justicenotblind@gmail.com
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