Youth violence in Canada's South Asian community

Wendy Stueck:

Just hours before a Richmond meeting at which parents, community activists and politicians gathered to talk about violence in British Columbia's Indo-Canadian community, police responded to a report of shots fired in Surrey.

By 8 a.m. Saturday, it was official: another young Indo-Canadian man was dead, the victim of apparent gang violence within the community that has killed dozens over the past decade and led to calls for police, both levels of government and individuals to do more to tackle the problem.

"We have support from the provincial government and now we want Ottawa to step in and help us," said Balwant Sanghera, a retired school psychologist and community activist who lives in Richmond.

The request appears to have been heard: On the weekend, two federal cabinet ministers called for a new task force to study and develop long-term strategies to fight Indo-Canadian youth violence.

Raymond Chan, federal Minister of State for Multiculturalism, and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh invited participants to join a committee called the Group of 10: Integrated Community Response to South Asian Youth Violence.

The call is open to anyone in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley interested in the prevention of youth violence.

The committee will consist of 10 members and is expected to begin a series of community consultations this fall.

The ministers hope the meetings will lead to a comprehensive, long-term strategy to address Indo-Canadian violence.

It's estimated that as many as 80 Indo-Canadian men have been killed in the past decade as a result of gang-related violence. Most of these killings remain unsolved.

News and Blogosphere:

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