Could Paris race riots happen in Toronto?

Joe Friesen:

Hours after the Prime Minister's motorcade swept through the Jane-Finch neighbourhood, a group of teenage boys sat discussing the anti-gun, anti-gang violence initiative that Paul Martin had announced in their neighbourhood. And then talk turned to the riots in France.

"There's a possibility of it happening here," said Razad Khan, an 18-year-old who lives in the San Romanoway complex at Jane Street and Finch Avenue. "That's how we feel about it. It could be a threat."

Margaret Parsons, executive director of the African-Canadian Legal Clinic, said the area is a tinderbox that could explode in violence, just like the Paris suburbs did over the past few weeks.

"It could easily erupt," she said. "We can look at Paris as an example and prevent this from happening [but] I think the sense of despair, I think the sense of hopelessness, the sense of frustration [are all present].

"There are so many parallels. You have immigrant families with Canadian-born children, high levels of poverty, high levels of unemployment."

Mr. Khan, a Grade 12 student who works with younger children at the San Romanoway Community Centre, said he has seen his friends become more alienated as they've grown older.

"To be part of society, you need something to do. You need a job. They feel excluded. . . . They don't have no opportunities," he said.

StephniePayne runs the community centre at San Romanoway. She said she did not mince words when speaking with the Prime Minister Wednesday, suggesting that something similar to the 1992 Yonge Street riot, and the civil disturbances in France, could happen here if more isn't done to curb the growing feeling of exclusion.

"The youth are talking about it," she said. "They said, 'Miss, if things isn't changed, you know that's going to happen here.' "

On his visit, Mr. Martin promised $50-million in new spending for a national program directed at guns and gangs, as well as $1.9-million for jobs and training opportunities. He also promised to impose mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving guns.

But Ms. Parsons, a leader of the Coalition of African Canadian Organizations, said the Prime Minister has not listened to the concerns of the black community.

She has written to him three times since her group, an umbrella organization that brings together 25 groups ranging from small business associations to the association of black law enforcers, was formed this August in an effort to devise strategies for coping with gun violence. "He's unveiled all of these measures without talking to, or hearing, our community," Ms. Parsons said. "Yesterday, we literally had to come up there and be in his face and say, 'Can we meet with you?' "

The Prime Minister agreed to meet, she said, but no time has been arranged.

She said she worries that this week's announcement stems more from political pressure in Ottawa than concern about violence in Toronto's black community. She is also troubled by the emphasis on minimum sentences.

"If you put somebody away for 10 years at 17, you're sending them to a finishing school for criminals. They're going to come back and our community will not be safer."

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