Fairmont Toastmasters Club

[Janet Wong]

Of Guns, Gangs and Violence


He was right beside me, cousin

From shooter to victim

Brave struggle to save shot man

What’s going on?

I am left with a feeling of déjà vu. I have gone through this already. But this time I have to remind myself, this is not Jamaica’s papers I am reading, this is the Toronto Star. Did I say I was coming to Toronto the Good to escape the gangs, guns and violence? At least for now, there is a difference between the Jamaican and the Toronto newspaper stories. The victims here have names and faces.

Last year in Jamaica, there were over a thousand murders, and the crimes are such a commonplace thing that numbers, not names are mentioned. Ho hum, another 8 were shot and killed. What is the statistic now dear, 1 shot and killed every 6 hours, let’s see, by the end of this year it will be a total of 1,400 homicides. Jamaica has a population of 2,700,000. Toronto has a population of 2.5 million people and 48 homicides to date. By comparison, this is a very safe country.

It’s so safe that in the summer, nurseries leave their planters, gardening equipment and other articles outside with no fear of it being stolen. Once, I remember, in Jamaica, we were going out, and we had padlocked the front door, check, padlocked the gate to the front porch, check, padlocked the outer gate to the road, check, and looking back, there was the garden hose in the driveway behind the gate to the front porch, in full view!!! I had to go back, unlock the two padlocks and hide the hose behind a wall.. A hose, for heaven’s sake. Here, I don’t think twice of leaving patio chairs, gardening tools in plain sight of the road, with no fence, no padlocks.

We would like to keep it like that here, so let’s not sit on our laurels Mr. Politicians. Toronto’s Mayor, David Miller said “Gun Crime is not the Toronto that any Torontonian expects. But lets face the facts, it is happening, so a solution has to be found to prevent this problem from escalating. No more talk, let’s have action. Remember those community projects and after school activities that were let go because of lack of funding – maybe now funding can be found. Instead of hiring 1,000 more policemen, why not hire 500 instead, and spend the rest of the money working with the communities involved. Try and prevent the crimes from happening. Crack down on people who are selling the guns and drugs, and maybe you won’t have the guns available for people to use on the streets.

In the eyes of young men who don’t have much of a home life, with mothers who try and hold down two jobs, and non-existent fathers, joining gangs make them feel wanted – it gives them money, power and respect. Each time they get away with the violence, it gives them more power. But what do I know? I do know personally, that after a while, the guns and gangs won’t be limited to just certain sections of the city. The violence, if left unchecked will spread out to surrounding neighbourhoods. In the 1970s 95% of my family and friends left Jamaica because they were scared for their lives. It wasn’t just gang members being killed now, it was the average person going about their business - home invasions, businesses being robbed and the victims all shot and killed..

I do not want this to happen to Toronto. Will the politician’s listen to a mother’s pleas? Andrea - a mother with 4 sons living in one of Toronto’s neighbourhood where the shootings are prevalent, said – “The shootings are driving me crazy. I am getting ready to go to church and there are gunshots at my door. It’s not what I want. This is my life.” What’s driving her crazy is: What impact is that unrelenting gun assault having on her kids? Two are at college and university. The other two, 15 and 16 are growing immune by the minute. Gunshots ring out, they scatter, and then they say, Oh it’s nothing, then go about their business. For mothers like Andrea, anything the other Toronto does to distract her neighbourhood boys from a life of drug dealing and guns gives her a chance to save her kids. She ends – Sometimes I dream. I am hoping and praying.

Yes, we can all hope and pray – we have to wake up and see that what is happening in Jane-Finch, Flemingdon Park and Regent Park, affects us all.

These neighbourhoods are part of Toronto. While police believe most of the recent shootings are part of gang wars, some are not. Innocent victims are caught in the crossfire. It could be any of us walking down the street to end up as a victim of driveby shooting.

The politicians and police have come up with some possible solutions for the long term, - try and stop the smuggling of illegal guns into the city –
-have programs to help the underemployed and undereducated.
-have more police work with the community, and find out what the real issues are. It’s easier to speak to a policeman if you know his name, especially in those neighbourhoods.

Toronto the Good, can still be Toronto the Good. While no city is ever perfect, we’ll never have a 0% homicide rate, we can at least keep the figures down so the victims will still have faces and names.