聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 While reading through the news on CBC the other day, I came across an article regarding gangs across Canada. A majority of the time we think about gangs as being in the big cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We hear about gangs in places like Regina and Saskatoon, but never really think about how serious this issue is in the province or across the country.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Different gang members move around and recruit from different areas, so it only makes sense that they would expand across Canada, whether out in the prairies or in the big cities.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 According to the national figures through Public Safety Canada, there are a total of 434 鈥測outh gangs鈥� in Canada, with Saskatchewan actually having the second highest number of members with 1,315 behind Ontario with 3,320 youth members.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This I found quite surprising. I know there are gangs in the cities, you hear about this or that, but for Saskatchewan to have the second highest number of youth involved in gangs, that seems rather odd. We have a rather small population in our province when compared to places like British Columbia or Alberta, yet we, according to Public Safety Canada, have a larger number of youth joining gangs than elsewhere.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Why is this?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What are we doing as a province that fosters this behaviour and how can it be corrected?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I suppose at least we weren鈥檛 designated the gangland murder capital of Canada, which Abbotsford-Mission in B.C. was according to CBC., but I still find it surprising that the second highest number of youth involved in gangs are found in Saskatchewan.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This number of youth gang members in the province though is said to be difficult to get and may possibly be incorrect, but to be able to do a study and get those kind of numbers is still concerning to me.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 However, other than this statement about youth, Saskatchewan was mentioned very little in the article. They were more focused on B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and the Maritimes. However, if we are the second highest in 鈥測outh gangs鈥� where do those numbers go? What does that look like? Are they continuing in gangs in Saskatchewan or do they leave the province to join elsewhere?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This CBC article wrote about Calgary being a hub for Asian gangs and Winnipeg as Canada鈥檚 鈥渁boriginal street gang capital.鈥� The White Boy Posse out of Edmonton has spread into Saskatchewan, while gangs in B.C. are reportedly multi-ethnic now. Race was dropped in this instance instead to secure higher profits as gang members.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Across the board, motorcycle clubs, mostly associated in some way with the Hell鈥檚 Angels, claim they are simply getting together to enjoy the company of others with similar interests and to go on rides. The statement is that of all those involved with the motorcycle clubs, that only one percent are nefarious and participating in illegal dealings, while the other 99 percent aren鈥檛 doing anything shady.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽So, although adult gangs in Saskatchewan aren鈥檛 overly concerning according to the article titled, 鈥淐anada's gang hotspots 鈥� are you in one?鈥� we do have a high number of youth gang members, which is quite concerning. Why are youth in Saskatchewan joining gangs?
