Indian community rallies against gang violence in Canada town
TORONTO: Horrified over the gangland-style killing of two teenagers earlier this month, the large Indo-canadian community in Surrey, a suburban town in British Columbia, is banding together to create a coalition to combat the menace of gangs that has afflicted this part of Canada for more than two decades.
On the night of June 4, the Surrey unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received a report of two bodies being found by the roadside in a neighbourhood.
What jolted the community was their identity - 16-year-old Jaskarn Singh Jhutty and Jaskaran Singh Bhangal, 17.
“Things have come to a head, the community is very riled up about it,” Balwant Sanghera, a retired school psychologist, said.
Sanghera has been associated with the South Asian Community Coalition against Youth Violence since 2002 but this incident was a shock. He pointed out that violence related to Indo-canadian gangs has pervaded the area for more than 20 years but the victims were often gangsters, and mostly in their late 20s and early 30s.
“This has created a different dynamic,” he said, as neither teen was known to have gang affiliations.
Sanghera said the incident was a “flashpoint” for the community. Days later, a group of concerned citizens held a “Wake Up Surrey” rally at the City Hall, attended by more than 2,500 members of the community. Among its main organisers was Gurpreet Singh Sahota, editor of a pair of popular Punjabi periodicals.
“I have been covering these stories for 20 years, but nothing like this happened before,” he said.
“We certainly understand peoples’ concern following the shooting incidents and the recent homicides, it is within reason for the public to be concerned. We share their concerns and are committed to finding those responsible and bringing them to justice,” Surrey RCMP spokesperson Elenore Sturko noted.
She said gang violence is a “complex issue” dealt with through multiple strategies including “daily overt enforcement”.
She added, “Surrey RCMP’S long-term strategy in addressing the issue of youth getting involved in gangs and the drug trade is to promote positive choices for kids at a young age and to provide accessible support and guidance to parents.”
Over a quarter of Surrey’s population is of Indian-origin.