Tackle roots of violence
The bullet casings have been cleared off the streets. The funerals for 14-year-old Shyanne Charles and 23-year-old Joshua Yasay have been held and other shooting victims are recovering from their injuries. But the problems that led to the worst mass shooting in the city’s history have not been solved.
Toronto still has far too many young men with too few opportunities for a better life. That makes them easy prey for gangs and leaves our communities at risk of a repeat of the violence that ripped through a block party in the city’s east end last month.
Given that spectre it’s good to see that Premier Dalton McGuinty’s youth action plan, released Wednesday, reflects a clear understanding of the need to tackle the roots of violence. We can’t simply wait to lock up offenders after the fact. The provincial plan commits $20 million to expand programs that provide disadvantaged youth with jobs, support and opportunities.
There is welcome funding for 35 new youth outreach workers, 20 of them in Toronto, to help set young people on a positive path and to reclaim at least some of those who have already started down the wrong one. The expansion of summer and after-school job programs will also give more youth the chance to earn a paycheque and get the self-esteem boost that comes with it.
More important yet is the pledge to work with community and business leaders to provide more private sector mentorships and jobs. That’s key. Government can’t create economic opportunity alone. Communities belong to all of us. We all have a role in ensuring they are healthy and offer opportunities for everyone.
Police and prisons play their part in keeping communities safe, certainly. But it makes no sense to watch kids fail and then pay a fortune to lock them up. Creating more positive options is the better way to end the cycle of violence that comes from hopelessness and poverty.
In that respect McGuinty has shown a far better grasp of the issues than either Mayor Rob Ford or Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Now that the funding has been promised, the focus will be on delivery. The push for positive change must be sustained long after the news clippings have faded.
Prior to this summer’s violence the Youth Challenge Fund — created after the 2005 Boxing Day shooting of Jane Creba — was coming to an end, despite the good that was being done in Toronto’s marginalized communities. Now Queen’s Park plans to invest $5 million a year in a similar fund. This time, says Children and Youth Minister Eric Hoskins, the funding is “permanent, permanent,” forming part of a “significant increase” in help to the city. We hope so.
This sets the province on the right track; the aim now should be to persuade the city and Ottawa to get on board, too. Identifying which programs deliver the best outcomes will help strengthen the case for broader, co-ordinated action.
With Mayor Ford and other skeptics given to deriding “hug-a-thug” programs, there’s a need for some solid outcome-focused evaluation of how tax dollars are working to help put at-risk youths on a better track.