"They" and "them" are divisive words that open a chasm that grows wider every time they're spoken. I've been hearing them often as I coordinate Abbotsford's Extreme Weather Shelter at Emmanuel Mennonite in January.

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This is a responce to a Macleans article: “A lot of Ontario gangsters are moving to Calgary and Edmonton and Vancouver—a sort of ‘Go West, Young Man’ movement of gangsters.”

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We talk about stopping the problem and getting more cops on the street to do it but the reality is stopping gang violence is a long process. Since it's about money and the people involved aren't interested in the law the way that we can help is raise our kids right. Parents who don't know what's going on in their kids lives, aren't at their sports events and are more concerned about the Canucks than the interests of their kids are part of the gang problem across Canada. I know that many gang member are from immigrant ethnic groups and the reasons for their involvement are often separate and complex. But, as citizens our initial responsibility at the community level must be to take care of our own kids, their friends and the neighborhood around us.
When kids are going to gangs for money, power and acceptance our best community solutions are providing kids jobs, genuine mentorship by adults and opportunities to succeeded in other areas, ie. sports, business, social programs, traveling, writing and anything else that empowers a youth and gives him/her self-assurance and the conviction that someone believes in him/her.
As citizens, we can be involved in preventing kids from entering organized crime but it will need to be intentional because our society does not enforce the value of close knit families and this is the root reason kids go to gangs. They lack close and meaningful relationships.