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Local News: Faith leaders target gangs
A coalition of Toronto faith
leaders plans to make the
fight against guns and gangs
personal by finding 400 mentors
for at-risk youths, and
opening 70 drop-in centres
and after-school programs in
their churches.
The action plan was announced
yesterday during a
prayer walk that ended at the
Yonge Street memorial for 15-
year-old Jane Creba, an innocent
bystander killed during a
Boxing Day gunfight.
“We can no longer sit back
as a community and see our
young people die in the
streets,” said Rev. Don
Meredith, chair of the GTA
Faith Alliance. “Every week
there is going to be something
done within the faith
community to eradicate this
problem of gun violence.”
The pastors’ campaign
against gangs began with a series
of prayers at Nathan
Phillips Square yesterday. The
turnout was not large —
about 30 pastors and churchgoers
attended — but organizers
like Pastor Al Bowen said
the event was arranged over
the weekend and intended
mainly for church leaders.
“Each leader here represents
hundreds of people. Did we
bring all of our foot soldiers
here today? No. We’re not
speaking to thousands, we’re
speaking to God,” Bowen said.
Gangs and guns have
badly shaken the city over
the past year. In 2005, there
were 78 homicides, with 52
related to guns, including the
death of Creba. She was
shopping with her sister on
Yonge Street on Dec. 26
when gangs began shooting
at each other. Six other people
were wounded. The first
homicide victim of 2006, 21-
year-old Dillan Anderson,
was found dead in his car on
New Year’s Day, another victim
of a shooting.
The names of the pastors
at yesterday’s prayer walk
aren’t familiar to most people
in the city, but they are
the men who have long been
working on the front lines
with black youths or pushing
politicians for change.
Pastors like Bowen said
they announced their action
plan yesterday without waiting
for politicians to offer
support or funding. Despite
announcements by Prime
Minister Paul Martin for a
ban on handguns and a proposed
Criminal Code change
making it harder for those
charged with gun offences to
get bail, Bowen described
most political responses as
little more than “hot air.”
“We in the church groups
can do something,” he said.
“We can take volunteers and
put them in the community
to walk about. I do know
that when you have a physical
presence — other than
the gangs — walking the
streets, you can’t take their
guns from them and you
might become a target yourself,
but at least you are challenging
them as to who controls
the turf.”
Note: TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Posted on Tuesday, January 03 @ 11:38:24 UTC by jcohen
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