Ending gang life, from those who live it

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Poverty, systemic racism perpetuate street gang life. (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

With gunplay and gang violence tearing up chunks of the North End, academics looking for solutions went straight to the source this summer.

In August, a group of university professors interviewed six gang members, who said the shootings and beatings won't stop until children have better options than joining gangs.

"These guys more or less accept that if they do the crime, they do the time," said Jim Silver, a politics professor with the University of Winnipeg. He and the University of Manitoba's Elizabeth Comack and Lawrence Deane and Larry Morrissette, director of Ogijita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK), spent two days with street gang members as part of an ongoing research project.

"They weren't making excuses," said Silver, whose team produced a 14-page report, the findings of which they discussed Thursday night with Justice Minister Dave Chomiak. (See their op/ed piece on Page A13 today).

"What they did say was 'putting us in jail won't solve the problem.' There are no short-term solutions to the problem."

Poverty, bad parenting and a lack of jobs for people who look and sound like street gang members are keeping them going, the gang members said.

"Go to the North End at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. tonight," one suggested.

"You'll see eight- and 10-year-olds running around unsupervised," one told the researchers. "That's the next me... Those are the ones you have to help to slow the violence."

Police crackdowns won't stop it, they said. "You have to change the 'hood," one gang member said.

"To do that, you've got to deal with the root causes of poverty and systemic racism," the breeding grounds for street gangs, Silver said.

In the North End, street gang activity isn't bringing in big money, just danger, Silver said.

"One of the striking things, for me, was that these guys are not getting rich." Three of the six street gang members they interviewed were in the upper gang echelons, said Silver.

"These guys carry a wad of bills in their pocket and (have) conspicuous consumption but they don't have any assets," he said.

"The money is not staying in the North End. It's going into the suburbs to organized crime," said Silver.

"In a street gang, the risk is high and returns are very low." Lately, the risks are getting even higher with more guns on the street, he said.

An honest day's work is appealing to many, but people with gang associations often sound and look too rough for most employers, and they don't have any work experience they can put on a resumé. "They feel as if they're locked in, with no way out. If mainstream options were open, they would be seizing them," he said.

What's needed are some "carefully-tailored opportunities."

But they're a tough sell, thanks in part to an early street gang program that failed miserably.

"Paa Pii Wak has muddied the waters," said Silver. The government-funded halfway house for men trying to leave street gangs was actually a gang-controlled hangout rife with drinking, partying and corruption, according to police.

"I think people are quite right to feel nervous," said Silver. "Paa Pii Wak cast a bit of a pall on working with street gangs. There were serious flaws with that program."

But there are others that work, he said, pointing to OPK, which does housing and renovation work with a modest hourly wage. In seven years, 55 people have gone through the program and during that time have not committed a serious offence, said Silver. They make the shift into the "mainstream economy and lifestyle," he said. "It's not a fun club for gangsters." It's the kind of option that's needed in the North End, the street gang members said.

"There are 30 guys in street gangs waiting to get into the program. What it needs is additional funding." Silver said it was mentioned during their meeting with Chomiak.

They're hoping the minister can get all Manitobans talking in a more constructive way about how to solve the street gang problems.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 11, 2009 A4