Canada behind in gang prevention: Expert
Youth director says gov'ts need to spend more money on kids under six
Lena Sin The Province
Friday, September 21, 2007

Harry Killoran speaks to a reporter at a forum on youth-gang prevention in Surrey yesterday.

Canada is about two decades behind in adopting the best practices around youth-gang prevention compared with other countries, warned a researcher yesterday.

Dr. Mark Totten, director of the youth services bureau of Ottawa, said that both the provincial and federal governments need to spend more money on programs that target children under age six to prevent kids from joining gangs.

"We've got it all backwards in Canada. Instead of preventing with early intervention between the ages of zero and six years, what we do is spend after a kid has murdered somebody. And to service that kid in a facility is about $150,000 a year," said Totten.

"With that $150,000 to lock a kid up at age 16 or 17, we could've helped many, many kids at an earlier age. We have all these strategies that are proven to work all across the world, and Canada unfortunately is a couple of decades behind the best practices of other countries."

More than 200 people, including former and current youth-gang members, police officers and youth workers, attended the Preventing Youth Gang Violence in B.C. forum in Surrey. One former youth gang member, Harry Killoran, said the stories told at the forum of teens killed by gangs brought back chilling memories.

"It hit me, some of the images I saw [in their presentation]. I actually saw a couple of people I knew in the pictures, the people getting shot. I'm lucky I didn't end up like that and I don't hope to ever be," said Killoran, 20.

Richmond's Killoran said he decided to change his life around after spending about a year in jail when he was 18. "I've met a lot of good friends from it [the gang], but the whole time I felt it was a big waste of time. I spent altogether a year in jail," said Killoran, who did not want to name the gang he joined at age 15 after getting picked on at school.

Killoran recently enrolled in a film program called Kaleidoscope, organized by the Mennonite Central Committee, and credits the program in part for helping him refocus. He wants to eventually work in the film industry. "If you're in a gang, you're going to go deeper and deeper. Every time you get into trouble, more trouble will come. So I decided to get out now when I have the option to get out," he said. lsin@png.canwest.com