VITAL TO DIVERT YOUTHS FROM GANGS, DRUGS, STREETS

The Canada West Foundation released a report this week that paints a
disturbing picture of life in the core area of western cities.

Hard Times, a portrait of street level problems in Western Canada,
should capture everyone's attention because it points to a future
that either can be devastating or positive.

The aboriginal population has doubled and tripled over the last three
decades, with a resulting migration to urban centres. The older areas
of many western cities thus have become aboriginal ghettos, with the
social problems endemic to a marginalized people.

Gang membership is common among marginalized groups. In the United
States, black and Hispanic youth form gangs; in Australia it's
Aborigine youth, In Hawaii it's the native Hawaiians. Western Canada,
too, is experiencing an international phenomenon that sees
disaffected and marginalized youth banding together for protection,
material goods and a perceived shortcut to the good life.

This past year has seen an economic boom across Western Canada. As a
friend pointed out: "If you can't get a job, there is something wrong
with you."

The level of aboriginal employment is at an all-time high and many of
our people are accumulating property and achieving a good lifestyle.
But what about those who have been left out? What about those with
little or no education, and who lack job skills and experience? How
do they achieve the good life?

Too many of our young people are dropping out of school and seeking
the Canadian dream through a dangerous shortcut. Can't afford a new
car? Steal one. Want an iPod or Xbox? Rip them off. Need cash? Run
drugs or get into prostitution. It's a dangerous shortcut, but in a
society that constantly shoves this stuff in your face, young people
think it buys happiness.

Hence the high level of gang recruitment, sometimes of children as
young as age nine. Gang activity is on the rise in both Regina and
Saskatoon, according to the Canada West report.

But membership in a gang hardly leads to the good life. Older gang
members exploit the younger ones and use them as mules and slaves.
I've interviewed a number of young people over the years who've told
me that gang membership and prostitution led them only deeper into
trouble and despair. One young woman, who was a street prostitute,
said the gang took everything she made and she was always cold and
hungry. It was her drug addiction and the ready supply of drugs that
kept her in the group.

Young people end up doing the grunt work and running drugs, for if
they are caught, they will be treated as young offenders and receive
minor sentences. The young are considered throw-away people. The
gangs' promises to them of cash and safety are hollow.

But gang influence is growing in western cities today, with gang
activity, drug abuse and teen violence ripping apart our communities.
Many of our people in the core area live under a reign of terror.
Crimes go unreported because of fear of reprisal. If someone is
arrested, witnesses go missing before the trial. They either move to
another city or turn up dead. Gangs and individuals break the law
with impunity.

Life also is very difficult for young people who don't belong to a
gang. They are on their own with no protection. In fact, gangs
proliferate as young people group together for their own protection.
The result is a high rate of school dropouts, with the lack of
education dooming a person to a poor lifestyle of unemployment or
underemployment.

Drug addiction is ruining the lives and potential of many of our
people. This lack of self-control results in violence, injury or
death. Many a young gang member now sits in prison, serving a life
sentence for murder. Others exist with a revolving door of prison and
life on the street. Still others fall victim to violence, with their
lives cut short too early and unfulfilled. Gangs quite literally are
a dead end and we must provide alternatives for our young people.

The Canada West report provides a grim conclusion to the rising costs
of this social dysfunction:

"Street level problems cost us an enormous amount of public dollars
to address -- from emergency shelters to policing and jails to
emergency room visits." The report continues to point out the rising
health-care costs associated with drug addiction and how social needs
lose out as a result.

In the end, we must realize that answers will not come from the
outside. We need to take ownership of these problems and work to
alleviate them. We must rebuild people and communities. Locking up
people is only a temporary answer. Gangs continue to grow and recruit
behind bars.

Young warriors of bygone days were known as the "dog soldiers,"
because their role was to guard the camp and protect the women and
children. They were peacekeepers in training and it was a noble and
valuable role -- one we need to look at in today's terms.

We must encourage our young people to stay in school and fulfil their
dreams in a long-term and more rewarding way. They must be made an
important part of the family and the community. Drug addictions
should be attacked, because drugs are part of a much larger problem
that needs to be addressed. Our young people need to see a future
that contains a variety of choices and possibilities that do not
include the abuse of drugs.

Our leaders, the FSIN, tribal councils and First Nations have to
address the serious problems of drug addiction, prostitution and gang
violence. A large segment of the next generation is growing up
divorced from its culture and its roots. These youths need our help
to avoid a social catastrophe.