Saskatchewan Point of View

'I have fallen asleep to the sound of gunfire': North Central still lacks needed supports

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Lorne Gill is an educator, front-line worker, community organizer and public speaker

"There have been four shootings in a three-block radius of my home in the last six months," says Lorne Gill. (Kendall Latimer/CBC)

The senseless youth violence in my city doesn't always make it into the papers, but Facebook will give you a glimpse.

Just a few clicks and you will fall into a vortex of bandanas, sprawled-out cash, machetes, bear mace and firearms, all blatant for the public to see.

I'm not talking drug cartels, syndicates or their affiliates. I've seen young people who go to sleep with guns under their pillows and watch Spongebob Squarepants with brass knuckles in their hands, the truest of juxtapositions. Young people who fear to sleep at night.

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I have fallen asleep to the sound of gunfire. My home isn't next to a gun range. No, I don't live in a war torn country. In fact, I may be just across the tracks from you.

'Things you wouldn't expect in a capital city in Canada'

I live in Regina's North Central.

There have been four shootings in a three-block radius of my home in the last six months. Recently, it hit home personally thanks to a text message.

A young person I am responsible for had been shot.

The moments that follow — the feeling in the pit of your stomach, the uninformed, panic-stricken drive to the hospital — are indescribable.

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Another drive-by shooting took place later that same day. Another family, another loved one, another shooter and another victim.

The real question should be how does a bubble exist in a city where everything is a stone's throw away. - Lorne Gill

Through my work in the community I've met many young people who have faced violence. Machete attacks, gunshot wounds, kidnappings, extortion. Things you wouldn't expect in a capital city in Canada.

I've met young people who have had to leave this city because of an ultimatum: join a gang or face violence.

'I hear crickets chirping among the gun shots'

When I moved here three years ago I had never heard of North Central. Regina and the Prairies frankly weren't on most people's radar where I come from. I hadn't read "the" Maclean's article.

I was born and raised in a city with an international reputation for drugs, poverty and crime. I spent a decade working in mental health and addictions in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. As a kid growing up it was referred to as Canada's "Skid Row," what was then the poorest postal code in North America.

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I spent a part of my youth living in the margins in that community, yet my internationally notorious neighbourhood's rates of violence and crime pale in comparison statistically to Regina's. In fact, we here in Saskatchewan often top the national ranks when it comes to violence.

With the massive influx in crystal meth and stimulant use in Regina, I would only assume the rates will continue to rise.

This war in the little hood in the Prairies is more-or-less silent. I hear crickets chirping among the gun shots.

I know first-hand that crime goes unreported and understandably so. People are afraid. What does get reported barely makes the media. The rest just blows with the wind.

'Perhaps it's time we invest'

Sometimes I wonder if I live and work in a bubble, but the real question should be how does a bubble exist in a city where everything is a stone's throw away. Even Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, in a city with a mainland population larger than this province, couldn't get away with that.

Last month in both British Columbia and Ontario the government took quick action in response to a string of gang violence and shootings. We clearly need more prevention/intervention programs and more funding for mental health and addiction services.

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The youth I speak of are my neighbours, your neighbours and our city's future. Perhaps it's time we invest in their safety and well-being.

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