I get miffed when the police ask for for the co-operation of the Indo-Canadian community to help solve gang and drug-related murders, which have claimed the lives of 50 young people in the Lower Mainland in the last decade. How can ordinary Indo-Canadians, who don’t have a clue about what is happening in the world of gangs, help solve those crimes even if the suspects and victims of these crimes were from the same ethnic group? I guess it is a legitimate police process to persuade anybody with any information on any crime to come forward. But implying that an entire ethnic group is withholding vital information is preposterous. I can’t imagine the police labelling the entire Euro-Canadian community as being tight-lipped or closed about the crimes of Hells Angels. Most ordinary people have more questions than answers about these crimes whether they’re Italian, British, French or Indo-Canadians. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing the police-initiated forum at Vancouver’s Morris Wosk Centre for Dialogue last Saturday. The discussion was on drugs and violence specifically as it relates to the Indo-Canadian community, and it wasn’t a bad idea for the police to prompt that discussion. It is the language used to describe the event I object to. It’s an excellent idea for members of the Indo-Canadian community to come together and talk about crime prevention. To talk about family, and social dynamics, and any other factors, which might put their kids at a higher risk of getting involved in such activity. It is also an excellent idea to talk about the role that temples can play in being a social and religious support system for at-risk youth. A lot of us believe the temples have been lacking been in that area. But it is important to remember that prevention is all we can talk about in the community context. The community holds no magical key to unlock the mystery of drug-related crimes. It is critical to distinguish between crime prevention and crime investigation. The Indo-Canadian community can generate dialogue and take steps toward prevention, but it is the absolute responsibility of the police to carry out the criminal investigations. That role has to be unconditional, whether the victims and the suspects are Indo, Chinese, African or British Canadians. The premise that this particular ethnic group is silent or uncooperative on the issue is not only a poor excuse for the lack of progress in these cases, but it also promotes unfair stereotypes. Media reports of the forum used words like “forum to address Indo-Canadian gang violence,” “forum on violence in the Indo-Canadian community,” “the community vowing to fight this murderous trend” and “no more gangsters as role models.” They all build the impression that there has been a wide practice and acceptance of these violent trends within the Indo-Canadian community. Personally, I’ve had a hard time challenging such perceptions among friends and colleagues who’ve followed the coverage of the forum. Let us not forget that an element in our society would happily attribute all the ills of society to visible minority groups or new immigrants. But these particular crimes were not imported. They’re a home-grown problem involving people who were born or largely raised here. The parents of the people involved might be immigrants guilty of working too hard and not keeping good tabs on the kids. But they are no more guilty than a vast number of parents from other cultures. In fact, there are far worse cases of neglect in our society where children are being raised in dysfunctional homes or where parents themselves are abusing drugs. Well-meaning Indo-Canadians at the weekend forum talked about specific dynamics in the community that should be looked at. Those issues, though needing scrutiny, don’t necessarily apply to all the families of the youths involved. It is laudable that the community came together to express concern at the high incidence of violence and groped for solutions. But more substantive answers will be found from those connected to the drug trade and drug-related crimes — and we all know those people can be from any ethnic background. Oversimplifying the situation not only misplaces the responsibility but also does a great injustice to an entire ethnic group.
