Letter to Mayor Regarding Gang Violence in Canada

532 Words2 Pages

As an individual living in a community where gang violence is an issue, I am grateful that you are able to take part in a movement to lower the amount of gang violence today. According to Statistics Canada, gang-related homicides have been unchanged for 2011 to 2012 years with 0.27 victims for every 100,000 of the population.[1] In Ontario from 2002 to 2012, deaths peaked at 38 in 2003 and lowered significantly in 2004 to 17.[2] These numbers prove that gang-related violence are a constant battle in many communities every year. As this is a highly complex issue where there is no simple solution, it is very important to highlight only some of the many factors that attribute to this problem.

According to the Public Safety of Canada, the main contenders that join gangs are often citizens who are at a social disadvantage or have inequality compared to others.[3] These people are more likely to have lower income and live in neighbourhoods that are surrounded by people who live in these conditions. In reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, most of them do not feel that they have their safety and physiological needs met but in order to feel safe, they need a feeling of sense of belonging. Some of the individuals who feel comfort with their groups may feel that they need more esteem needs and thus, become leaders to initiate gang violence or behaviours.

In order to tackle these cases, it is important to start at the root of the cause in order to make changes happen for a better future. Since one of the man similarities among the gang-related issues revolves lower income families, we should initiate programs that can help rebuild their neighbourhoods. For example, giving households food coupon...

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Works Cited

[1] Government of Canada, (2013). Homicide in canada, 2012. Retrieved from Statistics Canada website: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/131219/dq131219b-eng.htm

[2] Government of Canada, (2013). Table 7 number of gang-related homicides, by region, 2002 to 2012. Retrieved from Statistics Canada website: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11882/tbl/tbl07-eng.htm

[3] Government of Canada, (2013). Youth gangs in canada: What do we know?. Retrieved from Public Safety Canada website: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/gngs-cnd/index-eng.aspx

[4] Ibid

[5] Muller, R. (2013, August 24). Poverty, broken homes, violence: The making of a gang member.Psychology Today, Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-about-trauma/201308/poverty-broken-homes-violence-the-making-gang-member

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