wyliepoon
Senior Member
http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Crime/article/518296
Why so many murders in Peel?
Oct 16, 2008 04:30 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Bob Mitchell
Staff Reporters
In the wake of the deaths of four young men on the suburban streets of Mississauga and Brampton since Saturday, community leaders are warning of a potential explosion of youth violence in Peel Region.
They say the window of opportunity to gain control of the problem is rapidly closing as Peel's total homicide tally reached a record 24 on Tuesday.
"There's a tremendous feeling of urgency amongst the leaders in this community and among youth and their families that we need to fix this," said Shelley White, the CEO of United Way of Peel Region.
"When you've got 30,000 new people coming into your community every year and a third of those are youth, and we don't have the capacity to provide the services (and) they're not getting the support they need, something is going to break and this is the tragedy," she said.
This morning, Chief Mike Metcalf will appear before Peel regional council in Brampton to give an overview of this year's homicides.
His visit was announced last week, when there were 20, but now he'll have to include the four unsolved slayings since Saturday, including Tuesday's stabbing death of 14-year-old Ravi Dharamdial as he walked home from school.
Although councillors are hoping to learn why the spike in deadly crime is occurring in record numbers across Peel Region, Metcalf says he doesn't have all the answers.
"I wish there was a pattern, but they're all over the board," he said. "I wish I had an answer as to why this is happening."
Tony da Silva, a trustee with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board, says the major fear is that as Peel gets larger and larger, urban issues such as guns, gangs and drugs are moving into the region.
"We want to address those early so they don't become larger issues, like some of the troubled communities in Toronto are having to deal with," he said.
Both da Silva and White sit on the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Committee, which is made of council members, police officers, public health officials and other community stakeholders.
"We have four working groups underway that are working on very specific strategies in our communities to create more capacity to support youth," White said.
But what it really comes down to is money, and Peel Region just doesn't have enough of it to accommodate the growth.
"We need partners. We need funding partners. We need all orders of government to work with the community," said White.
"If there's no serious investment and commitment to work with Peel, to build (the infrastructure), it may continue to lead to this serious kind of violence."
When Raymond Caldeira moved to Brampton from Port Credit 15 years ago, he was looking for the quiet, family sitcom-style life.
"Brampton used to be a really nice place. Now it's just overpopulated big time," he said.
"It doesn't matter where you move. You can't shop. You can't park. You can't do anything. Everybody is just very inconsiderate – pushing and shoving."
Over the past five years, Brampton's population has swollen by 33 per cent. It's a similar story in Mississauga.
Of Peel's current population – 1.2 million – about 10 per cent live in poverty, said White.
With poverty comes crime.
On Tuesday, Dharamdial was stabbed to death just a block from Caldeira's home. The teen made a frantic 911 call as he was bleeding to death.
It was the 24th homicide of the year, well above Peel's previous record of 17, reached in 2003.
Caldeira's picket-fenced neighbourhood no longer feels safe, he says.
"Jane and Finch, we're getting all the overflow from that side," he said. "I believe that everyone deserves to own a home, but I think (the crime spike) has a lot to do with bringing low-income housing into the area, without any other infrastructure."
Mississauga Councillor Katie Mahoney, who also sits on the youth violence prevention committee, says all levels of government need to step up and help Peel solve the problem.
"This can't be all on the property taxpayer's back," she said.
"We're reaching a point where, if we don't grab a handle on this, and all of the agencies and government don't get together for an all-out concentrated effort, the problem is going to grow."
*****
As a Scarberian (a resident of Scarborough, not khatru), I wonder if Mississauga and Brampton (or parts of the two cities) have now become the new Scarborough. Either they have become havens for murder, or they are now being unfairly portrayed as crime-ridden areas, like Scarborough has.
Is it time we see parts of Mississauga and Brampton as part of Toronto's "inner suburbs", complete with the same inner suburban problems that Scarborough, Jane & Finch or Rexdale face?
Why so many murders in Peel?
Oct 16, 2008 04:30 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Bob Mitchell
Staff Reporters
In the wake of the deaths of four young men on the suburban streets of Mississauga and Brampton since Saturday, community leaders are warning of a potential explosion of youth violence in Peel Region.
They say the window of opportunity to gain control of the problem is rapidly closing as Peel's total homicide tally reached a record 24 on Tuesday.
"There's a tremendous feeling of urgency amongst the leaders in this community and among youth and their families that we need to fix this," said Shelley White, the CEO of United Way of Peel Region.
"When you've got 30,000 new people coming into your community every year and a third of those are youth, and we don't have the capacity to provide the services (and) they're not getting the support they need, something is going to break and this is the tragedy," she said.
This morning, Chief Mike Metcalf will appear before Peel regional council in Brampton to give an overview of this year's homicides.
His visit was announced last week, when there were 20, but now he'll have to include the four unsolved slayings since Saturday, including Tuesday's stabbing death of 14-year-old Ravi Dharamdial as he walked home from school.
Although councillors are hoping to learn why the spike in deadly crime is occurring in record numbers across Peel Region, Metcalf says he doesn't have all the answers.
"I wish there was a pattern, but they're all over the board," he said. "I wish I had an answer as to why this is happening."
Tony da Silva, a trustee with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board, says the major fear is that as Peel gets larger and larger, urban issues such as guns, gangs and drugs are moving into the region.
"We want to address those early so they don't become larger issues, like some of the troubled communities in Toronto are having to deal with," he said.
Both da Silva and White sit on the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Committee, which is made of council members, police officers, public health officials and other community stakeholders.
"We have four working groups underway that are working on very specific strategies in our communities to create more capacity to support youth," White said.
But what it really comes down to is money, and Peel Region just doesn't have enough of it to accommodate the growth.
"We need partners. We need funding partners. We need all orders of government to work with the community," said White.
"If there's no serious investment and commitment to work with Peel, to build (the infrastructure), it may continue to lead to this serious kind of violence."
When Raymond Caldeira moved to Brampton from Port Credit 15 years ago, he was looking for the quiet, family sitcom-style life.
"Brampton used to be a really nice place. Now it's just overpopulated big time," he said.
"It doesn't matter where you move. You can't shop. You can't park. You can't do anything. Everybody is just very inconsiderate – pushing and shoving."
Over the past five years, Brampton's population has swollen by 33 per cent. It's a similar story in Mississauga.
Of Peel's current population – 1.2 million – about 10 per cent live in poverty, said White.
With poverty comes crime.
On Tuesday, Dharamdial was stabbed to death just a block from Caldeira's home. The teen made a frantic 911 call as he was bleeding to death.
It was the 24th homicide of the year, well above Peel's previous record of 17, reached in 2003.
Caldeira's picket-fenced neighbourhood no longer feels safe, he says.
"Jane and Finch, we're getting all the overflow from that side," he said. "I believe that everyone deserves to own a home, but I think (the crime spike) has a lot to do with bringing low-income housing into the area, without any other infrastructure."
Mississauga Councillor Katie Mahoney, who also sits on the youth violence prevention committee, says all levels of government need to step up and help Peel solve the problem.
"This can't be all on the property taxpayer's back," she said.
"We're reaching a point where, if we don't grab a handle on this, and all of the agencies and government don't get together for an all-out concentrated effort, the problem is going to grow."
*****
As a Scarberian (a resident of Scarborough, not khatru), I wonder if Mississauga and Brampton (or parts of the two cities) have now become the new Scarborough. Either they have become havens for murder, or they are now being unfairly portrayed as crime-ridden areas, like Scarborough has.
Is it time we see parts of Mississauga and Brampton as part of Toronto's "inner suburbs", complete with the same inner suburban problems that Scarborough, Jane & Finch or Rexdale face?
