Last June, history was created when the police and the Sikh leadership came together forming a united front to develop an action plan to prevent youth from joining criminal gangs. Presidents of the 14 gurdwaras of the Lower Mainland along with a member of their executive committee and a youth member of their temple arrived for a two-day residential summit at the RCMP training facility in Chilliwack.
The police told their side of the criminal gangs’ stories and the Sikh leaders and youth told their side of the community engagement stories to propose how its strengths and resources may be harnessed to prevent youth gang involvement. It was then agreed that the momentum generated at the summit must continue.
Consequently, the summit participants brought in a larger group of community leaders to the one-day follow-up event in July. The results of these meetings have provided a rich ground of ideas to develop an action plan for gang-prevention that would involve the community and the police at every step.
Supported by MOSAIC and Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Acting Together – Community University Research Alliance (AT-CURA) project, a new chapter of gang-prevention has begun in our community.
