CC202 Critical Reflection Paper #2

Week 9: Gang Violence

Spencer Sullivan

In this paper, I will examine “Aboriginal Gangs in Canada: (De)Constructing an epidemic”, a

journal written by Raven Sinclair and Jana Grekul that discusses everything regarding the

Aboriginal Youth Gangs in Canada.

Sinclair and Grekul talk about factors that lead to gang violence in these Aboriginal locations.

The Aboriginal Child Welfare System and the Non-Aboriginal Alternative Care system are two

key ideas they talk about, tying them to the development and cause of joining a gang. These

systems, in the long-term, have shown to hurt children both mentally and physically, and are

ultimately hurting culture, beliefs and the souls of these poor children. Both authors also discuss

other interrelated factors that lead to gang involvement, such as intergenerational origin and

mental problems. They believe the Canadian Police Survey is flawed due to the fact that they

base it solely on qualitative data that has been built on the police’s initial perception of gangs and

not of real statistics that have changed over time. Sinclair and Grekul quote the label “epidemic”

(Preston 2009; Totten, 2009a; Totten, 2009b) based on broad statistics that highlight the

ginormous gang violence issue that has been brought up across Canada. They make the point that

gangs don't have to be big groups, but can even be a few buddies that engage in camaraderie and

are tightly bound. With that being said, gang typologies are types of gangs, being constructed

and promoted by different people of different backgrounds, claiming different ideologies as well
as different clothing and promotion. The youth, gangs, and prison all overlap, causing one

another to occur.

There are many ways we can tie his journal into course content. Firstly, migration is a huge

factor in gangs, as gangs are formed within groups of people that think alike. If the British did

not claim Canada and create institutions such as the residential schools, would Aboriginals be

considered a marginalized group? We have come to understand that the aboriginals being a

marginalized group and being separated from each other has caused some of the new generation

of aboriginal children to resort to gangs and violence, so if they hadn't been put in such a bad

situation due to British colonization, maybe they would be in a better place. Secondly, we’ve

learned that a lower socio-economic status ultimately results in a higher amount of crimes being

committed. Taking that pretty much most of Aboriginal society has been struggling financially, it

would be quite easy for someone to fall into the wrong route in order to keep food on the table

for their family.

In my opinion, I believe that the government of Canada should be paying more attention to the

state of the Aboriginal children. In order to prevent gang behavior, we must attend to the root of

the issue and move on from there. Both Sinclair and Grekul do a fabulous job in analyzing the

causes and effects of Aboriginal gang violence in Canada, and I agree with them whole-heartedly

that we investigate these matters immediately.