The rain did not prevent dozens of people from gathering in the borough of Anjou, in Montreal, to demand actions to put an end to the outbreak of violence in the neighborhood.
The event took place just over a week after a shooting claimed the life of a 20-year-old man, Hani Ouahdi, and injured a 17-year-old in the area.
The citizens gathered in the park of Bocage, provided with signs which one could read “security in my district”.
Parents and citizens of Anjou, as well as teachers from the Roserais primary school, which is near the scene of the shooting, joined forces to organize the march. They demand the establishment of infrastructures for the young people of the district, such as the establishment of a youth center and leisure activities, to prevent them from turning to crime.
“We want there to be means put in place very quickly, because we are in a desert of complete services. There is absolutely nothing to hook young people to anything other than crime in the central Anjou sector, ”said Chantal Poulin, teacher at the Roserais school.
I don’t want to look at my students today and then tell myself that they are the criminals of tomorrow because there is nothing else to hang them up.
Chantal Poulin, teacher
The teacher explains that the community has seen a real increase in violence in the area since the start of the year. “We have children who arrive at school almost every day, who tell us that they have heard gunshots, that they have witnessed violent events, that they have been beaten. , that they are afraid, ”she said.
Chantal Poulin fears that a feeling of fear will generalize in the face of the increase in violence. “We have parents who come to drive the children away morning, noon and evening, because they are afraid for their children when they live at 20 [ou] 25 meters from the school, ”she emphasizes.
The organizers of the march are also calling for the creation of a permanent budget to fight poverty and crime. They also wish to receive grants through the government program for the prevention of delinquency through sport, the arts and culture.
Friday, the borough of Anjou published a press release in order to reassure its citizens, evoking that despite “the episodes of violence that Montreal knows, Anjou remains a safe borough”. For Chantal Poulin, “it’s excessively insulting”. “It is a complete trivialization of what is experienced,” she denounced.
Violence in the streets of Montreal took the lives of several young people during the year 2021. Thomas Trudel, a 16-year-old, was shot dead in November in the Saint-Michel district. Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, 16, died after being stabbed last October in the Côte-des-Neiges area. Then, 15-year-old Meriem Boundaoui died after being shot in the Saint-Léonard area in February.