Why so many somali-canadians who go west end up dead.

[burahadeer]

CRIME

Why so many Somali-Canadians who go west end up dead

JOSH WINGROVE AND KIM MACKRAEL

FORT McMURRAY, ALTA. and MINNEAPOLIS — The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Jun. 22 2012, 11:31 PM EDT

Last updated Monday, Jun. 25 2012, 10:36 AM EDT

1216 comments

 

 

 

They are called the ciyaal baraf, or the children of the snow. The kids of a generation who fled blood-stained Somalia two decades ago.

 

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Their parents sought refuge across the world in a mass exodus from civil war. Many settled in Canada, mostly in Toronto, where they raised their children, often in poverty. And, as the children came of age and branched out across the country, a new kind of grief emerged.

 

Since 2005, dozens of young men from Canada’s Somali community have been killed, most of them casualties along a cocaine-dusted corridor between the housing projects of Toronto and the oil patch in Alberta. Most cases remain unsolved.

 

The latest slaying was among the most brazen. Ahmed Hassan, a 24-year-old who’d been charged with dealing drugs in Alberta, was gunned down in Toronto’s Eaton Centre. His public death has nudged this grief into the spotlight and renewed calls from Somali community leaders for governments to help stop the bloodshed.

 

Ultimately, the shooting has forced the country to confront the vexing question of why so many of these young men who go west end up dead.

 

Western dream a nightmare

 

The Somali-Canadian community may be rooted in Toronto, but the source of its grief is in Alberta, where at least 23 young men have died in the past seven years.

 

There are about 3,000 Somalis who live in or near the oil-sands city of Fort McMurray. Their community is clustered in a series of low-rise apartments tucked between a grocery store, a mall and a graveyard. They come here dreaming of well-paying jobs, hoping to send money back home and end two decades of poverty. But many lack recognized skills and end up chronically underemployed, driving cabs or working as hotel housekeepers; or they’re unemployed, as is the case with more than 300 Somalis in Fort McMurray today.

 

“We’re called the lost generation,” explained Warsame Adam, a 29-year-old facility manager at the Fort McMurray mosque. “We’re hit from every direction, Somalis. It’s like we don’t belong anywhere.”

 

Mr. Adam found meaningful work out west. Others, however, heeded a different, persistent call – that of the drug trade.

 

“I don’t think anybody goes there saying, ‘You know what, I’m going to go over there and become a drug dealer,’ ” said Ali Abdullahi, who runs youth programs for Somalis in Toronto and knew at least one of the men killed in Alberta. “It’s a lot of young men who go over there, look for work, and some of them may not have all the qualifications to find a job.”

 

But they still need to make money, said Hukun Hurur, a Somali leader in Fort McMurray. “And then they turn to other things.”

 

Cocaine use thrives in Alberta’s oil patch, driven by those who did find well-paying jobs. In 2010, Fort McMurray RCMP laid five cocaine-trafficking charges for every marijuana charge.

 

It’s a brisk trade. High-level dealers can quickly gross $5,000 a day selling crack and cocaine, making $12-per-hour labour jobs seem laughable.

 

“We don’t get a job. So the only option is to get money, to sell drugs,” said one young Somali-Canadian in Fort McMurray, who calls himself M.J.

 

“There’s something wrong with this city,” he said.

 

Civil war

 

Most of these children of the snow can trace their roots to strife-torn Somalia. In 1991, armed opposition groups overthrew the ruling military government, thrusting the country into a brutal and protracted civil war.

 

As the conflict worsened, migrants poured into Toronto, along with other cities in the United States and Britain. Many arrived with limited English skills and few resources. In places like Toronto, where there was no existing Somali community to join, families were left to fend for themselves.

 

Rima Berns-McGown, a University of Toronto professor who has studied the Somali diaspora in Canada and Britain, said many parents who brought their children abroad were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder – yet another challenge for young families adapting to life on a new continent.

 

 

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=latest%20news%20from%20somalia&source=newssearch&cd=3&ved=0CDoQqQIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theglobeandmail.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Fwhy-so-many-somali-canadians-who-go-west-end-up-dead%2Farticle4365992%2F&ei=MxDpT_TXHqay0AHV6-yjDQ&usg=AFQjCNE0AxNVfRFwb3yQ8j43S2E3nnfrBA

[GaraadMon]

There was another Somali killed last week in Toronto, I think that's 2 in the last month.

[Aaliyyah]

I actually posted this exact article. Anyhow, I heard abt the recent death of a somali guy in his late 20s. It is pretty sad. Alle ha u naxaristo, inkasto nimankan oo dhan wax qashin ah ku jiraan. It is not abt them going to the west, hadey shaqo wanaagsan radsanayaan waxan kuma dhacdeen. Yaga wax daran ku jira, ilaahay ha u naxaristo inti dhimatay intal noolna ilaahay xaqa ha tuso

[The-freeman]

Aaliyyah;845421 wrote:

I actually posted this exact article. Anyhow, I heard abt the recent death of a somali guy in his late 20s. It is pretty sad. Alle ha u naxaristo, inkasto nimankan oo dhan wax qashin ah ku jiraan. It is not abt them going to the west,

hadey shaqo wanaagsan radsanayaan waxan kuma dhacdeen

. Yaga wax daran ku jira, ilaahay ha u naxaristo inti dhimatay intal noolna ilaahay xaqa ha tuso

I think the author of the article is suggesting that the lack of meaningful jobs is[possibly] leading these brothers to seek drug dealing.

As Tony Blair used to say :Education,education, education!" without it it is hard to exit the ghetto and ghetto mentality.

[Aaliyyah]

^ I don't think there is a lack of meaningful jobs. It is just that for instance Toronto is overpopulated. Pehaps, due to that there is a high competition for good paying jobs . So that is where certain education background come in. But, overall that might be a factor but not the complete answer. Many people just have random 9-5 jobs and are mature and productive individuals of their community.

 

Runtii these boys or should i say men "maskaxda ba laga xaday" ilaahay haso hadeeyo...of course I do know they see the drug dealing business as easy and fast paying way. And, lets note most of them probably got involved when they were really young and that is the only time someone is vulnerable to be influenced in the wrong way. There is no 28 years old person who today will suddenly get involved in drugs iyo wax lo joogin, this must have started when they were young - so their parents failed them a big part. I am not putting all the blame on the parents. But, a great deal of the blame is on their parents. I am not going to sugar coat it.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Another one was killed? I thought the Eaton Center shooting was the last one.

 

It is very obvious that a whole generation has fallen victim to shameless criminality and laziness. There are jobs in Alberta (many, many jobs) and quite a few decent families are surviving with the "low paying jobs" these brats are complaining about. I have seen many elderly Somalis sweeping malls and pushing garbage containers for a living. The nonsense about "meaningful jobs" is the same lame excuse these goons have been using for years. Give me a break.

[Nin-Yaaban]

Libaax is that where u at, working at the Oil Sands? Would they let someone from south of the border come there to work?

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Nin Yaaban, you may apply for a work permit as a NAFTA Professional if you meet the following conditions:

 

You must have already received an offer of employment from a Canadian employer.

You must be qualified to perform the duties of the position you have been offered.

The position you are offered must be a skilled occupation and be one of the 63 approved Professions.

You must not be seeking self-employment in Canada. If you have been self-employed and do not have an offer of employment from a Canadian employer, please see Trader and Investor information.

You must provide documentation and evidence of the above.

read here: http://www.canadaworkvisa.ca/info/nafta1.php

[burahadeer]

Is there a way to save what's left?!

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Another one shot down. He would be the third that was shot to death in the last five weeks. What is going on? Bisinka iyo raxmaanoow. News media are not identifying him, however it is believed to be a young Soomaali guy in his mid '20s if the Soomaali rumour mill is believed.

___________________

 

Man found shot to death in Etobicoke

 

Toronto’s homicide tally for the year rose to 26 early Thursday after a man believed to be in his 20s was found shot to death on a quiet street in Etobicoke.

 

Police and paramedics responding to a 911 call found the victim on Meadowbank Road, near Highway 427 and Burnhamthorpe Road at around 4 a.m. Shot multiple times, the unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

A neighbour watching television in a nearby home recounted hearing a volley of about four shots, followed by another burst of gunfire.

 

Police are seeking a dark coloured car seen speeding away, Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray of the homicide squad told reporters, adding that she is still trying to establish who the victim is.

 

The killing brings the year-to-date total to 26 – the same number as was recorded at this time in 2011.

 

Of this year’s homicide victims, 16 were shot to death; compared to 14 at the same time last year.

 

The number of shootings overall, however, shows a larger increase. City-wide, 132 separate instances have been catalogued in 2012, compared to 102 at this time last year.

 

Mei Belanger said her 22-year-old daughter was awoken by “five or six” gunshots around 4 a.m., but couldn’t see anything outside her bedroom window on the dark tree-lined street.

 

“She heard gunshots, and then the door slammed and a car took off, and that’s it.”

 

A woman house-sitting at a residence down the street from where the body was found said she initially thought the noise was mischievous raccoons crashing into garbage cans.

 

A few houses down, another neighbour was so surprised by the commotion that she jumped up in bed.

 

“I said, ‘What was that?’ My husband said, ‘Let me look.’ He thought it was kids with firecrackers,” said Tammy, who declined to give her last name.

 

When she got up at 5:30 a.m., the area was roped off. Tammy said she kept her two children inside Thursday morning as the victim’s body lay covered on a driveway down the street.

 

“It’s a nice quiet street with lots of children. People walk their dogs and ride their bikes. It is kind of an odd thing to see out on the street,” she says.

Globe & Mail

[Aaliyyah]

^Oh wow I havent heard of this incident. This is crazy. Ilaahay ha sahlo.

[Homunculus]

Somails have the worst reputation these days, living in Alberta it seemed like a Somali kid was getting killed every other week.

[Wadani]

Apparently, the latest victim and the one who was killed before him a few weeks ago were first cousins. My stepdad knows a guy who is about to make his second visit to the grandmother, who has now lost two grandsons. May Allah make this ordeal one she is able to bare, ameen. Something needs to be done in the canadian somali community and fast.

[Nin-Yaaban]

Aun. I just read this on GM. I can only imagine what the parents must be going through. Having said that, it seems like Canadian police release almost no info to the public about suspects. What do they have against releasing mugshots of suspects? If I lived in Canada and a somali was getting killed everyday, I'd def want to see a picture or something so I know who to watch for. That's all I wanted to say.

[burahadeer]

and who is killing them and why none r caught,am still at loss here..something big fishy here!