How can we slow down youth gun violence?

Don’t Call Me Resilient

It was 15 years ago: police officers flooded C. W. Jefferys Collegiate in northwest Toronto. Outside, hundreds of anxious parents stood waiting for answers. The news that police delivered – as we now know – was tragic.

Fifteen-year-old Jordan Manners had been killed. It was the first time anyone had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school. Jordan’s death stunned his community and the nation. And for many, it punctured the illusion of safety in Canadian schools.

Since then, we’ve seen a slew of reports and funds directed at anti-violence projects… But youth violence hasn’t let up in Toronto, Canada’s largest city.

In fact, it’s getting worse.

In the Toronto District School Board, the number of physical assaults has risen by 174 per cent between 2014 and 2019 and the number of incidents involving the use of a weapon by a student has risen by 60 per cent.

This year, on Valentine’s Day, a student was fatally shot inside a Toronto high school and in October, another shooting happened outside a school.

Why is gun violence increasing? And can we slow it down?

Devon Jones has spent the past 15 years tackling these very questions. He is a teacher and well-recognized youth worker in the Jane and Finch community - where Jordan Manners was killed. It has been described as Toronto’s most dangerous area to be a kid.

Devon has seen many students who have lost their lives to violence over the years, including Manners. But he has also saved many lives through programs offered by YAAACE - an organization he founded in 2007 that focuses on basketball and academics. He’s a busy man, who had just rushed from dealing with a youth emergency before talking to us from school.

One of the former volunteers of Jones's organization is Ardavan Eizadirad. Eizadirad is now the executive director of YAAACE. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who has written about the root causes of gun violence.

Join us on Don’t Call Me Resilient as we speak to both Jones and Eizadirad about the rising rates of gun violence in Canada and the role community organizations play in the solution.

Follow and Listen

You can listen to or follow Don’t Call Me Resilient on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. We’d love to hear from you, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and use #DontCallMeResilient.

Sources

• Two School Shootings, 15 Years Apart by Inori Roy
• Student fatally shot inside Toronto high school
• Shooting outside Toronto high school leaves 1 dead, 1 teen injured
• Prevalence and Impact of Harassment and Violence against Educators in Canada by Darcy A. Santor,Chris Bruckert & Kyle McBride
• The death of Jordan Manners tore apart his school. How C.W. Jefferys was resurrected. the Toronto Star by Andrea Gordon
• How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada's
• Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)

Articles in the Conversation

Read the companion article to this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient: To resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison, by Ardavan Eizadirad.

• Canada shouldn’t be smug about gun violence — it’s a growing problem here, too
• Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence
• Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men
• Thugs’ is a race-code word that fuels anti-Black racism
• Toronto mass shooting: How the city is coping a month later
• Calls for stronger handgun laws in Canada have deep roots
• Proposed Canadian gun bill will create U.S.-style patchwork of firearms laws