Like Ontario, there is a lot of talk here these days about gang violence. Specifically, Indo-Canadian gang violence.
It's a touchy subject. Many in the South Asian community don't like the publicity they've been getting. They don't like it when people talk about the reasons some young Indo-Canadian men are attracted to gangs that have gone on an unprecedented killing rampage here in the past 10 years.
Killing each other.
Some people can offer their views on the matter without being called racist. B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal, the former B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judge who is South Asian himself, is one of them.
Recently, Mr. Oppal characterized the gang violence afflicting his community in Greater Vancouver as a "cancer." More provocatively, he said the difference in the way many Indo-Canadian families raise sons and daughters is a contributing factor.
"There are still a lot of families who celebrate the birth of a boy but don't celebrate the birth of a girl," Mr. Oppal said in an interview. "And you see this reflected in the way they bring up their children. The boys get carte blanche treatment and the result is they grow up to be gangsters in many cases."
Why do they grow up to be gangsters? In Mr. Oppal's view, and the view of others studying this problem, it has to do with the sense of entitlement some Indo-Canadian men develop because of the special treatment they receive as children: the Escalades and Porsches presented to them for passing Grade 10; the money handed to them whenever they ask for it.
"A lot of the [Indo-Canadian]gang thing is thrill-seeking, but a lot of it has to do with idleness and having things handed to them. The result is you don't work hard. What more is there for a 16-year-old to accomplish if he's jumping into a BMW in Grade 10? They lose focus and there is a disconnect with the parents because they're out working, often two or three different jobs, to pay for everything."
The Indo-Canadian gangs aren't the worst ones on the coast. The RCMP rank them third behind outlaw bikers and Asians in terms of their strength and organization in the province's pecking order of criminal groups. Yet, the Indo gangs get most of the attention.
The reason is the level of violence within their own gang community. Indo-Canadian gangsters get knocked off left, right and centre out here. The RCMP say more than 80 Indo-Canadian gangsters or their associates have been slain in the past decade.
Some believe that number to be much, much higher. The homicides are generally the result of turf wars or the settling of old scores. While he has no firm numbers yet, RCMP Constable Shinder Kirk, media liaison officer with the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, says this year is shaping up as one of the worst ever.
Mr. Oppal says the number of gang killings is disproportionate to the number of Indo-Canadians in the province - 350,000 by his estimate.
That is why the problem is getting an inordinate amount of attention.
"It's the level of violence among the gang members," he said. "I don't think you see that to nearly the same degree in other criminal organizations."
The brazenness factor also sets Indo-Canadian gangsters apart. They don't care where they open fire. Nightclubs are a favourite location. Recently, two Indo-Canadians were shot in a suburban Burnaby, B.C., bar by two other Indo-Canadians in what was believed to be a gang shooting. The bar was full. Several shots rang out. Luckily, the victims were not killed.
Not surprisingly, all the shootings have created problems for those good Indo-Canadian kids who show up at nightclubs looking for nothing more than a little fun. Many are not being allowed in. Bouncers who don't want problems are carrying out racial profiling. It's unfair. It's wrong. Yet many people ask: Who can blame the bar owners?
Solutions to the problem are as complex as the reasons kids are joining these gangs in the first place. Police talk about the need for parents and kids to become "more educated" about the situation. Who can ever argue with that? But what good does it really do? Mr. Oppal believes kids in the Indo-Canadian community need to get more involved with sports as a healthier alternative to whatever it is they are doing now.
Yet others say the influential Indo-Canadian media needs to challenge parents to change their cultural ways when it comes to raising children, to end the two-tiered system some families have when it comes to girls and boys.
Most everyone agrees that the generation of Indo-Canadian men currently involved in gang activity is as good as lost. Nothing will save them. They love the gangster lifestyle: the cars, the bling, the women, the status. In exchange, they are prepared to accept the risk that comes with it, a hastened death.
"It is a cancer in our society and I don't mind saying that," Mr. Oppal said.
"I know I'm painting with a pretty broad brush and I'm likely to offend somebody, but I'm trying to make a point. We've got a huge problem on our hands here."
One that seems to be only getting worse.
Gary Mason