[URBAN NOTE] "Deportation used to counter growth of Afghan street gang in Toronto"

[rfmcdonald]

The National Post's Stewart Bell wrote about the growth of Afghan street gangs in northern Toronto, and about the tactic of deportation against non-Canadian nationals used by the Canadian government to discourage the growth of these gangs. Apparently deportation has been used against Tamil gangs in Toronto, Haitian gangs in Montréal, and Honduran gangs in Vancouver.

I'm somewhat disturbed by this. Leaving aside the ethical question of whether it is just to deporting people who grew up in Canada to their country of birth--especially, I'm tempted to say, if that country of birth is Afghanistan is somewhere similarly benighted--this tactic by itself doesn't tackle issues of social integration that apparently lead to crime.

Afghan For Life and its more violent-sounding offshoot, Afghan Fighting Generation, emerged partly in Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood, a hub of Canada’s fast-growing Afghan population. Police and immigration enforcement officers have now launched deportation proceedings against several alleged members, including [Farhad Abdul] Fatah, a 28-year-old Russian-speaking Afghan from Thorncliffe Park.

Since 2002, more than 23,000 Afghans have become permanent residents of Canada. Gang members began tagging Afghan neighbourhoods with Afghan For Life (AFL or A4L) and Afghan Fighting Generation (AFG) symbols a decade ago.

[. . .]

Jehad Aliweiwi, executive director of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, a local social agency, said gangs were not a significant problem in the area, although he had seen AFL graffiti in the past. “When I used to walk a little bit around the park you will see ‘Afghan’ or ‘Afghan For Life.’ And young kids in our youth centre, we have a lot of Afghan kids,” he said.

But he said he was less worried about gangs than the high drop-out rate among Afghan boys. “That said, I think there is a lot of affinity with a group like the Afghan For Life for maybe social and belonging reasons, Afghan pride and all that,” he said. “I think it’s a new community that’s trying to find its place in here. It’s part of a struggle of integration.”

Comments

[armiphlage]

It's also been used against Jamaicans in Toronto, with many people brought to Canada as infants being sent to a country that they have no memory of ever having been in. The volume is huge, on the order of 200 people a year.

http://www.thestar.com/news/2007/11/23/jamaica_wants_canada_to_help_look_after_cons_it_sends_back.html