Hiiraan Online

Osman Barre has buried 20 young Somali men in Edmonton in the past four years.

The Somali sheikh is responsible for the Islamic ritual of washing and preparing the bodies of his community's dead. Too many times, the bodies before him have been victims of homicide, all of them men.

The experience has left Barre tired. Tired of watching families grieve for their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. Tired of washing bodies scarred by stab wounds, bullets, autopsies.

"When they're young boys, 19, 20, 21, my feeling is ... it's bad," Barre says. "It's unacceptable that our young people die, day after day. When someone is shot in the street, it's emotional for us."

Following Islamic tradition, in a room reserved for funeral preparations at a city mosque,

Barre washes a body in a way that's similar to how Muslims wash before prayer. When he has cleansed the body, it's wrapped in clean, white cloth and brought to the prayer room, where mourners gather.

The father of five often wonders: "What if this were my son?" After a funeral, Barre and the mourners travel to the Edmonton Muslim Cemetery on the city's northern edges, where the body is buried. The small, humble cemetery is isolated, surrounded by fields.

Scores of Muslims in Edmonton are buried there. Their graves are mostly marked by simple concrete stones noting dates of birth and death, the only epitaph naming the person's country of origin. Too many say Somalia, Barre says, and the years between the dates of birth and death too few.

"What I realize is we can't continue this situation. It's chaos."

Young Somali men have been coming to oilrich Alberta from southern Ontario over the past decade, some to find lucrative jobs, others tempted by the opportunity to make fast cash selling drugs.

"This has obviously affected the Somali community in Alberta, particularly in Edmonton and north to Fort McMurray," said Louis Pagliaro, professor emeritus at the University of Alberta and registered psychologist.

"They come to Alberta because it's viewed as the land of milk and honey."

"They come here with hopes and then get here and think, 'Hey, these people are living really well,' " Pagliaro said.

Some young Somali men become entwined in the drug trade, often with deadly consequences. Since 2006, at least 14 have been killed in the Edmonton area, including three this year. All but a few of those cases have gone unsolved.

The double murder of two men outside the Fulton Place Community Hall in 2007 prompted Mayor Stephen Mandel and Mike Boyd, then police chief, to host a town hall meeting with 150 members of the Somali community.

After five men were killed in 2008, Somali community leaders met with the police chief again to ask for help. A year later, three more men were dead. By 2010, the Edmonton Police Commission had offered $40,000 in rewards leading to arrests and convictions of 11 unsolved homicides involving victims tied the city's Somali community. The rewards were renewed at a commission meeting last month.

Across the province, community leaders say as many as 32 men have been killed. Not all were involved in drugs or gangs, but many were known to police when they died.

The problem centred on the Somali community isn't new. Young men from new immigrant populations in North America have fallen before into criminal lifestyles.

Between 1996 and 2000, there were at least 10 killings in the city, many involving known Vietnamese drug dealers and gang leaders.

A 1998 Criminal Intelligence Service Canada report noted Vietnamese youth gangs in Edmonton were especially violent, often using machetes in attacks. It said gangs were influenced by Toronto criminals involved in drug smuggling.

"It's easy money, not only to deal drugs, but to transport drugs," Pagliaro said, adding a delivery of cocaine from Edmonton to Fort McMurray can fetch upwards of $500.

Many Somali community leaders point out that not every victim has had ties to a criminal lifestyle, like the city's latest homicide victim, 43-year-old Abdi Ali Mohamud.

Mohamud, married with a young daughter, was walking with a friend in an alley in McCauley about 3 a.m. a week ago Friday when three men approached. An altercation ensued. Mohamud and his friend were shot. Mohamud died at the scene.

Police have said he was likely a victim of mistaken identity.

Most are law abiding

Unofficial estimates peg the Somali population across Canada at 150,000 to 200,000.

Mohamed Abdi, communications co-ordinator for the Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton, estimated the city's population numbers between 10,000 and 15,000.

The recent string of killings has created a poor image of Somalis in the city, he said, when the vast majority are law-abiding and work hard to build lives for themselves and their families.

"When someone in the community is killed, our story becomes public," Abdi said. "That negative image is created and that touches everybody, irrespective of their situations or circumstances."

He acknowledged though, the power of peer pressure, saying police and the community both have roles to play in addressing the issue. "Many of these young people were born and raised in Canada. They need the right tools and to be guided through their lives."

Ahmed Hussen, national president of the Canadian Somali Congress, said the issue can only be addressed when a society views these victims as Canadians, not just Somali.

"These are Canadian kids. We're looking at these kids as those who need more settlement money and programming, but that's not accurate," he said.

When school and other institutional officials view these youth as newcomers, they become marginalized, he said. Some can't speak Somali and have no real connection to the country their parents fled, but may also feel like they don't fit in with broader society.

"We're still seen as an emerging refugee population," said Hussen, a recent law school graduate who lives in Ontario but frequently travels to Edmonton.

"These are Canadians who need integration. They need mentorship programs, they need workshops."

Part of the problem is a lack of professionals -judges, lawyers, doctors, teachers -who can advocate for the community. Instead, many youths see their parents working unskilled jobs driving taxis, pushing mops or serving coffee.

"The problem is that the school system might be failing these restless young ones," said Korbla Peter Puplampu, a sociology professor at Grant MacEwan University.

"There is no demonstrable value in going to school, partly because they can see their educated parents -some who might have schooled or trained in Canada -doing deadend jobs or in jobs unrelated to their training or skill set."

With more than 50 per cent of Canada's Somali community under the age of 25, Abdi's organization is trying to give youth a sense of belonging and a place to pass time in a positive way. The society does outreach at schools, talking to principals and teachers to identify youth who are lagging behind. It also operates a homework lab after school at the Africa Centre in north Edmonton. Last May, the society received just over $202,000 over three years through the Safe Communities Innovation Fund to run these and other programs.

Hussen said the Alberta government has come around in recognizing these youth need intervention. The province last month announced $1.4 million in funding for Bamboo Shield, a crime-prevention program in four Edmonton junior high schools. The intensive program provides personal and life skills coaching for youth who have grown up in challenging circumstances. Youth and their parents participate in regular sessions and have access to a mentor.

"It's a good program because it actually addresses some of the root problems -the junior high kids who might be tempted to drop out," Hussen said.

Some of the sessions feature police officers -important if the youth are going to trust them. The Edmonton police department acknowledges the need for the agency to better reflect the city's growing diversity. Last week after the latest homicide, Insp. Stewart Callioux hinted at the possibility of Somali recruits in the near future.

Mentors needed

As a sheikh in the community, Barre mediates family conflicts and runs youth groups. After burying so many young men, he sees another solution.

He wants to open a drop-in centre for youth. Mentors need to visit young Somali-Canadians in prisons and jails, in an effort to build a rapport with them. There are stigmas attached to drugs and jails in the Somali-Canadian community, but they have to be overcome, he said.

A community meeting is planned for June 25, a first step in inviting more people to find solutions.

"We have to, as a community, start to try doing something different," he said. "We can't wait for someone else to die and then bury them at the cemetery.

"Now we have to save lives." [email protected]