'We have to work together,' police chief says to Calgary's Somali-Canadian community

Iman Abdi Hersy, right, listens as Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson speaks with members of the Calgary Somali community at the Abu Bakr Musallah Mosque on Saturday evening January 10, 2015. The meeting was held to help find ways to counter recent violence within the Somali community.

By Erika Stark
Sunday, January 11, 2015

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Calgary’s police chief says his force is committed to working together with the city’s Somali-Canadian residents to curb the violence among young men in the community.

“We know that there’s young men, mostly young men, who don’t feel they’re part of the community,” said Chief Rick Hanson, speaking to a crowd of around 75 at the Abu Bakr Islamic Center Saturday evening.

“We know that sometimes, young men don’t feel they have a fair opportunity for jobs, or they don’t have a fair opportunity to finish school. they get frustrated because they feel there’s no way that they can build a life for their families, and too often, they get enticed into gangs or criminal activity.”

“It’s important for all of us to prevent that from happening, to make sure that we do everything possible to provide the opportunities for kids especially, young men and women for sure, to have those opportunities to finish school, go on into college or university, go on to policing or the fire department, so that they can build a life and not have to live in fear because they got into a criminal lifestyle,” Hanson added.

Hanson’s remarks come after two Somali-Canadian men were killed in separate incidents. Abdullahi Ahmed, 27, died in hospital after a New Years Day shooting at a Killarney house party. Less than 24 hours later, 23-year-old Murat Omar was discovered dead in a Rosedale back alley. Police say the two incidents do not appear to be linked.

“The future of this society is getting killed every day,” said local Imam Abdi Hersy.

Almost 50 per cent of Calgary’s Somali-Canadian community is under the age of 25. Eighty-five per cent are under 44, says Dr. Abdulahi Omar, a researcher and educational consultant.

That’s why its important to focus on the youth, he said, pointing to a lack of encouragement, few positive role models and a lack of proper facilities to support young Somali-Canadians as some areas that need to be improved.

“When hundreds of these kids are doing well, graduating, going to universities, we hardly celebrate,” Omar said. “When one of them dies, we all cry and come together and say, ‘let’s do something together.'”

Omar listed a number of ways to make life in Calgary better for Somali-Canadian youth, such as establishing of a centre that caters to the younger members of the community, and linking young Somali-Canadians to other agencies in the city, including the police force.

That’s something Hanson said he’d like to see as well. He encouraged parents to get their kids involved with the cadet program, and to apply for the police force.

“One thing that’s hard for us to overcome, and we know we have to prove it to all of you, is that in Canada, police are an arm of the community,” Hanson said. “We’re not an arm of the state. In other words, we can only do our job when we work with you.”

Mohamed Jama, the president of the Somali Canadian Association of Calgary said police need to learn from the community in order to better serve them.

“We’d like to build a relationship with the police,” he said. “It’s a matter of dialogue and understanding and information. The police have to learn from us, whether it be the culture, whether it be what we need as newcomers to this country.”

Hersy said it’s vital to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.

“Somali-Canadians are willing to work with law enforcement in-depth, hand-in-hand, to solve these issues and these problems,” he said.

“They want the chief and the rest of law enforcement agencies to understand that. We are here to help. We are here bridge the gap. We are here to do whatever it takes to stop this bloodshed.”

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