BY DAVE LAZZARINO ,EDMONTON SUN
Friday, August 8, 2014
When Jibril Ibrahim came to Canada from Somalia in 1989, it was a tough transition. He had to learn the language and top up his high school credits before being able to get into university and pursue a goal of becoming a mechanical engineer.
Today, Ibrahim says the situation for young Somalis is far harder.
“Because of the civil war, because of the lack of a central government for 22 years, that created an educational gap,” Ibrahim, president of the Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton (SCCSE), said.
“A lot of them are born in refugee camps. So they lost their childhood, they lost the education.”
When young Somalis finally make it to Canada, he said many of them end up being put into classes according to their age but are at a severe disadvantage. That leads to dropping out of school, recruitment into gangs and, in extreme cases, even terrorist activity.
Those are just some of the findings of a recent study funded by the Alberta Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General that asked: “Why so many Somali Canadian youth who go west end up dead?”
A string of youth deaths in Edmonton’s Somali community - which now accounts for roughly 20,000 of Canada’s 200,000 Somalis - prompted the SCCSE to apply for the funding.
The study combined polls of successful Somali university students in Edmonton and roundtable discussions with Somali youth and their families. Somalis serving time in prison were also interviewed in hopes of finding common trends that have led to the disproportional amount of crime in their community.
The findings, which Ibrahim plans to present at a public meeting Friday, have shown some areas for potential.
Among them, he said, is the fact that many new immigrant parents from Somalia are forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet and support for them and their kids is hard to come by.
He said there is also a difficult balance youth are having to find between the two cultures.
“They are trying to accommodate their parents and also trying to fit into our Canadian culture,” he said.
“A number of findings that came out of it also sheds light onto why a number of them are joining terrorist organizations,” Ibrahim said, adding the jump from gang activity to extremist groups is not a large one.
The solution may just lie in these findings but only if it is used correctly. So far, the community has found a preventative approach is needed for the newest immigrants to avoid the ultimate pitfalls. For those already exposed to negative pressures, intervention is needed and for those in prison, rehabilitation and reintegration is necessary.
“We need all the help we can get from the municipality, to the provincial, to the federal level,” Ibrahim said.
A more concentrated focus on the positive successes of Canadian Somalis is another way he says youth can develop an identity that isn’t based in crime or gangs. What is clear is the hard work is just starting, a reality that doesn’t phase Ibrahim.
“Doing nothing is not going to be an option. We have to do something,” he said.
Results of the research project are being presented Friday at the Chateau Nova Hotel at 159 Airport Rd. in Edmonton and begins at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
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