400 people attend anti-gang forum in Surrey

The organizer of an anti-gang forum in Surrey Wednesday night says it’s going to take more work–and a tougher message–to deter young people from going down the wrong road.

More than 400 Surrey teens and their parents attended the forum, co-organized by Kal Dosanjh with Kids Play, a foundation that uses organized sports to keep kids off the streets. Dosanjh said the anti-drug/anti-gang message might not be getting through because of the tone in which it’s being delivered.

“Unfortunately, the message has been conveyed in a finger-wagging type of environment where they’re essentially given a sermon and told, well, don’t do this otherwise here’s the result,” said Dosanjh. “That’s not what the kids need.”

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He said what kids do need is to hear firsthand from those who’ve been involved with drugs and gangs.

“They need organizations that have been specifically doing this and take their communal knowledge and give it to these kids in a straightforward fashion where they’re telling these kids if you do A, B is the result,” said Dosanjh.

It’s the reason he invited Mark Steinkampf, the police officer turned movie producer behind the Odd Squad Society’s films. Short films Steinkampf helped produce close to 20 years ago are still being used as educational tools today.

Images of Steinkampf’s film were shown at the forum. He hopes it’s enough of a deterrent.

“They don’t have to stop what they haven’t started. There’s so much positive in life and I don’t see a lot of positive coming out of drug use and drug abuse.”

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So far this year, there have been more than 40 shooting incidents in Surrey–many related to a low-level gang war.

Seventeen-year-old Parneet Singh lost his cousin to gang-related violence at a young age. The incident prompted him to create a video about what gangs and drugs can do to families.

He said gang violence in Surrey has taken its toll.

“It’s been affecting us for a long time and 20 years ago this was a problem, right now it’s a problem. I want to make sure that 20 years down the road when I have kids, it’s not a problem.”