Youth who are survivors of hate, domestic or armed violence and parents who have either lost their children to those causes, or whose children have experienced it, came together Saturday afternoon for a special conference.
Hosted by the Center for Research Action on Race Relations (CRAAR), the voices of the youth victims of crime conference was an outlet for various members of the community including victims of crime.
“My father was shot and killed when I was young. I was four years old when it happened and to this day I don’t have justice,” said 19-year-old Jade Hunte.
Hunte is now a student at Dawson College who says she wouldn’t be where she s today if it wasn’t for the support she got from her community.
“My resources were basketball as an outlet, the kids foundation as well as my church. Union United, they helped me get into music,” she said.
Now, Hunte tries to give back to the community when she can. Participating in the conference was her way of letting others know that focusing on a passion is what helped her.
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“So that your focus isn’t on the streets, isn’t on violence, it’s on something that is of good nature and that can make you go far in life,” she added.
T.J Kane lost his mother to domestic violence when he was nine years old.
“The person who took my mother’s life was in fact my father so it’s a very contradictive situation and a very difficult situation to bounce back from,” said Kane who started his own organization, S.A.V – Stop All Violence.
“You can make a difference, you can overcome. It definitely takes some time, some patience, some understanding, some shadow work and some inner work as well, but it’s doable,” he said.
There were many perspectives at Saturday’s event. Lynne-Marie Baudouy lost her son Lucas Gaudet when he was stabbed outside John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire in February 2022.
“They said Lucas was in a gang, if you think hockey is a gang, then yes, he was on a gang,” said Baudouy while speaking on a panel.
Baudouy, like many other parents who lost their children to violent crimes, says it shouldn’t matter what the child did.
“What difference does it make whether they were in a gang or not, what difference does it make if they were a criminal or not. They are still human,” she said.
Representatives from the SPVM and the cadets also spoke. Participants spent the day sharing their stories and discussing how to make Montreal a safer place.
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