Fiurearms, drugs, mobile phones, and thousands of dollars in cash seized by police in a raid on a gang in Manitoba earlier this year. Professor Ngo hopes spending money to steer immigrant youth away from gangs will mean less of a societal cost later.
Photo Credit: CBC

Immigrant youth and street gangs

Why do young immigrants and first generation newcomers end up in streets gangs?

Hieu Ngo arrived in Canada as a young refugee but avoided the gang life.  As a university student he began studying immigrant conditions and why some ended up in gangs.

Hieu Ngo is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, in the western province of Alberta.

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His work on the reasons which lead immigrant youth to join or even create gangs led to an important 132 page research study called The Unravelling of Identities and Belonging: Criminal Gang Involvement of Youth from Immigrant Families.

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Professor Hieu Ngo of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. His own experience as a refugee in Canada gives him some insight into youth and the attraction of gangs. He hopes his new federally-funded “wraparound” approach involving multiple agencies will help guide immigrant youth away from gangs and crime © Angie Boyler Photography-University of Clagary

This initial research which included interviews with 30 current and former street gang members, concluded that a number of factors drove some newcomers and first generation newcomers, to the gang life.

These include the stresses of immigration, financial and cultural, and resultant tensions in the home, including violence, or simply a lack of virtually parental guidance with the parents or parent working long hours away to try to survive in this new country. There is also a sense of alienation from mainstream society and sometimes from the established ethnic community as well.  This leads to a sense of isolation.

The gang life offers a new “family” and a sense of identity, of belonging, protection, and of a certain amount of respect

In interviewing the immigrant street gang members for his study, he said he personally experienced the same things that the gang members told him about, but not to the same degree of trauma, and physical danger from racist threats.

He says, unlike them, he was also  lucky to have had mentors to encourage and guide him.

His research has led to several recommendations designed to steer youth away from street gangs

Because of the insight gained in this research, the federal government has encouraged professor Ngo to expand his research and through a multi-million dollar grant, helped create a new 5-year pilot programme involving several stakeholder agencies to guide and mentor youth to keep them from gangs, or help them leave gangs.

There are critics, among them, Ehor Boyanowsky, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University who believes current drug laws are a big contributing factor.

He believes the decriminalization of marijuana would take a bite out of the gangs’ primary business, drug trafficking. He says smart kids pick up quickly on the drug trade controlled by gangs. “They know there are risks, but the rewards for the undereducated, underprivileged and just plain lazy are too tempting. … Gang members call it The Life – it’s cars, guns and girls”, he says.

As for getting gang members and leaders to leave gang life, he doubts the effectiveness of professor Ngo’s suggestions saying, “Where else can they make $200 an hour?”

Still, his research has attracted the attention of the federal government which has encouraged professor Ngo to expand his research and helped create a new 5-year pilot programme which will  It’s a multipronged pitch that includes families, schools and communities and asks each to provide positive social programs, opportunities and role models for support.

Professor Ngo says it’s still too early to tell, but feels confident that the Identity-Based Wraparound Intervention Project will establish practices to shape how communities across Alberta and the rest of Canada deal with this complex issue and help some at risk youth from going down the wrong path

Categories: Immigration & Refugees, Society
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