Violence among teenagers: the Maghreb community “can no longer bear this pain”

The North African community of Montreal is still in shock after the death of a 14-year-old teenager, whose body was found in Frampton near a Hells Angels premises. Worried about the recruitment of young people by criminal gangs and an increase in violence, more than a hundred people gathered on Saturday in Saint-Léonard to demand a commission of inquiry and a change to the Criminal Code.

The organizer of this gathering, Hadjira Belkacem, is sounding the alarm, believing that parents must unite to stop the recruitment of adolescents in Montreal schools and parks.

It starts at 12, 13, 14 years old. Street gangs ask them to steal cars, go kill, that kind of thing… They recruit children to do their dirty workshe denounces.

The war between street gangs and the adolescents who are its victims represent a pain that the Maghreb community can’t stand anymoreadds Me Nazar Saaty, volunteer lawyer at the Association of Muslim Burial in Quebec.

Since 2019, we have buried around forty young people in our community [maghrébine].

The recent case of Mohamed-Yanis Seghouani, 14, resident of Saint-Léonard, particularly highlighted this problem of recruitment among young people. This teenager of Algerian origin, who was allegedly associated with a violent street gang in Saint-Léonard, was found lifeless near a den of Dark Soulsa school club of Hells Angelsin Frampton, in Beauce.

According to our information, the young man was not alone: ​​he had come from Montreal and was armed with AK-47 type assault rifles.

According to Mimoun Mohammed Nordine, coordinator of the Saint-Michel Youth Forum, the teenager was the victim of bullying at school, which would have prompted him to seek protection from a gang.

There is a real phenomenon of intimidation, which pushes young people to have bladed weapons, automatic weapons. There is no recognition of this problem [dans les écoles]which pushes some to seek protection [dans des groupes criminels]he laments.

He adds that children in an economic situation tough get sold by gangs a way of life thanks to which they will gain easy money.

The parents are scared, they don’t know what to do with this.

Call for action from governments

What solutions are there to avoid another tragedy like that of Mohamed-Yanis Seghouani? Mimoun Mohammed Nordine first demands a commission of inquiry to understand how 14-year-old children manage to be recruited near schools, to have weapons.

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For lawyer Nazar Saaty, a key would also be the revision of the Criminal Code in order to impose harsher sentences on minors. The Youth Criminal Justice Act has been distorted by criminalshe says.

They saw a flaw in our system to send young people to do their bad acts. They tell young people: “At worst, you will receive a sentence in a center.” Behind that, the people who send the young people are not sanctioned.

He also recalls the importance of funding community programs that help young people in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

It is a cry from the heart to municipal, provincial and federal elected officials, and to society in general, to say that we dissociate ourselves from this behavior and that we want concrete solutions.

Quebec’s Minister of Public Security has already spoken out about the scourge of armed gangs.

Like many Quebecers, what I hear coming from Frampton shocks me, wrote François Bonnardel on X on September 19. It is disgusting for street gangs to enlist young people, children, to do the dirty work.

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Following the tragedy in Frampton, the Sûreté du Québec also increased the number of its patrols in the area in order to reassure the population. The criminal investigation continues.

Gun violence linked to gangs is causing concern elsewhere in the country, notably in Toronto, where a march was organized on Saturday to honor the victims of homicides.

With information from Jean-Philippe Hughes, Pascal Robidas and The Canadian Press