Dispatches from the T-Dot

January 10, 2006... I was in The Biggest Smoke for a few hours recently. The first thing I noticed when I stepped off the bus downtown was the spicy, proto-fart smell of street meat. How I'd missed that smell, living for the past two-and-a-half years in a place where everything is strictly regulated and tube steak dispensaries are limited to exactly two locations...

I also noticed a Middle Eastern restaurant called Syriandipity on Queen Street West, which I briefly considered eating in, and, on Spadina, My Chafing Dish, a Chinese restaurant which I did not briefly consider eating in.

Of course, The Biggest Smoke has been in the news for reasons other than culinary of late. On Boxing Day, a fifteen year old girl named Jane Creba was killed by gunfire on a busy street filled with shoppers. Speculation is that she was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire between rival gangs. Canadians have been wringing their hands in despair ever since. Whatever will we do about the rising tide of gunplay and murder on our streets? Canadian politicians, propitiously in the middle of an election campaign, have been only too happy to offer suggestions.

The Institutionalized Kuruption Party has vowed to ban handguns if elected, seemingly oblivious to the facts that: a) it is already well-nigh impossile to buy handguns here legally; and b) criminals will occasionally resort to illegal means to obtain illegal weapons.

The Party of Ignorant, Selfish Boors, for its part, has promised mandatory prison sentences for persons convicted of weapons offences ... which seems reasonable enough. However, speculation is that the party's hidden agenda on the subject includes the last two bullet points leaked here.

Only the Ineffectual Party has spoken at any length about combatting the causes of crime—e.g., the growing gap between the rich and the poor in this country and the lack of legitimate channels for self-improvement for those at the bottom. (Due to an odd quirk of our electoral system, however, the Ineffectual Party never wins more than five or six percent of the seats in Parliament, even when, as usual, fifteen or twenty percent of the people vote for them.)

Yes, Canada has poor people—lots and lots of poor people—and, just like in other countries, most of them are herded together and kept in separate neighbourhoods, far from rich people. One of the problems with this approach to organizing "society" is that it limits the opportunities for poor people to find a "legitimate" way out of poverty.

See, if you grow up in a wealthy neighbourhood, you make connections with other wealthy people. The lady down the block who skies with your parents? She's a senior civil servant. So when your parents mention that you're looking for work, your neighbour pulls a few strings, and you get a good, entry level job in the civil service. You're off on the good foot.

You grow up in a poor neighbourhood, though, and most of your neighbours will be unemployed. Ain't nothing those people can do to help you get off on the good foot. And trying to get by on social assistance, when rates have been cut so drastically over the past decade that they no longer cover rent, let alone food, clothing and transportation... Maybe the lady on the fifth floor can help you score a job at McDonald's or Walmart or whatever union-busting conglomerate she works at, but it'll be part-time at minimum wage, just like hers. And anyway, she been working there for years, but she still living in a cockroach-infested slum like everyone else. Fact is, the only person in the neighbourhood earning a living wage, the only person who can give you a leg-up, is a drug dealer.

Is it really so hard to fathom why some young people get involved in criminal gangs?

Wu Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M

There are probably 1,001 hip-hop songs that tell the same story. "C.R.E.A.M." was the first one that came to mind. If you need help with the lyrics, go here.

To be effective, any strategy to combat gangs, gunplay and crime in Canada must include a concerted effort to promote equality of opportunity. I hope that whichever group of rich people wins the election will acknowledge this reality. I won't hold my breath waiting, however—except when I vote.

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