10,000 steps to healing
- EFN Staff | February 06, 2014
"How can our community support young people in leaving gang life?"
That's the important question being asked at the conference 10,000 Healing Steps: Resilience and Community. The conference is hosted by Str8 Up, an innovative program founded by Father Andre Pollievre, a man who has dedicated his life to helping gang members leave the life style.
Str8 Up is in a pivotal time in its existence. The demand for support for ex gang members is high, and Str8 Up is growing and in demand. To help create a vision going forward, they invited Fr. Gregory Boyle, New York Times best-selling author of Tattoos on the Heart, and Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest Gang intervention program in America to come share his story. He brought along members of Homeboy Industries who are sharing their experience of supporting individuals to leave gang membership in Los Angeles, and highlighting the industries and jobs they create to promote healing.
Fr. Andre Pollievre and members of STR8 UP also shared their stories of how they were drawn into gang life and how they were able to leave the gang with the support of other ex-gang members.
Other speakers included Dr. Mark Totten, Canadian expert on gangs and author of Nasty, Brutish and Short: The Lives of Gang Members in Canada; Robert Henry, lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan and author of Brighter Days Ahead; Sergeant Craig Nyirfa of the Saskatoon Police Services; and Justice Murray Sinclair.
"It is important to talk about our youth,"said Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and keynote speaker at the banquet. "We have to acknowledge the impact of the residential schools, as well as the impact of what was taught about our people in the public schools. We have been taught we are lesser peoples. The past has left us a damaged people trying to raise families without the skills. Our children should receive and education that makes them proud. This country is entitled to benefit from our contribution."
Throughout the conference, Str8 Up members have been doing presentation and telling their personal stories. There have been some very emotional moments as the crowd embraces members with applause and support as they tell their stories of dropping colours, gaining sobriety or of getting their children back from care.
"You have to remember many of us struggled with addictions and poor self esteem," said Georgina, a Str8 Up member who shared the group's five rules of engagement. "We have to be honest and truthful. I had so many different aliases and names. But you have to commit or it doesn't work. And you have to promise to four years. It took a long time to get into and then out of the gang lifestyle. You dont just leave overnight."
Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill is well aware of the importance of supporting groups like Str8 Up.
"Ten years ago we polled the city on crime issues. Gangs rated only at half a percent. Last year in the poll it was the number one issue,"said Weighill. "What Str8 Up is doing here is so important. They see what the problem is. They know what the causes are. They are the ones that can make a difference."
For more photos from the conference, visit our photo gallery.