The Thompson Anti-Gang (TAG) ad-hoc committee hosted a three-day, gang prevention and intervention training conference Jan. 30-Feb. 1.

A low-income, high-risk neighbourhood school needs to be a ‘hub,’ and open weekends and evenings, says gang expert Mark Totten.

For three days, TAG committee members, representatives from community groups and students worked together to develop the Thompson anti-gang strategy.

Totten facilitated the event throughout, milling through different brain storming circles and adding his expertise from over 30 years of working with high-risk youth, adults and families.

“I think the event went really well,” said Totten “our goal was to generate awareness of what some of the local gangs are, and what are the issues that surround what leads kids to be gang involved.”

An immense variety of subjects were discussed, from gang activities and crime, to recruitment into gangs, to impacts of growing up in care.

Day one of the event looked at everything from street gangs to organized crime, and took a close look in to understanding how they function. Days two and three looked more closely at exit strategies and preventative measures, while weighing what works and what doesn't.

Totten has travelled all over Canada, assisting communities in their development and evaluation of multi-year gang prevention, intervention and suppression strategies.

“I evaluate gangs across the country, so we talked about lessons learned in different cities and communities across the country,” said Totten, “from there we designed a made in Thompson approach and we came up with a three-month plan.”

Mayor Tim Johnston was receptive to the ideas and concepts that came out of the conference and Totten says that Johnston expressed his willingness to contribute funding to the project.

One strategy that is highlighted in the three-month plan is to eliminate user fees for children and youth for accessing recreational arts activities.

“We know that if we get kids involved in activities, it will keep them out of trouble,” said Totten, “if kids develop a skill they feel better about themselves, and are more likely to keep out of crime and gangs.”

The second strategy is to develop a “school as hub” concept where one community school in a low-income/high-risk neighborhood would be designated to be open before and after school, as well as on weekends. The school would be for families in the community to have a place to go for meals, parenting classes and help with kids.

“We know with kids who are in elementary school, the key times to keep them busy are right after school up until dinner time, because that's when crime peaks for kids,” said Totten.

Totten says that tolerance is an important key in the North, and compared Thompson to Prince Albert, Sask. as far as the dynamic and make up.

The aboriginal child and youth population is expected to double within the next five to 10 years, and Totten stresses the importance of combating racism every step of the way.

Representatives from more than 10 aboriginal communities around Thompson were on hand for the conference. Discussions were held on what measures can be taken in outlying communities as far as gang prevention.

“What needs to be understood is that you can't just kick a gang out of the town,” said Totten, “because they're just going to operate their gangs elsewhere. Gangs migrate and go wherever the money is.”

Totten's strategy of breaking the room into discussion groups of around 20 people each has been one he has found to be very effective in the past, and is much more conducive to having people open up to tackling some sensitive issues.

“There are some emotional topics on hand here,” said Totten, “things like suicide, sexual abuse, violence against children, they're very emotional, and it's too intimidating to stand at the front of a room of 150 people and talk about these kinds of things. It's much easier to work in small groups, then have the small groups report back to the larger group.”

On hand for the conference were child protection workers from Manitoba Family Services and Labour, members of the justice community, the RCMP, Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF), teachers, the Thompson Boys and Girls Club as well as numerous members of the public.

“We wanted these people to come in here and take off their organization hats, because we're all in this together,” said Totten, “this is about sharing resources and breaking down barriers. Everyone needs to work together because there is not just one single solution.”