30 Somali-Canadians killed in province since 2005

Mohamed Abdi is at school early Tuesday, looking for extra chemistry help.
The 18-year-old Edmonton high school student said he struggles with financial pressures all the time in his hopes of becoming an engineer.
The lure to make a fast dollar through illegal activity is everywhere in the city, he said.
“Nobody knows [the gangs]. They come around all the time,” Abdi said. “It’s you who has to control yourself.”
Thirty young Somali-Canadian men died violently in Alberta in the past five years.
Many like Abdinasir Abdulkadir Dirie, who grew up in Ontario before moving to Alberta during the economic boom.
Dirie, 19, was found dead in a Fort McMurray apartment on MacDonald Avenue on the morning of April 21.
An autopsy confirmed Dirie was a victim of a homicide, Wood Buffalo RCMP said.
While a few of the victims were not involved in crime, most faced charges or convictions for drugs and weapons. Police believe many were involved in gangs.
Abdi said he knew some of the young Somali-Canadians who were killed.
Gangs prey on hopeless young Somali-Canadians
Dealing drugs wasn’t part of their original plan, he said.
“They lose hope over their future,” Abdi said. “[Their] parents aren’t here for them. So the boy just loses aspirations.”
Ahmed Abdullahi, who works with Somali-Canadian high school students in Edmonton, said gangs prey on hopeless, underprivileged young men with absent fathers lost to divorce, long work hours or war back home in Somalia.
“What happens is they get exposed and they have a lot of freedoms,” he said.
“And when they see they don’t belong in the community, they find belonging in other negative ways or [with] bad friends. Illegal activity comes from that hopeless and poverty and lack of support from [their] fathers.”
The province’s Somali community must find solutions before things escalate, Abdullahi said.
The problem is many Somali-Canadians are in denial, he said.
Community calls for provincial task force
“Issues and challenges are shielded and protected because blame would be on the community leaders,” Abdullahi said.
But some Somali-Canadians have started to take action.
Alberta’s Somali community has long called on police to do more to find those responsible.
Community members have signed a petition calling on the Alberta government to form a task force to find ways to solve the cases and prevent more deaths.
Edmonton police have reached out to the city’s Somali community in hopes of generating some leads. The police commission has also offered a $40,000 reward for any tip that leads to a conviction.
So far, the Alberta government has rejected the idea of a task force, believing it would cost too much and take too long to show results.
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Source:- cbc.ca

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