Canadian Cluebat 3: Life Imitates Art

TheStar.com - Absent fathers root of gun crimes, faith leaders say

You heard it here first.

On December 29, I commented on the gang shootings in Toronto (Canadian Cluebat 2: Toronto). My theme was that the cause of "Gun Violence" was not the GUNS, but the VIOLENCE, and that the indirect cause of the violence was the break-up of the Nuclear Family.

If you couldn't bear to wade through all the pedantry, here's a summary; my thought was that when the family doesn't have both parents, or when the parents themselves are disfunctional, their children will not be given the chance to learn how to act. Given no familial support, children may turn to gangs as their only 'family'. The gang culture is typically violent, and leads directly to the kind of criminal behavior which Toronto experienced on Boxer Day.

That concept has been reinforced, surprisingly by the MSM ("Main Stream Media"), in the form of an article in the Toronto Star.

Here are some cuts from the article:

Absent fathers root of gun crimes, faith leaders say

Young male adolescents who have no male role model at home 'look to gangs for family'

Jan. 11, 2006. 04:13 PM

CURTIS RUSH

STAFF REPORTER THESTAR.COM

Young, angry adolescents who have no male role model at home are committing many of the gun crimes in Toronto because gangs are their family, faith leaders said today.

And fathers who desert the home are the root of the problem, the leaders said at a news conference held at the Driftwood Community Centre in the gang-plagued Jane-Finch corridor.

Rob Brodie, who works on trying to rehabilitate criminals following their sentences, said that of 20 case files he recently pulled at random, 14 of the criminals were from single-mother homes.

Along with a call for politicians to toughen drug laws, the faith leaders pointed to a breakdown in the family home as the leading edge of the downward spiral.

While 'broken families' are often unablel to provide parental guidence to children, the problem is often more complicated. In our current culture, both in Canada and in America, the parents may feel 'disempowered' by the State. In this day of aggressive social workers, what may seem as reasonable disciplinary measures may be interpreted by The State as inappropriate.

Dr. Charles McVety, of the Evangelical Association and Canada Christian College, echoed the call for lawmakers to roll back the clock to a time when parental punishment could be used as discipline.

“I’m not talking about abuse,” McVety said. “But there has been an erosion of parental rights and a social drift that’s been coming for years.”

Children who know the law, he said, are practising a form of civil disobedience in the home and getting away with it.

You may be the perfect parent, but if your child resents your discipline and calls Adult and Family Services (AFS) or the local equivalent, a social worker will be sent to your home to investigate. This is an appropriate response by AFS, but a child acting-out can cause such disruption that AFS may decide that the best response is to remove the child from the family. It can take weeks, or even months, to walk through the rounds of counselling and court appearances. In the meantime, your child has learned that your authority is subject to an overworked, underpaid Social Worker. In other words, your child doesn't have to act according to the modes of behavior. If the child resents being required to act in a civil manner in the home, the best revenge may be escalation of the problem until it evolves into a complete disruption of the family. Your child will then be under the care of the State, and someone whom you have never met. Even the best Foster Parent may be reluctant to discipline a child in this situation.

At the least, the child has learned how to "get" Mommy and Daddy. The juvenile (or teen) who has learned this technique is often the child most likely to abuse it.

DRUGS
Narcotics, and other illegal drugs, are just one more factor in undermining the family.

With the federal election coming on Jan. 23, the leaders said they hoped the new government would keep drug possession illegal.

“Stop the soft talk on drugs,” McVety urged. “Young people are joining gangs for the lure of drug money. It is dangerous talk.”

Prime Minister Paul Martin wants to reduce penalties for simple possession.

But that’s going down the wrong road, McVety said, and the party leaders should make their intentions known before people go to the polls.

McVety said “it’s sending the wrong message” to spend millions on curbing tobacco use, but mapping out a strategy to make drugs more permissible.

As I said, it's not easy.

But it can be done.

Someone has taken this idea, and added some concrete steps that show parents what they can do to addres the issue of violence.

Congratulations, Canada! You've Got A Clue.