|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like theme manager, comments configuration and post comments with your name.
|
| |
Local News: Reverend Eugene Rivers of Boston meets with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty
Premier Dalton McGuinty
has asked the black faith
community to come up with
a proposal to lessen the grip
of guns and gangs on the city.
“I’m very heartened that
representatives of the faith
community have decided
that they’re going to take on
still more responsibility for
the black community when it
comes to addressing the issue
of crime and guns,” McGuinty
said after meeting with
Boston’s Rev. Eugene Rivers
and members of Toronto’s
black religious community.
“I specifically asked that
the community prepare a
substantive proposal, something
that we could carefully
consider,” he said.
The proposal has to be “effective”
and “justifiable in the
eyes of taxpayers,” he said.
Rivers, one of the architects
of the “Boston miracle,”
which dramatically reduced
gun crime there, was
brought to Toronto by the
faith community.
“We come out of the meeting
with an understanding
that there are mutual obligations,”
Rivers said. “Now it is
in*****bent on the black leadership,
represented in the
meeting, to generate the
kinds of politically and programmatically
viable proposals
that can be over the
long term produced to correct
a correctable problem.”
Boston’s strategy succeeded
because pastors, like Rivers,
moved in and began mentoring
drug dealers and young
men at risk of joining gangs.
Strengthening the capacity
of faith-based organizations
to “mentor the most violent
young people in the poorest
neighbourhoods,” is one element
of a possible proposal
for Toronto, Rivers said.
“Ministering, mentoring,
monitoring,” needs to be part
of a broader strategy of “prevention,
intervention and
enforcement,” Rivers said,
echoing comments he made
earlier in the day to a dozen
local city councillors.
While Rivers said he was
encouraged by the response
he got from the premier, he
said there is only so much
the government can do.
“This is a family conversation.
It requires that the black
community come together,
stop making excuses, move
beyond rhetoric, race card
and focuses on how do we as
a community become more
accountable?” Rivers said.
“We are simply asking the
government to help us in developing
programs that
serve young people,” he said.
Reverend Don Meredith, of
GTA Faith Alliance, said it
would take a month or so to
develop a proposal that could
be brought to the premier.
Rivers also met with
Mayor David Miller and Ontario
Chief Justice Roy Mc-
Murtry, who heads up the
city’s community safety
plan.
Note: TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Posted on Tuesday, January 10 @ 10:34:15 UTC by jcohen
|
|
"Reverend Eugene Rivers of Boston meets with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty" | Login/Create an Account | 0 comments |
| The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
| |