And In Canada

"Something's got to change. This has to stop."
"Too many lives lost for no reason."
Alicia Jasquith, Toronto resident of Rexdale

"The things we need to fix are not just municipal issues. We need to focus on the probation system, on the jailing system ..."
"I think it's very important we are talking about the full scale of issues."
Dewitt Lee, community organizer

"Having the community feel they can approach officers, can talk about issues, whether it's crime issues, social issues, community issues and be assured there will be some action taken."
"We are trying to have a more visible presence. We have brought in more officers from other areas ... and over the last month and a bit, it's made a significant difference."
"It's not a telltale long-term sign but it's a positive one."
Superintendent Ron Taverner, Toronto Police Services, 23 Division

"There is lots to do here, we for years weren't doing much, to be candid. I think now there is the focus."
"These are deep-rooted social and economic problems, a lot of them having to do with lack of access to opportunity, some of it having to do with elements of discrimination that still do exist in our community, poor housing we've allowed to run down over a period of many years, lack of public transportation."
Toronto Mayor John Tory

Lecent Ross, 14, was fatally shot on July 9, 2015 in Toronto. (Facebook)

A community memorial had been organized for people to get together a year after the death of 14-year-old Lecent Ross. The young girl had been shot dead at a friend's home. The weapon was an illegal handgun. The teen had been an A student. Two others were charged in her death, a 13- and an 18-year-old. It was the 13-year-old who was charged with manslaughter; the 18-year-old was charged with weapons-related offences.


Black Lives Matter focus on the untimely and unfortunate deaths of blacks at the hands of police. And there is no denying that police run-ins with blacks result in inexplicable numbers of blacks losing their lives in the exchanges; in the United States the issue is volatile and dreadful in its reality. No less so the mind-numbing attack in Texas where a bigoted black gunned down five police officers and wounded another seven.

There are other facts not as often dwelt upon, that black-on-black violence within enclosed communities where no one wants to fully co-operate with police investigations takes another dreadful toll with the death of young black men and women, many in their teen years, for no reasonable cause. Other than the proliferation of street gangs and drug trafficking and the inevitable challenges and violence between them. And the prevalence of one-parent families, with absent fathers.

Despite the memorial for Lecent Ross, her grieving mother will always be inconsolable. But there to give her solace were community groups, police officers, politicians and neighbours to take part in a group barbecue and earnest discussions about searching for solutions to the ongoing gun violence that continues to take so many young lives. This is not solely a Toronto problem, other Canadian cities, like Ottawa, face very similar situations of gangs and guns. And sudden death.

Games had been organized at the event for younger community children present. Alicia Jasquith, Lecent Ross's mother, had expressed her personal wish to see the community's children happy and healthy. "It is unfortunate that it is the anniversary of the passing of this young woman. But let's make some positives come out of it. We want to show all these young kinds in our community that they are valued", said Althea Martin-Risden, director of health at the Rexdale Community Health Clinic.