Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Larissa Liepins, CanWest News Service Cited Report: http://www.cwf.ca/V2/cnt/publication_200709101129.php WESTERN CITIES PLAGUED BY STREET DRUGS, GANGS Western Canadian cities are fighting a rising tide of street drugs and gang activity, according to a report released yesterday by the Canada West Foundation. In researching Hard Times: A Portrait of Street Level Social Problems in Western Canada, the foundation consulted 311 frontline workers, experts and community leaders. They found that "street-level social problems" are getting worse -- particularly in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton -- and are concentrated in inner-city neighbourhoods. They are also interconnected, becoming more complex, and involve more young people. The result, the report says, is a growing division in western cities between the affluent and the marginalized, higher long-term government service costs, and loss of business and investment in downtown neighbourhoods. While homeless people were more visible in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton -- the report found homeless transients tend to move between the three cities -- street gang activity is worse in Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, according to the study. In Regina, "gang recruitment is rampant and children as young as nine years old are recruited to become drug runners," one participant said. And although no city identified street prostitution as their greatest concern, they did note that sex-trade workers are getting younger. So are gang members, who are increasingly born into the gang and drug culture, the report says. In Winnipeg, for example, "many aboriginals are born into gang membership," said one person consulted for the report. "It is like a family business in this sense." Hard Times is part of the Canada West Foundation's Western Cities Project, paid for in part by the cities that were surveyed. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek