By Kate O’Gorman, Saskatoon Catholic News
[SASKATOON, April 17, 2019] – Results of community consultation about a Provincial Gang Strategy were released April 16 at a press conference in Saskatoon by the grassroots organization STR8 UP
STR8 UP 10,000 Steps to Healing, Inc. is a Saskatoon-based, non-profit organization dedicated to providing outreach and programming to those currently or formerly involved in gang life.
To build community awareness, and gain support for the healing work with men and women struggling to leave behind a gang lifestyle and build healthy productive lives, STR8 UP’s co-founder Fr. André Poilièvre and board president/co-founder, Stan Tu’Inukuafe spend hours of volunteer time facilitating workshops and offering presentations.
Diocesan priest and former prison chaplain Fr. André Poilièvre of Saskatoon is a co-founder of the grassroots gang recovery organization STR8 UP – 10,000 Steps to Healing, Inc.
According to Poilièvre, “over the last fifteen or seventeen years, we’ve done over 2,000 of these presentations.”
As a result, STR8 UP has become well-known across Saskatchewan as an organization that helps communities find solutions to gang-related issues. As another step in this process of building awareness and gaining support for solutions, in 2018 STR8 UP spearheaded a collaborative research project for the development of a Provincial Gang Strategy.
The initiative began in May 2018, when STR8 UP hosted a forum, bringing together experts from across Saskatchewan to discuss gang activity and develop strategies for an effective response. Following the forum, a first-phase report highlighting five themes and 24 community recommendations was compiled by Dr. Robert Henry of the University of Calgary, and released in August, 2018.
According to Henry, the Phase 1 Report stressed that suppression tactics as a response to gang violence is not the answer. “If we really want to build healthier communities, we have to invest in [prevention] before we move people to correctional institutions.”
Continuing on the momentum of the Phase 1 Report, STR8 UP proceeded to visit eight different communities across Saskatchewan between November 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019. Their task was to ask each community to prioritize the recommendation areas that have been identified.
The information gathered was then compiled and summarized in a second report, authored by Dave Shanks, Associate Director for the Students Commission of Canada and Coordinator of the Provincial Gang Strategy. “We could have rested on the laurels of the Phase 1 Report and left it there,” Shanks said. Instead STR8 UP was committed to ensuring that what was said in that first report resonated with communities province wide.
Poilièvre, Tu’Inkuafe, and a panel of supporters held a press conference April 16 at St. Thomas Wesley Church to officially release the Phase 2 Report.
Shanks noted that when it comes to finding community-based solutions to gang related activity, “there is success out there and a lot of it has to do with treatment and overcoming addictions. Centers that provide traditional and cultural appropriate ways of healing and recovery really stand out as something we need to take note of.”
Finally, Shanks explained that the Phase 2 report indicates the importance of healthy families as a means of creating communities of success.
STR8 UP President Stan Tu’Inukuafe
According to Tu’Inkuafe, “Saskatchewan communities are calling for a province-wide gang strategy that incorporates a community-based solution, emphasizing prevention and intervention.”
In response to this call, STR8 UP hopes the forum and community consultation reports will spark conversation with the provincial and federal government and invite much needed funding to implement the proposed strategic plan.
The Provincial Gang Strategy Report can be found at: REPORT and more information and background about the project is available at: PROVINCIAL GANG STRATEGY.
For more information on the work of STR8 UP, visit www.str8-up.ca