Gangs and violence - a missed opportunity

Sometimes it is hard to rain on someone's parade, especially when their intentions seem good, but I see yesterday's announcement by Gord Mackintosh and the Gary Doer NDP was a missed opportunity. For six years, the NDP have been adding more policemen and more crown prosecutors and the problems with crime have got worse not better. It is time to pay a lot more attention to preventing crime.

Let me give you one example. Evidence suggests that a significant proportion of the criminals in gangs and on our streets may have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or other mental illness. We don't know precisely what proportion, but evidence on studies of criminals in Saskatchewn suggests that as high as 50% of criminals may have some form of mental illness.

We also know that individuals with fetal alcohol syndrome have difficulty telling right from wrong. We need to be diagnosing and treating fetal alcohol spectrum disorders much more effectively as part of the effort to reduce crime. There is a suggestion from Dr. Jo Nanson's work in Saskatchewan that early diagnosis and help for these children may make it much less likely for children with FASD to become criminals. If true, we need to be doing much more along this line to prevent the development of criminals.

In Manitoba, we should certainly be doing much better in prompt diagnosis and treatment of mental illness as part of the effort to reduce crime. Why wasn't Tim Sale the Minister of Health at the announcement yesterday? He should have been there to bring an approach to reducing crime which includes much better diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. The long waiting list (or a waiting list so long it is essentially a non-existent waiting list) for the PACT program is just unacceptable.

Marty Dolin speaking tonight at the Dinamba Intercultural Assocation of Manitoba made the same point in talking about the need to address other factors which lead to crime including the high rates of poverty in Manitoba, and as well much better integration of refugees into our society.

The photo shows me at the announcement yesterday at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre on Langside. I was being interviewed to make the point that the Mackintosh -Doer - NDP approach is not good enough.