What is clear is that during a time of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity, Canadian society has failed to protect an entire generation of youth but has successfuly championed a particularly virulent form of individualism without social responsibility. What is evident is that the state apparatus has not adequately supported the parents and communities that have produced these children. What is certain is that, were these shootings happening on the pristine streets of our exclusive neighborhoods, governments would declare devise comprehensive plans to save the children. Most people want to live in safe, clean neighborhods. Most, though, choose their place of residence according to what they can afford, invariably living in areas they would prefer to avoid.
Child poverty is the result of family poverty.
The extreme stress of such living conditions can lead our young people to make the disastrous and destructive choices. Many of our most alienated youth understand at an early age that they are the rubbish of a society that would prefer that they disappear. These young people feel no solidarity with a state that seems committed to their collective demonization and punishment. Their self-destructive violent rage is a rage against an oppressive system, manifested in their neighborhoods by excessive police surveillance, a lack quality schools, community centres or affordable recreational activities. While their violence should neither be condoned nor accepted, it needs to be understood.