Montreal's Maghrebi community sounds alarm on deadly gangs recruiting youth

Montreal’s Maghrebi community is gathering in a city park this afternoon to sound the alarm about what they call the "scourge" of street gangs and organized crime recruiting youth to carry out criminal acts. A Surete du Quebec police logo is reflected on a vehicle in Montreal, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi)

Members of Montreal’s Maghrebi community are gathering in a city park this afternoon to sound the alarm about what they call the “scourge” of street gangs recruiting youth to carry out criminal acts.

Event organizer Hadjira Belkacem says parents need to come together to reclaim their children from gangs and demand authorities investigate how kids are falling prey to the alleged recruitment.

Belkacem, who heads a group supporting mourning Muslim families in Quebec, says many parents have reached out to her with concerns that their children may be targeted.

Today's gathering of people with roots in northern Africa follows several recent incidents in the province, including the death of a 14-year-old boy of Algerian descent who media reports say was found near a Hells Angels-linked bunker in Frampton, Que., about 50 kilometres southeast of Quebec City.

Provincial police have not confirmed the boy's identity or cause of death, but multiple media reports say the victim is a teen from the Montreal borough of St. Leonard, where the gathering is taking place.

The province's public security minister has publicly acknowledged the issue in recent weeks, and Belkacem says the teen's death is not the only one to raise concerns among community members.

“Unfortunately, there have been many deaths of young people in our community,” Belkacem said, adding that Quebecers of Algerian and Moroccan descent have been especially affected.

“It starts at 12, 13, 14-years-old. Street gangs ask them to steal cars, go out and kill, that sort of thing… They recruit kids to do their dirty work,” she said. “We know because we've been called by several families asking for help and telling us that, 'my child has been recruited into a gang.'”

Quebec's Public Security Minister has previously spoken out on the issue, saying it is "vile" that organized criminals are recruiting youth.

"Like many Quebecers, what I hear coming out of Frampton shocks me," François Bonnardel posted on X on Sept. 19. "It is vile for street gangs to enlist young people — children — to do their dirty work."

-This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.