Miguel Agawin
News Reporter

A new report is calling for race-based statistics to combat the problem of youth violence in Ontario.
The Roots of Youth Violence report, initiated last year by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, was conducted to review the cause of violence among youth.
The report was initiated after the May 2007 murder of 15-year-old Jordan Manners who was shot to death at  C.W. Jefferys high school.
Authors Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling wrote that they found racism to be a major factor in alienating minority youths along with loss of hope because of job opportunities and school curriculum being Eurocentric and irrelevant to their backgrounds.
According to the report, “The need for race-based data is overwhelming. Without data we can neither prove nor disprove the extent of racism in any particular part of our society. Nor can we focus limited resources on the areas most in need of action.”
McMurtry and Curling also wrote that the collection of race-based statistics can help focus resources and attention to priority neighbourhoods and is a method conducted in the United Kingdom.
The report’s recommendations have received mixed reactions from different members of institutions involving youths around Toronto.
Humber College president John Davies said he agrees with the idea of using race-based stats because “there are clearly major differences in the degree to which you are involved in an economic climate, for example, that have to do with race and background.
“We've known for a long time there's a relationship between issues like poverty and race, race and performance but we haven't been able to move those stats very easily and significantly,” Davies said. “The more information we have, the more likely it is that we could make better decisions.”
Dr. Fred Matthews, of Central Toronto Youth Services, agrees the race stats would help give assistance where it is needed.
“To identify where to set base-lines for improvement, it would be helpful to know if you had more data,” said Matthews. Analyzing the stats could help one determine where to allocate services, he added.
However, Angela Wilson, who brought forth the idea of the Africentric Alternative School offered in Toronto next fall, doesn’t think much of the report.
“The flaw is in the government,” said Wilson. “What I wish the government would do is stop wasting tax-paying dollars coming up with all these reports that go nowhere except collect dust on the shelf. How many decades, how many more reports are gonna happen before those words actually come to life.”
Michael Opoku, a Toronto District School Board employee, said this will generalize all black youths as troubled and being labelled ‘at-risk’ will debilitate their job prospects.
Deb Matthews, Minister of Youth and Child Services, is advocating the collection of race-based statistics as part of a $1.4 billion anti-poverty strategy that awaits federal funding.