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Winnipeg's child soldiers: A grim reflection of our failings

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[Update/addition: Friday, May 9: In putting this piece together, I neglected to include a city child soldier case which ranks among the worst, if not the worst, Winnipeg's ever seen: The case of JJT, who was 15 when he and another Indian Posse member shot up a house party on Alexander Avenue in March 2008. Three were killed and three severely injured. There was no motive to the crimes, other than the older IP member, Colton Patchinose, was angry at being ejected from the party just before the shooting. He went to fetch JJT and the two shot up the place with handguns. "My son was taken from me at an early age," JJT's dad told court, referencing the street gang influence on his son at his sentencing. JJT recieved a life term. You can, and should, read more about his background here. But I conclude this brief update with Justice Colleen Suche's comment on her decision to sentence him as an adult:

 "It is a chilling but frank reality that J.J.T. is but one of an entire generation of children being recruited as child soldiers in the small armies we know as street gangs, which are constantly at war - with each other, and with society.") 




They weren't just teenagers involved in street gangs.

They also represent, respectfully, a decade-long grim lineage of 'child soldiers' who were influenced or preyed upon by older gang members to do their dirty work. 

These kids are also dead today.

And it's not right. It reflects a failure of our society that they died so young and so violently. 


Action prompts reaction: It's not just a law of physics. It's also part of the street gang ethos. You hit us. We hit you.

I'll give you a very brief breakdown.


It spawned far more than just greater violent conflict between Sirak's newly-founded gang, the Mad Cowz and the B-Siders. (Both factions are still with us today, just noting).

Sirak's death led to internal strife within the Mad Cowz, which saw the creation of the African Mafia in protest of how Sirak's death was (or was not) avenged. That strife led directly to multiple shootings, firebombings and other violent mayhem.


Cansanay, the triggerman goaded by Spence to 'shoot, shoot,' was aiming at two Mad Cowz members, but missed.

The resulting fallout from Haiart's murder became a kind of chromosome in Winnipeg's DNA.

How the political and police response shook out to the 17-year-old's death is part of our essential makeup as a city.


Stevenson's stabbing in 2011 in the North End has likely caused more bad blood between entrenched street gangs - he was an Indian Posse associate - than one might believe.

Well liked by many and known for being ferociously fearless, sources tell me Stevenson was on track to taking a place in the IP's gang hierarchy.


Soon after, innocent David Michael Vincett, was shot by James Sinclair - just 14 - on Boyd Avenue.

"I did it pretty much because of what happened to my friend," Sinclair told police.

Sinclair's friend? Clarky Stevenson.




Bruce, aligned with the Mob Squad - a splinter faction of the MOB - was led into a plot hatched by an older gang member to take over an Indian Posse crack house.




It's no mistake that the Crown used the words "young soldiers" to describe Bruce, the other teen and the 11-year-old and their position within their gang.


To them, the 'kids' are expendable - and, let there be no doubt, in great supply - even if they're dying off or being sent packing to jail for a time as a result of their involvement in the gang underworld.




I've only presented here three examples of slain "child soldiers."

There are many, many more examples I could call upon that I've seen in recent years.

What's to be done about it, I can't offer a solution other than to say every child needs a baseline of normality in their lives in order to have a chance at success over the long-term.

What I am sure of  — and it should be pretty clear by now if you've gotten this far — is that "child soldiers," "young soldiers," or whatever you want to call them, are a blight not just on the gangs they're enlisted in, but on us as a society as a whole.


I get the sense we're generally just resigned to the fact that this happens to some of our youth. And it's wrong.


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