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The winter of 2008 was a sad time for the Canadian Somali community in Edmonton. Its members were reeling from the loss of so many young men to gun violence and they needed to articulate the pain associated with this sad development.

I was invited to a community event held during this time that featured the Edmonton Police Service, government officials and members of the community. Little did I know that this meeting would mark the moment and venue when Edmonton Somalis decided to fully co-operate with the Edmonton Police Service and take ownership of the efforts to stem the deaths of young men in our community. Upon my return to Alberta in the winter of 2009, the Edmonton Po-lice Service officially confirmed at a press conference that the record of co-operation between the Edmonton Somali community and the police had not only improved, but had actually surpassed that of other communities. Despite this positive development, the shooting deaths continued unabated in 2009, culminating in the midday murder of 23-year-old Robleh Ali Mohamed in front of a restaurant. The community looked to Mayor Stephen Mandel for support and expected him to come to the aid of a community that was doing its best to deal with this matter. The young men dying in Alberta were either born in Canada or came to this country at a very young age. They were mainly from Ontario and were adversely affected by the massive cuts to education and social programs carried out by the government of Conservative Premier Mike Harris in the 1990s.