KPU Holds Community Forum on Gang Violence

Wed, Sep 29, 2010

For immediate release

MEDIA ADVISORY

Date: Tuesday, Nov 3rd, 2009
Time: 7-10pm
Event: Screening of Film Warrior Boyz followed by Community Discussion

Panel:       Baljit Sangra, Film director and producer
                Jagdeep Mangat, Social Justice Advocate
                Supt Malo, B.C.’s Integrated Gang Task Force
                Indira Prahst, professor Sociology, Langara College
                Wendy Dawson Q.C. Team Leader, Surrey Six Prosecution
                Sukh Rai, Vice-Principal, Frankhurt Secondary School
                Marvin Hunt, Surrey Councillor

Address:   KPU, Surrey Campus
                Conference Center (G1205)
                12666 72nd Ave, Surrey, B.C.

Members of the public, and interested media are invited to attend a community forum on gangs in Surrey Tuesday night.

The discussion will be preceded by a 43 minute public screening of the award winning documentary Warrior Boyz which looks at the attraction and perils of gang life through the eyes of a former gang member.

The film also follows the lives of two Surrey high school students whose real life experiences are documented. It shows them at a crossroads, both of them vulnerable to falling into the gang lifestyle. Ultimately one goes on to graduate while the other sinks deeper into trouble.

Shot entirely on location in Surrey, this award winning National Film Board documentary first premiered last year at the Doxa Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion and audience feedback. The event will conclude with “break out” groups led by Stephen Dooley, director for KPU’s Institute for Community Research along with student leaders to engage the community in a dialogue addressing the prevention of youth involvement in gang-related violence. The forum is a collaboration between KPU’s Criminology department, the Institute for Community Research, and the federally funded 5-year Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) project “Acting Together”, which examines how to keep young people from falling into the gang lifestyle. The project was launched this spring.

Dr. Gira Bhatt, director of the CURA project “Acting Together”, along with her colleagues Dr. Roger Tweed, Stephen Dooley, student researchers - will be on hand to speak about the results of several early community and youth workshops. Also available will be Dr. Joan Nesbitt from KPU’s Criminology department.

The academic research for this project is conducted by four institutions: KPU, Langara College, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria.

The qualitative research which involves the community through focus groups and interviews, is a collaboration with 11 community agencies and takes place on the ground in Surrey high schools.

In the first three years the project will identify factors that nurture character strengths and protect kids from lives of violence and helps prevent them from joining gangs. Project leaders will spend years four and five giving the results back to the community and engaging them in solutions.

This will involve concrete program suggestions for social agencies, school curricula and parents.

A Youtube trailer of the film is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMvQlM0e1OM

Additional information including a film synopsis, downloadable stills, study guide, and trailer can be found on the National Film Board website: www.nfb.ca/warriorboyz

For more information, please visit: http://www.actingtogether.ca/ or contact:

Mike Clarke
Peak Communicators
(O) 604-689-5559
(Cell) 778-822-2871
mclarke@peakco.com

OR

Gira Bhatt
Director: Acting Together: SSHRC-CURA Project
KPU
(0) (604) 599-3054
(Cell) (604) 808-7876
gira.bhatt@kpu.ca

OR

Baljit Sangra
Warrior Boyz Director/Producer
Vivamantra Films Inc.
1965 Main Street Vancouver, B.C.
(0) (604) 837-2976
balsangra@gmail.com

OR

Indira Prahst
Sociology Professor
Langara College
(Cell) (778) 865-3305
iprahst@langara.bc.ca

OR

Joan Nesbitt
Faculty: Department of Criminology
KPU
(0) (604) 599-2666
Joan.Nesbitt@kpu.ca

OR

Stephen Dooley
Director: National Institute of Community Research
KPU
(0) (604) 599-3182
(Cell) (604)-788-2509
Stephen.dooley@kpu.ca