A basketball tournament to spread awareness on rising cases of youth violence in Montreal

Montreal community organizations, the SPVM, and Cadets Canada came together at a basketball tournament, uniting children and teens from diverse backgrounds to take a stand against youth violence on Friday, August 25th, at the Lower Canada College arena.

Part of the Youth Against Violence initiative, the Center Research-Action on Race Relations and the Jamaica Association of Montreal organized the inclusive basketball tournament to support young victims of violent crimes in the city.

“The reason why we really want to get youth involved is because this is their future,” said Kennedy Lalonde, who co-organized the game to raise awareness of the increasing cases of youth violence in Montreal. “The decisions we’re making now, the way that we’re dealing with youth crime prevention, the way that we set in place these programs is going affect their futures and it’s about creating a safer Montreal.”

Funded by the City of Montreal, the “light-hearted” event aimed to connect families, youth, and community organizations, like the Trevor Williams Kids Foundation, with crime prevention programs that also provide support for victims of youth violence.

“I think we’ve been doing a decent job, have a really good blueprint on how to keep these kids away from violence,” said philanthropist and basketball coach Trevor Williams. “This basketball tournament is just to showcase that and to bring more awareness of what’s going on out here.”

“The rise of cases that we’ve had related to hate violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, it was really important for us to connect all of these corners of Montreal and find networks for these youth,” said Veronica Galavis, co-organizer of the basketball tournament. “So that when they leave their neighbourhoods they know that they have networks they can trust.”

Lalonde adding, “It was a way for us to get all of the youth into one space together in a way that was a little bit easier than talking about violence. And it was a way for them to be involved in the cause whether it’s directly affecting them or not. We see sports as something that is and of itself crime prevention.”

Many teens and local basketball teams participated at the tournament, excited to play their favourite team sport for a good cause.

“There’s always another way to prevent violence,” said 16-year-old Ziyi Wang. “You can always speak to the other person instead of going right away at fighting each other and trying to resolve with words rather than violence.”

“I think it’s awesome we get to portray that message while playing the game that we love,” said 16-year-old Felix Zhi, who played for one of the opposing teams.