How these Sudanese refugees in Calgary are stepping up to protect their youth

The Sudanese community in Calgary is struggling with a growing number of its young people winding up in jail or dying from avoidable causes, according to local leaders.

"It's heartbreaking," said Stephen Deng, a Sudanese refugee and a counsellor at Wood's Homes, a mental health centre for children, who also works with youth at the Young Offenders Centre. "The community can't cope with it." 

Neither the Calgary Police nor the province currently carry race-based data on homicides or opioid overdoses, but Deng says funerals for young people have become all too common in the Sudanese community. He knows of 15 deaths in 2020 due to gangs, gun violence, drugs, suicide and overdoses. Last October alone saw five such deaths in the community. 

"Everybody knows somebody who has died or passed away in Calgary because of either gang violence, drugs or an early death that could have been preventable," said Maddie John, who came to Canada from Sudan as a refugee when she was nine years old. "It makes me feel like our community is cursed or something…. Why is it so close to home every single time? … It's just overwhelming."

Now, members of the Sudanese community are stepping up to try to address the root causes of the problem, as well as improve relations between them and the Calgary Police.

According to the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, the city has the largest Sudanese diaspora in Canada with an estimated population of more than 17,000. Most are from South Sudan. 

Ever since Sudan's second civil war began in 1983, leading to the birth of South Sudan in 2011, the African nations have faced ongoing conflict and political instability. During this time, nearly two million Sudanese have been killed, and countless others displaced, creating one of the largest refugee crises in the world. Since 2013 alone, more than two million South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring African countries for safety, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

Thousands from South Sudan went beyond Africa's borders and settled in places like Calgary to seek a safer, better life. 

It's a community that escaped violence and death only to face it again in Canada. 

"We have gone through so much," said Akeir Mel Kuol, a family counsellor who also came to Canada as a refugee. "So many deaths, so many family separations, so many families breaking apart. It breaks my heart.... We're very, very sad and some regret coming to Canada because they thought they were running away from poverty, running away from war and lack of education."

Instead, they've encountered many of the same problems here.

Her husband's brother was shot and killed last year because of gang violence. He was 22 years old.

Kuol says the tragedies stem from underlying factors such as poverty, cultural and language barriers and large, broken families. 

"We're culturally encouraged to have a lot of children," said Kuol. "Imagine if you have seven children, and let's say the marriage broke apart. You're now a single parent … you're living in Calgary [subsidized] housing … seven children at home … the older ones want to survive. They want new things. They want money. They want to go out for lunch.