Scarborough resident Louis March has been a volunteer community worker and advocate for more than 30 years. In June 2013, he founded Zero Gun Violence Movement, a collaboration of more than 40 community organizations, agencies and programs across Toronto, in an effort to eliminate gun violence and its root causes.

Metroland Media interviewed the man behind Zero Gun Violence Movement. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did you get involved in the anti-gun violence movement?

A: I worked in financial services … but I got laid off just after the shooting in the Eaton Centre and the Danzig shooting, and I decided that I did enough in the corporate world, I’m going to go back to where my passion is, in the community, so after those shootings I realized that the gun violence was just getting worse and not better and it was affecting young people who I’d been working with for the longest time … We started off with a 90-day summer campaign; that was in 2013 and then after that we said, look, let’s just continue this.

Q: Have you or your loved ones been affected by gun violence?

A: Yes, not direct relatives, but friends, and it’s just painful to see the amount of grief and trauma, the ripple effect. It’s not just the people that are directly involved, it’s how it tears apart families, tears apart communities, tears apart friendships, and it concerns me that there’s no political will and courage to really understand the full magnitude of gun violence. It’s not just the shooter and the victim; the whole community, the whole city is impacted.

Q: What were some of the challenges in forming Zero Gun Violence Movement?

A: The challenges were trying to convince people that this was a viable objective; even though it’s ambitious and bold, trying to convince people that this was worth working on … Some of the other challenges are the service providers, the people that we entrust to deal with this issue. A lot of them are competing with each other for funding and they cannot be effective because the funding application is more important than the outcomes of the work that they do.

Q: What are some of the accomplishments of Zero Gun Violence Movement?

A: Some of the accomplishments revolve around the fact that we’ve now got people thinking differently about gun violence, that there is a way out. We’ve built a strong network of community organizations across the city, over 40 agencies (and) programs now work with Zero Gun Violence Movement … We’ve been able to engage various sectors of society whether it’s those people that are involved (in gun violence) or those people that are victims, social service agencies, government officials, trying to get them together to join forces for collective impact.

Q: Do you think zero gun violence is achievable in Toronto?

A: In 1990, we had eight homicides to gun violence; in 2005 we had 52, (and) in 2013 we had 22, so there’s a big range there taking place from eight in 1990. What was going on in 1990 that is not going on now? We have to work toward zero; we might not get to zero because we can’t control all the factors that contribute to this type of violence: … mental health issues, drug addiction, population increase, a widening gap in terms of poverty, increasing numbers in Toronto Community Housing because 70 per cent of the violence takes place in Toronto Community (Housing) facilities. … As the gap between the haves and the have-nots increases, the likelihood of violence will increase; it’s not rocket science. When people are excluded, neglected, ignored, deprived of opportunity, violence becomes a viable option for them. How do we change those conditions? We can only get to zero gun violence if we all work together.

SOURCE: http://ow.ly/2g8H30onVUG