Gun violence remains in Halifax remains a problem and community advocate Colter Simmonds says it’s impacted the community for decades.
“I can’t even count anymore the number of young men that I personally have coached and mentored and been a part of their life being taken from us,” says Simmonds.
According to Halifax Regional Police, there were 19 gun-related incidents in the municipality last year.
On New Year’s Eve, a father and daughter were killed, while another man died in Dartmouth in mid-January.
Simmonds says he knew the man who died in Dartmouth, and that he was a young father.
“To have a father and other fathers taken away due to senseless gun violence. It hurts,” says Simmonds. “It hurts their kids, their partners and it hurts the community because now another child or children are being left for the community to step up and have to support.”
Halifax Regional Police Chief Don MacLean says one life taken is one life too many.
“I share their concerns. I share them personally. We share them organizationally,” says MacLean. “Over the last five years, I think we probably average around 20 to 25 shootings per year in the city, in (HRM). And again, that’s too many.”
MacLean says understanding the root of gun violence is complex, but that gun accessibility plays a role.
He says police seized more than 400 firearms last year.
“These are some of the challenges that we all face…this a societal problem... it really is a collective issue,” he says.
But Simmonds sees things differently.
“The evidence shows that there’s a lot of unsolved murders in the community, especially amongst African Nova-Scotian males,” Simmonds says. “The one thing that I know for a fact is that in our communities, we’re not the ones that are importing guns. We’re not putting the guns on the streets. We’re not profiting in any large way from these guns being on the streets.”
But Simmonds says his community is largely affected by it. He wants governments on all three levels to help address the issue by providing more programs and job opportunities for youth in the community.
“It’s time for the governments from provincial, federal and municipal to make our lives really matter, not just when it sounds good,” says Simmonds.
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