Saskatoon Focus Of Aboriginal Gangs Research

Saskatoon Focus Of Aboriginal Gangs Research

Friday, November 13, 2009 at 15:32

A professor from the United States will be spending at least the next year in Saskatoon studying Aboriginal gang activity in Canada.

Julie Hailer has studied Aboriginal gangs in the U.S., where she says research so far indicates most of the activity is on reservations.

She says that seems to be a difference with gangs here, as her initial research points to gangs in Canada being more prevalent in cities.

Hailer says another difference is Aboriginal gangs here are more organized and more violent.

She also says American Aboriginal gang activity seems to go in waves. If there is a lot of media and community attention on the issue, the number of gangs and gang members seems to go down.

Hailer says there has been a recent resurgence with drug trafficking, especially crystal meth.