cont....
As a result, the Jane-Finch area has become a hot spot of resentment toward the police. It's a spot where many grieving black mothers are interviewed about the death of their sons, and angry black residents lash out at their treatment at the hands of officers.
Despite outside tensions, the orange brick walls and adjacent portables of Cardinal McGuigan have offered a sanctuary.
Opened in 1982, the school was started by Franciscan Fathers and named after the first cardinal in English-speaking Canada. Its motto is Ambulate in Dilectione Ñ walk in fraternal charity.
One of the founding principles of the school was the teaching of St. Francis, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant who cast off his life of privilege to live in poverty and loving sacrifice.
All students interviewed by the Star said they felt safe in its halls and adjoining portables.
"Nobody in our school is part of a gang. This year we had one fight, and those people aren't allowed in the school any more," said a Grade 11 student named Nicki. "There are no weapons, there is no violence. This is really a good school."
Inside its crowded halls, the student body reflects the surrounding community. Flipping through the pages of last year's yearbook, about 40 per cent of the faces are black. An almost equal number are white. The rest are Latino, Middle Eastern, Asian and South Asian.
At the school's multicultural day last year, 67 cultural groups were represented.
Students and teachers at McGuigan said race has never been an issue. Outside the school, students gather in clusters segregated only by gender Ñ black girls, white girls, Hispanic girls all giggle together on their way back from lunch.
Most of the staff is white, with Italian names. But even one of the few black teachers there said he's never encountered racism in the school. Others agree.
"We've dedicated our careers to this community," said Paul Bergin, a social science teacher who has taught at McGuigan for 18 years. "Obviously it's a neighbourhood with many different cultures, and that's why we're here Ñ because we want to be."
But the wall that had separated the culture of the community and the culture of the school came crashing down last week.
A school meeting hosted as a debriefing for parents turned into an angry venting session, with black mothers shouting down white officials on a stage with cries of "racism."
"We're not animals, we're human beings," yelled one woman.
Much of it was aimed at the police for the way they handled the arrest. "I saw my classmates humiliated and degraded," said Grade 12 student Dianne Escobar.
When a white woman took the microphone and claimed that her 14-year-old son had been offered sexual favours from the young victim, the gym went wild. People jumped to their feet and danced in the aisles, shouting "racism" Ñ the underlying implication that it was only because the boys were black that they were facing criminal charges.
The tension was so high, one white mother found herself shaking in her seat.
"I felt like what it must have been like to be black 30 years ago, when you were told to sit at the back of the bus," said Catherine Burger. "I am really afraid for my daughter Ñ not just her emotional safety, but her physical safety."
Given the background, police should have been more sensitive, said legal-clinic lawyer Moriah. "We've had problems of racial profiling, of overpolicing, of harassment, harsher sentences, harsher bail conditions and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. All of this should be in their minds when they're going through these procedures and thinking how they should go about arresting these children. You have to think about what the history is and take that into account when you make these decisions."
The local division has been working to bridge relations with the community. Officers play hockey and soccer regularly with the local youth, McIlhone said. They've implemented mentoring programs. And, before making the arrests last week, they did look at the broader situation.
But at the end of the day, "we have to police up here," he said.
"Given all the circumstances, I don't believe there's anything else we could have done. I don't think things would have turned out good no matter what we did."
