A year ago today Jane Creba was shot on Toronto's busiest street. That act was to this decade what the "Just Desserts" shooting was to the proceeding one: It shocked so-called average Canadians with a glimpse into a Toronto subculture that most prefer to ignore. That horrific act punctuated a year of gun-related deaths that changed the city's landscape.

What's changed? Metro Toronto Police have installed closed circuit video cameras on Yonge Street near the scene of Creba's shooting. According to CBC reports, a decline in shopping since the shooting prompted local business owners to ask for the service.

"Events over the past year have concerned members of the business community," Toronto police acting chief Kim Derry said in a news release. "We are working closely with them on an ongoing, comprehensive strategy to fight crime."

The idea that video surveillance is a solution for the societal ills behind shootings like this is one I find short-sighted and, judging by statistical evidence, mostly ineffective. Fortunately, Mayor Miller is quoted today saying we also need social programs and jobs for youth if we want to prevent these types of violent crimes.

Miller's words probably will anger those law and order groups who feel more police, harsher penalties, and pervasive surveillance technologies are the answer to society's ills. For a better understanding of the trends in our society including the drift towards authoritarianism, take a look at Evironics founder and president, Michael Adams' book, "American Backlash: The Untold Story Of Social Change In the Untied States."

1. I believe that the media’s take on Creba killing is so overblown. Why isn’t there articles on what we’ve learned from the gang who went to a rival’s funeral and shot at people leaving the church?

   I’m not criticizing Robert’s post, but i think this has taken on the folklore of the Just Desserts killing becuz the victims are white. The vicitmis of other shootings were just as innocent but involved poorer people or darker coloured skin poeple.

   Hopefully I’m not being too much of a bleeding heart here, but I can’t seem to see other reasons for the exclusion of other very shocking and senseless random killings. If its in Rexdale, North York or downtown, it is horrific and should carry the same hisotrical weight.

   Posted by  on  12/28  at  05:59 PM

2. Hi Matt, thanks for your comment. I half agree with your point. The Just Desserts shooting and the public’s reaction to it was a media frenzy both because of the white victim and the quiet, mostly white neighbourhood it took place in. The shooting on Yonge Street was much more of a cultural affront because of the total disregard for all sorts of societal norms. The shooters’ lack of concern for crowds, daylight, a busy public space, the safety of hundreds of other people, a holiday, etc., pushed this event well beyond a knee-jerk reaction by a bunch of white folks. This threatened everyone pretty well equally and that is what was so egregious about the sad death of Jane Creba. If the victim had been a young black woman out shopping with her family I think the reaction would have been similar. Maybe I’m wrong. I am trying to think of any similar events in the city’s recent history that might disprove my opinion.

   Posted by  on  12/28  at  06:33 PM

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