Montreal’s Maghreb community is raising the alarm about deadly gangs recruiting young people

Members of Montreal’s Maghreb community are gathering in a city park this afternoon to raise the alarm about what they call the “scourge” of street gangs that recruit young people to commit criminal acts.

Event organizer Hadjira Belkacem says parents must come together to win their children back from gangs and demand authorities investigate how children fall prey to the alleged recruitment.

Belkacem, who heads a group supporting grieving Muslim families in Quebec, says many parents have contacted her concerned their children could be targeted.

Today’s gathering of people with roots in North Africa follows several recent incidents in the province, including the death of a 14-year-old boy of Algerian descent who was found near a Hells Angels-affiliated bunker in Frampton, according to media reports , Que. about 50 kilometers southeast of Quebec City.

Provincial police have not confirmed the boy’s identity or cause of death, but multiple media reports say the victim is a teenager from Montreal’s St. Leonard neighborhood, where the rally is taking place.

The province’s Minister of Public Safety has publicly acknowledged the issue in recent weeks, and Belkacem says the teen’s death is not the only one causing concern among community members.

“Unfortunately, there are many deaths among young people in our community,” Belkacem said, adding that Quebecers of Algerian and Moroccan descent have been particularly affected.

“It starts at 12, 13, 14 years old. Street gangs ask them to steal cars, go out and kill, things like that… They recruit kids to do their dirty work,” she said. “We know because we have had several families call us asking for help and telling us that ‘my child has been recruited into a gang.’”

Quebec’s public security minister has previously spoken out on the issue, saying it is “despicable” for organized criminals to recruit young people.

“Like many Quebecers, what I hear coming out of Frampton shocks me,” François Bonnardel wrote on X on September 19. “It is despicable for street gangs to enlist young people – children – to do their dirty work.”