The final day of a three day gang prevention symposium at the Coronet Hotel centered on lived experience, reflection, and the role communities play in supporting youth before they become involved in crime.
Day 3 featured remarks from prevention specialist Rob Rai, a screening of the documentary ‘It Takes a Village’, and a question and answer session led by Jonathan Mubanda, whose life story is at the heart of the film. The symposium concluded with discussion focused less on enforcement and more on trust, connection, and long term prevention.
Speaking ahead of the screening, Mubanda told the audience that meaningful prevention depends on relationships built over time.
“I just want to tell people that it takes a village, and it took a village. It takes a community. Takes partnerships. It takes everybody working together,” Mubanda said. “We work with the police officers are bringing the officers into the schools to get comfortable with the kids. So the kids feel comfortable with these guys.”
Mubanda said those relationships did not come easily.
“I didn’t like police officers growing up, right? So I want to break that barrier of them feeling uncomfortable when they come around,” he said. “It’s hard at first, but then it starts to get easier, and the kids start to trust you, to start to trust the police officers, start to trust administrators.”
John (Jonathan) Mumbanda speaks to attendees ahead of the screening of the documentary ‘It Takes s Village’ during the final day of the gang prevention symposium at the Coronet Hotel in Prince Albert.
The documentary It ‘Takes a Village’ traces Mubanda’s journey from Uganda to Canada and explores displacement, loss, belonging, and the role sport and mentorship played in shaping his path. The film highlights how community support, particularly through schools and athletics, can offer stability and identity for young people navigating trauma and change.
In the film, Mubanda reflects on leaving home and the uncertainty that followed.
“We left Uganda, definitely scary of the unknown,” he says during the documentary.
The film also explores how sport became a refuge.
“Basketball was our escape. You know what I knew from all the drama and all the things that were going on outside,” Mubanda says in the film.
Following the screening, Mubanda addressed the audience again and opened the floor for questions, leading to an emotional discussion about loss, burnout, and the limits of prevention work.
“It’s difficult, right? When I’m dealing with youth that are incarcerated,” Mubanda said during the discussion. “I don’t think I necessarily have the answers. I just try and do what I know.”
He spoke about the emotional toll of working with high risk youth.
“It’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time,” Mubanda said. “Sometimes I think we got to also breathe and take time for our mental health and just take them over for ourselves, to heal and come back stronger, but know that it’s hard to fix it.”
Earlier in the session, Rob Rai expanded on the idea of prevention as relationship based work, describing the need for professionals to step outside their comfort zones to connect with youth.
“You are the local expert, and you may have to get into relationships that don’t necessarily, aren’t necessarily part of who you are, but because we care so much about the kids, we will enter into that arranged marriage,” Rai said.
Rai used sport as an example of how those relationships can form, even when the activity itself is unfamiliar.
“I’m a hockey guy, but when I came into schools, everybody wanted to play basketball,” Rai said. “I could offer my time and expertise.”
Cpl. Jacob Cheung of the RCMP said prevention depends on recognizing risk early and responding before youth enter the justice system.
“By the time someone is in grade ten, eleven, twelve, we are already trying to play catch up,” Cheung said.”The earlier we can work together, the better the outcomes are going to be.”
During a separate interview, symposium organizer Jolene Furi said the final day captured the heart of the event.
“It’s bang on. That’s exactly what it is,” Furi said of the documentary. “In order to help young youth, young adults, families that are in poverty or if there’s addictions in the home, it takes a village to help move these children into a positive future.”
Furi said feedback from attendees over the three days was overwhelmingly positive.
“I never had a negative comment at all,” she said. “Everybody was very thankful.”She said many conversations during breaks reinforced the urgency of prevention.
“One lady talked about, you know, her oldest boys in jail. She’s trying to prevent her younger one from ending up in that path,” Furi said.
Furi said the inclusion of lived experience alongside research and data was essential.
“There’s no better way to learn than from somebody who’s been there, done that,” she said.
“It lets people know that you can recover, you can get away from the gangs, you can get through all of this.”
Throughout the symposium, speakers repeatedly emphasized the importance of understanding digital threats and online language as part of modern prevention work. Several sessions highlighted how social media platforms, messaging apps, and evolving slang are now central to how youth communicate, influence one another, and sometimes signal risk.
Attendees heard that awareness of digital spaces is no longer optional, but essential for educators, parents, and community workers trying to identify concerns early and respond effectively in a rapidly changing online environment.
Jaclynn Dennis, a digital threat assessment specialist who also participated in the symposium with a presentation on Day 2 about Digital threat assessment, said online behaviour is often the first place warning signs appear.
“A lot of the time the behaviour shows up online before it ever shows up in person,” Dennis said. “People will say things online that they would never say out loud, and that gives us an opportunity to intervene earlier.”
As the symposium concluded, organizers emphasized collaboration and follow through.
“My hope, my wish, is that people will work together,” Furi said. “That will have a wrap around. Around systems so that everybody’s on the same page, and we can help these kids.”
The symposium brought together educators, police, social service providers, and community members with the goal of strengthening prevention efforts in Prince Albert. Organizers said the conversations sparked over the three days are meant to continue beyond the event, with the shared understanding that prevention begins long before a young person enters the justice system.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
