Posted on 01/14/2006 12:15:24 PM PST by Pikamax
Curtis Sliwa and his Guardian Angels got the cold shoulder yesterday from Toronto's mayor, the police chief and immigration officials, who detained Sliwa for two hours at Pearson airport and slapped a three-day limit on his visit to Canada.
But he was warmly welcomed by regular Toronto residents fed up with guns and gangs.
"Anything that shows we're trying to do something about the problem is good for Toronto," said Gerrard McKecknie, 44, who lives near where 15-year-old Jane Creba was shot to death on Boxing Day.
NOT EYE TO EYE
"The black community and the police are not seeing eye to eye," said Jamil Campbell, 26, who's considering joining the group after meeting members on a Yonge St. patrol last night. "I think these guys are more approachable," he said. "Anything that can help is a good thing."
Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer patrol group known for their red berets and walkie-talkies, will walk the Parkdale and Regent Park neighbourhoods today, with a stop in the Jane-Finch area tomorrow. He and three Angels are here at the invitation of Lou Hoffer, a former Toronto police officer and contractor who wants to set up a local chapter, and other residents concerned about gun violence.
But unlike Rev. Eugene Rivers, a pastor who led Boston's fight against guns and gangs in the 1990s and was embraced by city officials during a visit here this week, Sliwa got snubbed.
"Why are we getting the fleabag treatment? What have we done to deserve this? We're not the Hells Angels, we're the Guardian Angels," Sliwa said.
The cool reception included a two-hour delay at the airport as immigration officials checked his papers and stapled a visitor record into his passport to ensure he leaves Canada by Jan. 16.
Sliwa said the federal officers told him, "It's nothing personal, we've got to cover our backsides ... You're the leader of a very controversial organization that isn't being well received by the officials here."
One of those officials, Mayor David Miller, rejected any help the Guardian Angels might provide, saying he doesn't agree with their approach to dealing with crime.
"I believe in policing and policing being in partnership with the community," he said, adding that the places where the Guardian Angels come from are far less safe than Toronto.
Sliwa said Miller is ignor-ing his group's 27-year record and its 60 chapters around the world, including 26 in Japan. "The Japanese would look at the problem here and think you're out of control," he said. "You shouldn't wait until you get to the point of a New York, Chicago or Los Angeles before you get very energetic and proactive."
NO 'VIGILANTE ACTION'
Police Chief Bill Blair said he has no problem if the group alerts police about crimes they witness. But he warned against any "direct intervention or vigilante action" by the group. "I really need to have a better understanding about what it is they're proposing to do," said Blair, noting no one from the group has contacted him.
Efforts to set up a Guardian Angels chapter in Toronto in the early 1980s and in 1992 failed after protests from political leaders and police.
Anything that reduces dependency and reliance on the state is a threat to socialist bureaucrats.
How utterly predictable.
Why do we bother?
..Sounds like the pols are in 'CYA' mode...and yet, Are the GA more effective/@ least GA are trying...the Mayor, is a "smuck".
Nothing beats a good-old handgun for protection.
I wish we could get some of those guys in New Orleans. But we have National Guard patrolling the streets. And well, if it were a mutually exclusive choice between the two...
The Guardian Angels patrolled the trains and the mean mean mean city streets in NY and have made a difference in communities all over the world.
Very true, but if the Guardian Angels can help reduce the chance that I have to use my gun in self defense, I'm all for them.
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