Concerned at the rising incidents of gang wars involving Indo-Canadian youth, the Canadian government will set up a task force to help control the violence that has claimed about 100 lives.

Cabinet ministers Ujjal Dosanjh and Raymond Chan said a community task force will be created and asked to develop a gang violence prevention programme among the community in British Columbia province.

The committee will consist of 10 Indo-Canadian volunteers who will work with a facilitator to develop the programme that will deal with the causes of youth violence, reports South Asian Observer.

The committee will be put together by the end of May. Chan said he expected an action plan by the end of November.

The gangland style shootings have claimed nearly 100 lives and there is growing public demand to stop the violence among South Asian youths.

"There have been many good suggestions from the community itself but they have not been a totally concerted effort," Chan told a meeting of the Indo-Canadian community here last week.

"I hope this initiative made today will pull those things together, these people together and these efforts together," he said.

Health Minister Dosanjh also expressed concern at the continuing violence in British Columbia. He praised the Indo-Canadian community for its achievements and commended it for coming together to address the issue of violence.

A retired school psychologist Balwant Sanghera took the initiative to organise the meeting. He suggested a 24-hour helpline for the youths.

The best way to solve the problem, he said, would be to target youths aged 10 to 15 years through school programmes.

"We'd like to have some well-qualified youth programme workers who along with different Sikh temples and community organisations can work with the youth," he said.

Successful lobbying efforts by some Indo-Canadian leaders led to the creation of the British Columbia Integrated Gang Task Force last year. It is a provincial agency with a mandate to focus on gang wars.

--Indo-Asian News Service