Madam Speaker, last week in Toronto a young man, Amon Beckles, just 18 years of age, lost his life to gun violence. What was particularly sad about the killing was that it took place in a church, a place where God's voice should be heard and not the evil whisper of a flying bullet.
In today's Toronto Star , columnist Royson James notes that the lessons of the streets too often displace those taught in Sunday school.
These tragic events, repeated all too often, are a call not to fear but to action.
Initiatives like the $50 million gun violence and gangs prevention fund are but the beginning. If we are to end this senseless violence, we must come together, all of us, united in one objective: to protect our most precious resource, our nation's young people.