[URBAN NOTE] On the struggle of North Preston to rebrand
Douglas Quan's National Post article "North Preston, N.S., is synonymous with a notorious pimping gang. Now residents want to reclaim its name" looks at how the largely African-Canadian Nova Scotia community of North Preston is trying to recover from the terrible PR associated with a violent human-trafficking gang.
One of the first things you notice when you enter this community northeast of Halifax is a large billboard that tells you you’re in “Canada’s Largest Black Community.” It’s followed by a slogan: “We’ve Come This Far by Faith!”
The second thing you notice is that just about every driver here acknowledges oncoming drivers - even strangers - with a wave of the hand.
It’s not the welcome you expect in a place that has repeatedly been described as the birthplace of North Preston’s Finest, a violent gang that specializes in trafficking young women and girls as young as 14 in the sex trade.
The community came under scrutiny last month when Edward Delton Downey, the prime suspect in the slayings of Calgary mother Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman, was linked in several media reports to North Preston’s Finest.
Talk to residents, even local police, and they insist the claims about a criminal gang originating in North Preston are exaggerated, misleading or manufactured by outsiders who don’t know their community.
They point to North Preston’s more famous sons and daughters: Olympic boxer Custio Clayton, basketball star Lindell Wigginton, young lawyer Shanisha Grant and singer/songwriter Reeny Smith.
One of the first things you notice when you enter this community northeast of Halifax is a large billboard that tells you you’re in “Canada’s Largest Black Community.” It’s followed by a slogan: “We’ve Come This Far by Faith!”
The second thing you notice is that just about every driver here acknowledges oncoming drivers - even strangers - with a wave of the hand.
It’s not the welcome you expect in a place that has repeatedly been described as the birthplace of North Preston’s Finest, a violent gang that specializes in trafficking young women and girls as young as 14 in the sex trade.
The community came under scrutiny last month when Edward Delton Downey, the prime suspect in the slayings of Calgary mother Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman, was linked in several media reports to North Preston’s Finest.
Talk to residents, even local police, and they insist the claims about a criminal gang originating in North Preston are exaggerated, misleading or manufactured by outsiders who don’t know their community.
They point to North Preston’s more famous sons and daughters: Olympic boxer Custio Clayton, basketball star Lindell Wigginton, young lawyer Shanisha Grant and singer/songwriter Reeny Smith.