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In a moving address to Unifor’s Ontario Regional Council, Symone Walters said she worries about the two young gunmen who killed her son last summer, and what they must have gone through in their lives that they could commit murder at such a young age.
“These two children need to see that they, too, are still loved,” Walters told a silent crowd of more than 700 delegates and staff.
Walters’ 15-year-old son Tahj Loor-Walters was shot last July 28 as he rode his bike in a neighbourhood plaza. He died in hospital on Aug 13.
Walters spoke about how difficult it has been to live without Tahj, her youngest child, and thanked Unifor Local 112 for its support since his death.
“We came together to find a way to make sure no other child is killed, and no other parent feels this anguish,” she said. “They have given me the strength to go forward.”
Tahj’s grandfather Victor Loor is a member of Local 112, which organized a community barbeque in September to raise money to help end youth violence in the Jane/Finch neighbourhood where Tahj was killed. Delegates of the Ontario Regional Council voted to donate $5,000 to a fund in Tahj’s name to address youth violence.
“No child should have to fear where they live or fear riding their bike in the neighbourhood where they grew up,” Walters said, adding that the work to end youth violence needs to start immediatley.
“If we don’t start today, it will never end.”
