If you haven’t been by Forest Lawn lately, it might not be the neighbourhood you remember. Read More
Biggest challenge has been reshaping negative perceptions of the neighbourhood from within — but attitudes are shifting, says Calgary changemaker
Biggest challenge has been reshaping negative perceptions of the neighbourhood from within — but attitudes are shifting, says Calgary changemaker
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If you haven’t been by Forest Lawn lately, it might not be the neighbourhood you remember.
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A brightly painted basketball court and a sprawling new playground next to the community hall are just a few signs of a transformation that is underway in the east Calgary neighbourhood.
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And at the heart of it all is Gar Gar, a community advocate determined to make Forest Lawn a place people are proud to call home.
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Gar says a lot of newcomer families live in Forest Lawn when they first come to Calgary, but many end up moving to other parts of Calgary.
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Noon News Roundup
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“I call it a stopping point,” he said. “We have seen a lot of families moving out of the neighbourhood and trying to find a better place.”
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He attributes people departing the community to long-standing concerns about public safety that created a “negative stigma” around the neighbourhood.
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The urge to flee is a feeling Gar knows well.
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Born in Sudan, Gar was a refugee before he took his first breath. His family fled conflict in South Sudan just a month before he was born, seeking refuge in Khartoum.
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Growing up, he says he never felt like he was “home.”
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“The one thing that gave us hope,” Gar says, “My dad would tell us always: you can create something out of nothing.”
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Gar was 12 when his father died, and his mother was left to raise his eight siblings on her own. The family eventually immigrated to Canada when Gar was 17.
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Like many newcomer families arriving in Forest Lawn, Gar says he had big dreams about their new life in Canada, a place they perceived to be a “utopia.”
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He remembers it being cold and snowy on his first day in Calgary; he also felt that he was “finally home.”
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No more ‘running away’ from problems
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Gar went on to earn a bachelor of business administration from SAIT, where he became the first Black student president of the SAIT Student Association. Despite majoring in accounting, he was drawn to solving problems in his community, particularly related to safety, youth and community engagement.
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A couple of years after moving to the city, Gar says he came to realize the neighbourhood was widely considered “a bad area.”
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“You’d talk to someone and say, ‘I’m in Forest Lawn,’ and they’d (say), ‘why are you in that area of town?’ ”
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He notes concerns relating to public safety, such as a high prevalence of gun violence and crime overall, as issues driving families to other parts of the city.