JARVIS ST.REMY Tribute

(Toronto July 3rd 2009) Little KJ Taiwo may be the youngest activist to urge Mayor David Miller to put an end to the nearly two-week-old city strike, but he has perhaps the most compelling argument of all.

Standing at the intersection of Dundas Street West and Howland Avenue (just west of Scarlett Road) Friday afternoon, just steps away from the bus shelter where Jarvis St. Remy, 18, was gunned down two months ago on May 1, the soft spoken eight-year-old pleaded his case.


"Please open the summer camps and let us end the city strike. We kids have nothing to do - we are roaming around the playgrounds at our apartments," said KJ 'The Kid Reporter,' who resides in the troubled Jane and Wilson area where he said "a lot of teens and grown-ups shoot a lot."




Standing by KJ's side at Friday's monthly Crime Stoppers press conference at the fated intersection, were Clemee Joseph and Amiga Taylor - two women who know best the tragic results of children and youth being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Joseph, clutching a KJ-designed sign that read 'Did You Kill My Son Jarvis?' is St. Remy's mother. Her son's killer is still at large. While she said the police have told her they believe his slaying to be a case of mistaken identity, she still wants nothing more than for someone to step forward and take responsibility for taking the life of her oldest child.

"I have a message for those that killed my son: give yourselves up and turn yourselves in," she asked. "Get a good lawyer and just do it today. Give me the comfort I need."


"It makes me sick; it's absolutely ridiculous. There is no regard for human life anymore," she said.

"If we really want to break the silence...we have to bring to light these tragic stories that these young men (gang members) want to keep in the dark."

While two accused have been charged in her brother's killing, Taylor said that, like with St. Remy's case, issues of silence have plagued his murder case.

"I can't take it anymore; it needs to stop," she said, noting that since her brother's passing, she's taken up the cause as an activist. "We have to find who killed Jarvis."

To that end, St. Remy's family and their supporters have launched several internet portals - Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - where they hope people will see pictures and watch videos of Jarvis and about his case, discuss crime stories and cases, and talk about positive things in the community. She hopes that from those, the missing information that will solve her son's case will come forth.

"Know what is happening, grieve with me and talk to me. But most importantly, talk to the police," she said.

Source: Bloor West (InsideToronto.com)
Our special thanks to Cynthia Reason and Lisa Rainford of Inside Toronto Bloor West newspapers for this outstanding story!!!