On a summer Saturday in Jules Morin Park in Ottawa's Lowertown, eight youth basketball teams took to the courts for a tournament that was about much more than the game. The "Peace in the Streets" tournament was held in memory of two young Black men killed near the same park just months before.
The Lives Being Honoured
The tournament honoured Loris Tyson Ndongozi, 20, who was shot and killed while playing pick-up basketball last July—mere metres from where the tournament was held—and Creflo Tansia, 18, who was fatally shot on nearby Murray Street roughly a month later.
Two young men. Two families shattered. One neighbourhood left asking what comes next.
Sport as Response
Organizer Manock Lual had a clear vision for what the tournament should accomplish: commemorate the two young men, promote peace, and demonstrate that sport can be a genuine force against youth crime.
"We hear about Joker, and we think Batman is a good guy," Lual said. "But what created the Joker? A lack of resources, a whole lot of trauma, a lack of support. This is what creates our Jokers."
"So we want to come together and say, 'Hey, if you need support, there is a community, hundreds of people that will help you.'"
The teams came from Ottawa neighbourhoods across the city—Caldwell, Overbrook, Sandy Hill—a cross-section of the communities most touched by gun violence and least served by the systems meant to prevent it.
A Coach Who Knows What He's Standing Against
The tournament champions from Caldwell were coached by Samuel Douf, who survived a 2020 shooting at an Airbnb that killed his 18-year-old cousin Manyok "Manny" Akol. Douf, unable to walk since the shooting, cheered his team on from his wheelchair.
He volunteered to coach because of Ndongozi's father—a man who, like him, had watched a young person he loved taken by gun violence.
"Every last one of these guys out of here is basically a son," Douf said. "[His father] lost one, but he's gaining thousands right now."
Why It Matters
"Peace in the Streets" is not just an event. It's an argument: that community, sport, and visibility can reach young people in ways that institutions often can't. That grief shared becomes something different than grief endured alone. That showing up—for a tournament, for a team, for a neighbourhood—is itself a form of resistance.
The courts at Jules Morin Park held more than basketball that day. They held a whole community refusing to look away.
Story originally reported by CBC Ottawa.
