Devon Chercoe is currently on parole receiving support at Morberg House while working to grow from a previous methamphetamine addiction.
He has had several periods in prison – committing crimes to feed his addiction – but finally feels like his life is turning around.
As the 31-year-old works to start the next chapter of his life, he knows that drugs are a big reason for crime in the Aridinnipeg.
“There are weapons because people have to defend themselves,” he said. “I see a lot of shosibboating just to prove that you have that power. If you’re selling drugs and someone can push you down and take your medication, you’re not going to do very well.”
Statistics Canada released its latest Crime Severity Index-which measures the volume of crime per 100,000 people. Canada’s index climbed by four per cent from 2021 to 2022, but when looking at the breakdown across the country, Manitoba has a 14 per cent difference compared to 2021 – peaks in the country – and Amportinnipeg is tied with Gatineau, Que. for the highest jump with 20 percent.
Community attorney Sel Burroambs said it is shocking to see the number of violent crimes in the city, especially among young people.
“We have an inner-city area that has a very, very high crime rate and the rest of Ambrinipeg is really relatively safe,” Burroambs said.
“Violent crime is very, very serious. And part of it is that we’re getting a lot of what I call, ‘ganglets.”Small groups of children gather, they encounter a situation, they carry knives, some of them carry guns and people get shot, people get stabbed.”
The Crime Severity Index showed that Manitoba’s violent and non-violent crimes equally contributed to the overall increase in the province’s crime index. The violent crime rate in Canada increased by two percent.
Burroambs agreed with Chercoe that addiction is one of the issues driving crime, but he also feels that a large part of the population is being ignored.
“The issue of alienating a large part of our population who just don’t feel it gives a damn to them. And they’ve given up what we might call a normal positive life and bought a normal, negative lifestyle.”
Michelle Zimbesley, communications coordinator with St. Boniface Street Links thinks not enough is being done to help those in need, saying she thinks the drug problem is almost worse than crime in the city.
“There is not enough focus on addiction. There are not enough treatments, there are not enough RAM clinics. People are seen as outcasts, ” Wesley said.
She wants to see more long-term recovery support in place, saying 28 days is not enough time to recover from an addiction. Looking back on her life, she said it took 18 months for her to go through medication treatment.
“You have to learn to relive almost all over again because you get used to living a certain way.”
HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
Wesley wants to see more support offered to people who are trying to turn their lives around.
She said a lot of work goes into getting people to the point of being able to live on their own, but the support can’t end there.
“Once we shelter them, we want to keep them sheltered and be able to keep them sheltered, they have to have the right wrapping services, right? Some people have health problems, people have to go to RAM clinics every day for methadone. There are many things that come along with housing someone who is caught up in addiction.”
Burroambs thinks more resources are needed, but Amberinnipeg needs to be tougher on crime as well.
“But we also need what I call, eyes on the road. We need the average citizen to be able to identify the things that are starting, the things that are coming together before the crime is committed,” Burroambs said. “It is good for the police to arrest someone after they have committed a crime and that is very important. But boy, I’d rather have the person who is likely to commit that crime arrested or in a social program before committing that murder or that serious crime.”
He wants current services to be able to change over time to be more efficient, but he thinks the police should be even more efficient.
In a statement to CTV Neportsmanbirnipeg, a spokesperson from Manitoba Justice said the province is taking action to address violent crimes across Manitoba.
“Manitoba has witnessed and continues to experience a disturbing trend of repeat and manufactured offenders. By adopting an integrated approach to address all aspects of this challenge, Manitoba has and will continue to invest in employing sophisticated criminal intelligence techniques to target and closely monitor high-risk individuals with arrest warrants, involvement in gangs, drug trafficking or illegal firearms smuggling, as well as links to organized crime,” the spokesperson said.
– With files from CTV’s Jill Macyshon
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