THOMPSON, Man. — Roughly six months before the City of North Battleford's Crime Severity Index (CSI) conference brought together municipalities across western Canada, resulting in a joint call for Statistics Canada to pause the CSI, Manitoba's own 'gateway to the north,' was fighting a similar battle as North Battleford.
"Statistics don't lie," said the municipality last year in an email statement to the News-Optimist.
The City of Thompson, approximately 10 hours northeast of the Battlefords with similar population size and large outlying community, said that although being labelled year after year as dangerous by Maclean's Magazine was not helpful to their public perception, it wasn't the only problem.
"Thompson does have a disproportionate amount of crime, particularly in categories like assault, mischief and drug trafficking – but they don’t tell the whole story, either,” they said.
Their statement went on to paint a picture. Not only home to 13,000 residents, 55,000+ people living in the north come to attend school, receive healthcare, or shop. Hotels are filled with out-of-town workers during construction season in the summer and year-round to help certain industries or sectors cope with local worker shortages.
"It is the major transportation hub of Northern Manitoba, with flights to and from dozens of communities, some of which don’t have any other means of travel outside of winter road season. It is, essentially, the downtown of Northern Manitoba."
Thompson noted that with two or three times as many RCMP officers stationed, which is not unlike the Battlefords which has the largest RCMP detachment in Saskatchewan, crime is bound to go up. Coupled with the systemic issues facing the population like mental health struggles, substance abuse and the largely uncounted population — a familiar fight is taking place in Thompson.
Context and unconventionality
"Many of the people and media that contribute to a one-dimensional portrait of Thompson have not spent much or any time in the city experiencing what it is like to be here ... when you talk to the many Thompsonites who have lived here for 20 to 60 years, many will tell you that they came planning to stay for two to five years but decided instead to make it their permanent home. Thompson is unique."
But aside from any issues with the CSI or an unfortunate reputation, Thompson recognized the struggle and at the time of their statement, was working to solve the true problem, underlying social issues.
The city has relaunched its StreetReach team working with at-risk youth, a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan has been developed by stakeholders and community members, and programs have been developed to help homeless people find more permanent housing. A 24-hour sobering centre operated by an Indigenous organization to reduce the number of people who are placed in RCMP cells as a result of public intoxication is soon to grace the city.
"With about 20 per cent of the city’s annual budget being spent on policing services, it’s obvious that law enforcement can’t be the only tool relied upon to try to reduce crime in the city.
"The best way to overcome the city’s negative perception when it comes to crime would be to improve some of the conditions that contribute to law-breaking behaviour. Issues like addictions, lack of housing, poverty and unequal treatment of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by Canada’s federal and provincial governments are beyond the scope of what a small municipality can do," Thompson said, mirroring the city of North Battleford's call last year for more governmental support to address crime.
The City of Thompson also wanted to lobby higher levels of government and work with provincial and federal partners and other organizations to address these areas. It also recognizes that crime didn’t become a problem in Thompson overnight and that there needs to be a long-term plan to address public safety and related social issues.
Originally published in the Battlefords Regional News-Optimist on March 28, 2024.
