A rash of crime in a rural community north of Edmonton has prompted the Municipal District of Opportunity No. 17 to extend a state of local emergency in the hamlet of Calling Lake.
“The criminal activity and the gang situation in the community has as gotten to almost an all-time high at this point,” M.D. of Opportunity Reeve Marcel Auger said Wednesday, adding residents have reported hearing gunshots outside their homes in recent months at an alarming rate.
“We’re getting to the point where people are just not feeling safe at their homes.”
The municipality encompasses a remote area directly north of Edmonton and includes the communities of Wabasca, Calling Lake, Red Earth Creek, Peerless Lake and Chipewyan Lake.
The communities are primarily home to members of the Bigstone Cree Nation.
Randall Auger has lived in Calling Lake his entire life and said crime has gotten worse in the past year. He said he supports the state of local emergency if it means more help.
“I think meth is the biggest issue,” he said, adding it seems a lot of young people in the community are falling into gangs.
“They’re getting new recruits — like, we know a lot of young people that are involved with this stuff.”
Auger and RCMP both noted crime seemed to increase in the spring as Albertans began going up to their summer cabins in the region north of Athabasca — bringing with them recreational vehicles like ATVs, side-by-sides, boats and other items that are an easy target.
“Spring to fall is pretty much the busy time for them,” Auger said of the thieves making off with stolen property.
Gary Graham, chief superintendent for the RCMP’s eastern Alberta district, confirmed there’s been a spike in residential break-ins and property thefts.
“Particularly seasonal cottages, outbuildings, garages and thefts from property,” Graham said, adding while statistics shared in a meeting Wednesday suggested crime has gone down over the past five years, that isn’t being reflected in what residents are experiencing.
“Then there was some discussion that maybe many of the people are not reporting the crimes,” he said, adding that could be for many reasons: insurance claims, feeling intimidated, and feeling it just isn’t worth it because nothing will be done anyways.
“They think (the police) are not going to catch anyone anyways, so I think those are probably some of the bigger factors.”
The reeve said the municipality and First Nation have been talking about ways of getting help to deal with an increase in crime and said declaring a state of local emergency is a necessary step to getting the province’s attention.
“We understand that there’s not one silver bullet here to fix things, that it’s going to take a lot of initiatives and a lot of different areas,” Reeve Auger said.
“We’re talking about mental health, substance abuse, addictions. There’s a lot that will need to be done to really turn things around for us.”
The state of local emergency was declared on Oct. 11 and initially in effect for seven days, but on Wednesday the reeve said it would be renewed.
The municipality held a meeting on Wednesday with Alberta RCMP and Lesser Slave Lake MLA Scott Sinclair to discuss bringing in more help.
Sinclair, an Indigenous rookie MLA who came to office in last spring’s provincial election and has since been appointed the parliamentary secretary for Indigenous policing, said his office has gotten many calls from constituents and it feels like things have reached a boiling point.
“We’re very concerned about the area, even if the numbers don’t necessarily match it,” Sinclair said.
“It’s one thing to talk about crime and statistics on a spreadsheet. It’s a completely different one when you have bullets flying through the window in your own home, or that terrifying feeling of somebody breaking in and holding guns.”
“Anything would help at this point.”
Sinclair said Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis has confirmed the province can deploy sheriffs to the area, but that request needs to come from the RCMP: “We can’t help if we’re not asked.”
Graham said the RCMP already has agreements with other law enforcement such as Fish and Wildlife and Alberta Sheriffs where whoever is closest to an emergency call responds first and Mounties arrive when they can. Changing that up will require further conversations.
“We’ll liaise with our sheriff partners and determine what, if any, appropriate responses could be used here in Calling Lake.”
All involved in Wednesday’s meeting said bringing together the different stakeholders is a good first step to addressing gang violence and crime.
The reeve said the municipality has already brought in extra security personnel to roam the community and report what they see to the RCMP, plus more money has been put towards overtime to have officers in the hamlet.
He said they’re also looking at purchasing a high-tech camera security system to monitor the main roadways, some of the hotspots in the community as well as major intersections. In the meantime, the municipality wants more police.
“The RCMP’s got resources such as a crime reduction crew where they bring a bunch of sheriffs into a community and they spend a bunch of time there. I know it’s worked in the past and so we’re hoping that might be one of the solutions,” said Reeve Auger.
Graham said a list of ideas was discussed as next steps for the RCMP, including bringing in specialized property crime officers, identifying prolific offenders and arranging housing in the community so Mounties can conduct 24/7 patrols.
Currently, officers patrolling in Calling Lake have to drive nearly 40 minutes up from Athabasca.
The reeve wants things to be taken a step further and said the municipality’s long-term goal is to have a RCMP detachment in Calling Lake, where officers can respond immediately and not hours after the fact.
“The criminals know that they have that time and they take advantage of that,” Reeve Auger said.
“I think once we have personnel here on a regular basis and staying right in the community — I think at that point we’d feel a little better about our situation.”
Auger the resident agrees with the reeve, saying the community needs more policing and mental health services. But the Bigstone Cree Nation member also believes the community needs to return to its traditional roots.
“All our kids, even adults myself, we’ve lost our culture — and culture is a healing tool. We need to get back to that. It’ll definitely help.”
Randall Auger just wants his community to be safe again: he’s said he’s seen kids with bright futures in athletics and academics get recruited to gangs and believes focusing on opportunities for youth is important.
“Right now is the time to catch the young ones because by the time they’re 14 — even 12 years old — they’re in crime.”
Randall, a trapper who knows the woods, wants to introduce his traditional ways to his seven young grandchildren and their friends.
“Let’s go learn the bush. Let’s build a cabin. Never mind watching TV or playing video games or drinking and drugs. Let’s go out to the bush and go back where it all started. For me, it heals me when I’m out there.”