Edmonton homicide rate makes national headlines, reputation hard to shake

EDMONTON – At 44 murders and counting, Edmonton’s record-setting homicide rate has taxed the Edmonton Police Service from top to bottom. But it’s also taken its toll on the city’s reputation, supplanting Edmonton’s formerly familiar nickname ‘the City of Champions,’ with a much more macabre moniker – ‘Deadmonton.’

“I think we have a great reputation,” says Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel. “It’s how people long distances away perceive as a matter of how stories are told and how they are reported.”

When violence spikes or a record is broken, what is generally regarded as ‘local news’ begins to make national headlines and leaves a negative impression on those who see them.

“I realize there has been an epidemic out there,” says Halifax resident Tom Boyd. “But I didn’t realize it was nearly that high. It’s a scary figure.”

“That makes me kind of frightened to think about my friends who want to go out west to work and travel and shop,” says Haligonian Chloe Squance. “That’s scarier than I thought it would be.”

In 2011 that perception seeped even beyond national borders. This fall Dateline NBC aired a segment on the sensational case of convicted killer Mark Twitchell, pointing out that, at the time, the city boasted the highest murder rate in Canada.

“Which explains, perhaps, why some of the locals have taken to calling their city ‘Deadmonton,'” host Keith Morrison explained to an audience of millions.

“People should be looking at finding out more information as to what things really are,” counters Colin Babiuk, chair of the Public relations program at MacEwan University. “It forms the opinion that Edmonton is not a safe city. In actuality, there’s very small pockets where these activities have taken place. And that doesn’t necessarily get through.”

It hasn’t been all bad press for Edmonton this year. A recent article in the Globe and Mail celebrated some of the city’s unique tourist attractions, while the National Post heaped praise upon the city’s waste-management system. However, each article couldn’t help but mention the city’s crime component.

“They are providing the information that provides their view of the world and the view of the world of their audience,” Babiuk says.

And sometimes, those views represent just a small slice of a much larger picture.

“People don’t know about the number of programs we’re putting in place to encourage immigrant communities to come to Edmonton,” Mandel explains. “People don’t know about the things that we’re doing economically to drive the city, and that’s equally as important.”

Mandel and Babiuk agree that city government, businesses and residents are all doing their part to put that information forward, but admit that reputations can be difficult to shake.

“It’s not going to change things tomorrow,” Mandel concedes. “(But) we believe that will have an impact in the longer term … It’s an incredibly safe city with a great future and great opportunity and so, I have no question about that.”

With files from Vinesh Pratap.

Here’s some more highlights from the interview with Mayor Mandel: