“This is not the Calgary that we all love and adore and want to live in.”
That’s the message from the Calgary Taxpayers Association (CTA) after a recent uptick in gun crime in the city has caused many to feel on edge.
According to Calgary police, there were 96 shootings in the city during 2021. This year, there have already been 99 shootings in Calgary as of Aug. 30, 2022, and with 121 days left in the year, it’s likely that number will climb to well over 100.
Most recently, a 24-year-old man was charged after a shooting in Raddison Heights.
Prior to that, there was another shooting in Raddison Heights followed by one in Pineridge, then Penbrooke Meadows and then Evergreen.
Though Calgary police have said most, if not all, were targeted incidents, the fact remains that shootings are happening in every quadrant of the city.
Shawna Easthope, with the CTA said the group is calling on the mayor to convene an emergency meeting with all levels of government regarding the spike in crime.
“This is not a safe Calgary and this is something that needs to be addressed immediately, as it is a crisis point,” Easthope said.
Easthope said she hopes if a meeting were to be called, all levels of government and stakeholders can find a solution to the current crime rate situation. She added having everyone at the same table helps eliminate the red tape to come up with a solution — in a timely manner.
“It’s not easy, I get that,” Easthope said. “It’s not going to be an easy solution, but it is definitely a solution that needs to be found and it needs to be found soon.
“I was born and raised in Calgary, and this is not the Calgary I grew up in. It has become an epidemic of gang violence and shootings and household crimes, you know, breaking entries, etc.
“There has to be something that we can do. Sitting back and sitting on panels and talking about it for a year isn’t the solution, there has to be action now.”
In response, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said an internal task force had been created two years ago. That being said, a community-based task force is currently in the works that will include stakeholders.
“If they’re interested in participating … they’re welcome to contact us,” Gondek said.
“But, you know, an emergency summit would be something that would be needed if we hadn’t already been working on a collaborative approach.”
Crime is up everywhere you look: Local criminologist
Gun violence isn’t just a Calgary issue, according to Dr. Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist and associate professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University.
Sundberg said when looking at both the national rate of firearm violence and what’s happening locally, numbers since 2007 have “roughly doubled.”
“So we’ve gone from somewhere around five instances per 100,000 to around 10 so we have seen an increase,” he said.
Something he found interesting is that firearm violence rates have gone up since some of the major firearm reforms that came in 2020 under the Liberal government.
“What’s changed (though) is that we have a lot of issues around COVID, social isolation, we have seen an increase in crime which is very much a result with coming out of this pandemic,” he added.
“But what I found quite concerning about looking at specifically the gun violence for Calgary, is that last year we had roughly one per cent of the firearms used in the commission of crime or what are known as ghost guns or homemade guns and now in 2022, we’ve seen nine per cent -– which indicated quite a significant growth in this.”
He pointed to when people create their own guns — such as the 3D-printed ones recently uncovered by Calgary police — as being quite concerning, as the laws surrounding the manufacturing of guns doesn’t prove to be effective.
“We need a greater investment in the entire system. We can’t build up or look at one part — (such as) the police — and not also look at corrections and the courts,” he said.
While the CTA told Global News the city’s public safety task force is a good first step, they want to make sure issues like these are being prioritized.
— with files from Adam MacVicar, Global News