The City of Kenora, Ont., is promising to address a rise in brazen downtown crime that’s shaken the small Ontario community east of Winnipeg.
The holiday season was interrupted by a string of violence directed at businesses in the city, forcing an emergency city council meeting on Thursday.
Michelle Livingston owns Island Girl in Kenora and she told Global News in her store on Christmas Eve a man became violent towards her after refusing to leave at closing time.
“He ran into the store and started grabbing clothing racks and, you know, knocked over my sunglasses and breaking all my sunglasses and knocking over our Christmas tree,” she said.
“I had to grab the shovel to kind of stop him and get him away from me. And that’s when he ended up taking the shovel from me, knocking me to the ground, grabbing my head, started pounding it towards the floor.”
Mayor Andrew Poirier says Ontario Provincial Police are committing to increasing car and foot patrols which he says have already taken effect in the city.
The council also agreed to hire a community safety and wellbeing coordinator and update the city’s safety plan.
That includes building more affordable housing and making sure more supports are available to those experiencing addictions, mental health concerns and homelessness
The safety concern won’t be resolved overnight but Poirier is hoping it will lead to more solutions.
“That process is going to start next week with the beginning of the recruitment of this position and also starting to engage with a consultant on redeveloping the plan, one that will work for our community.”
Additionally, at the public meeting, Indigenous advocates and those supporting people experiencing addictions and homelessness voiced concerns over social media posts that were encouraging vigilantism on people living on the streets.
“It’s very unnerving for those of us who care about the, we think, maybe 150 people, homeless people in Kenora,” said Mary-Alice Smith with Kenora Moving Forward, a grassroots organization concerned with issues involving homelessness and poverty.
Poirier said council is working with other agencies to help with homelessness including a transitional housing project that he said will be done throughout the course of 2023.
“I’m concerned about Kenora and the safety of citizens and visitors alike,” he said.
Poirier pointed to an issue regarding a disconnect between law enforcement and Ontario’s judiciary system.
“People are being arrested for serious crimes, then we seem to see them out on the streets not long after they’re arrested.”
Poirier said police are doing their job and they can do what they can to keep people safe, but the whole problem lies with the courts and sentencing.
Livingston said it’s too early to tell whether the city’s plans will work but she’s holding onto hope her child can grow up in a Kenora as beautiful and as safe as the one she knew from when she was young.
“When’s the breaking point? When’s it going to change? I mean, it has to be now, or else our community will be gone.” she said.
“I never saw this growing up, so I want it to be like that for my child. So when she grows up, she can have the same childhood I did.”
— with files from Global’s Rosanna Hempel