A salon owner born and raised in Kelowna, B.C., says she’s worried about the safety of her staff and clients, after noticing an uptick in violent behaviour and drug use outside of her downtown shop.
“It’s the late nights or the early mornings, coming in to work or leaving work, especially if we’re alone and it’s dark out,” explained owner of Salt Salon Co, Billie-Jean McDonald.
McDonald says a recent incident has forced her and her staff to carry spray and other protection on them at all times.
“There was a gentleman who I would see quite frequently, and he came in and was quite aggressive and screaming,” described McDonald.
“He thought that we had stolen his bag and he actually spat towards me and spit on the floor, that was probably my worst (incident).”
Stories like this aren’t uncommon in the city’s downtown core, as others are expressing similar concerns over the rise in crime and other issues involving the unhoused community.
“We’ve had a couple issues with the homeless lately that we’ve had to deal with, and we had a break-in a few months prior,” said barista Averie Blais.
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“It’s definitely concerning.”
“The back alley is where our grooming customers drop off their dogs and where our staff park, and we have a lot of people hanging out back there,” said manager of Social Pets.
“Most the time they’re okay about leaving, but then we have to deal with the mess they leave behind, and occasionally people just don’t want to go. Sometimes we have people in here trying to steal things, and then a couple months ago a door got smashed.”
A 2022 Statistics Canada report revealed that Kelowna had the highest crime rate per capita in all of Canada.
“We’re a big city, and we’re feeling that,” expressed Const. Mike-Della Paolera with Kelowna RCMP.
“We have some violent crimes that we’re investigating, obviously there have been two high-profile ones in the last couple weeks, and our investigators are working to determine why this is happening.”
Last month, Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas told Global News council was very close to implementing three new strategies to help tackle crime.
“In about a month’s time or three weeks when it is all released, I’ll share everything,” said Dyas.
“They’re all action items that will make a difference.”
Despite promising to deliver the plan to the public, a month later and those initiatives have yet to be announced.
Global News was told the mayor was unavailable when we asked for an interview Thursday for an update, as concerned business owners anxiously await any solutions.
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