Is Winnipeg safe? How residents feel, according to a CTV News poll
The sense of safety is slipping for many Winnipeggers, with a majority of residents saying they feel their neighbourhood safety has decreased in recent years. One community advocate says crime has become more visible and is calling on citizens to help address the root causes.
The safety concerns are revealed in a new Probe Research poll, commissioned by CTV News Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Free Press.
More than half of the respondents (51 per cent) told Probe Research they feel less safe in their own neighbourhoods than they did three years ago. Residents living in the city's core and northwest areas were more likely to feel their areas are less safe.
Only about six per cent of Winnipeggers feel their neighbourhoods have become safer.
The slipping sense of safety is not confined to neighbourhoods. The polling finds nearly eight in 10 Winnipeggers feel the city overall is less safe than it was three years ago.
Those over the age of 55 were more likely than other age groups to feel the city has become less safe over time; 87 per cent of respondents in that age group said Winnipeg is a lot or a little less safe.
Homeowners were also more likely to believe the city is less safe (83 per cent) compared to renters (69 per cent).
PANDEMIC SHONE A LIGHT ON ISSUES
Mitch Bourbonniere, a community outreach worker with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, says he believes the issues facing the city have become much more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It shone a lot of light on the need of our most vulnerable in our city," he said. "I just think every city right now in the world is having challenges serving their most vulnerable members of their society. And we're no different here in Winnipeg."
He said while the perception of safety for Winnipeggers may be dropping, anyone can play a role in changing that.
"It's incumbent upon us to get together to address these concerns and address them in a root cause global manner where we are looking at poverty, we are looking at mental health, addictions, all of that," he said. "That in itself will have an impact on our safety and on the crime rate."
He pointed to the work of groups including the Bear Clan, the Mama Bear Clan, the Thunderbirds, Community 204, OPK, as well as a new program in Osborne Village called the Sabe Peace Walkers.
"We've got at least a dozen strong citizen-led grassroots volunteer programs," he said. "I think the more we can get out here and add vibrancy to our city, the safer it's going to get."
FOUR IN 10 SAY THEY HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF A CRIME
For many of the respondents, the safety concerns hit close to home. Four in 10 Winnipeggers reported being the victim of a crime at some point in the past three years.
Winnipeggers living in the city's core were more likely to say they were victimized by crime in the last three years, compared to other parts of the city.
Those between the ages of 18-34, those who make more than $100,000, those with a high school education or less, and those who have children at home were also more likely to indicate they were a victim of a crime in the past three years.
The polling also found 58 per cent of respondents who identified as Indigenous, and 51 per cent who identified as BIPOC or a racialized individual have been victimized by crime.
Bourbonniere said those results don't surprise him.
"It doesn't surprise me that folks that are overrepresented as vulnerable are the victims of crime," he said. "The folks that are living as vulnerable are open to violence, and that type of thing that happened at the street level."
ADDICTION SERVICES A 'PRIMARY FOCUS' IN DEALING WITH CRIME: PREMIER
This comes as the city nears a grim record. According to police, 41 people have become victims of homicide in Winnipeg. With three months left in the year, the city is nearing the 2019 record of 44 homicides.
"There has been a general rise in levels of violence that we really haven't seen before," Jay Murray, a public information officer with the Winnipeg Police Service, told reporters earlier this week.
"That in turn has translated into a higher homicide count."
In speaking to CTV's Nicole Dubé on Tuesday, Premier Heather Stefanson said the province is looking and learning from what other jurisdictions are doing to deal with crime.
"What we want, obviously, at the end of the day, is to make sure that our streets and our neighbourhoods are safe for Manitoba families," Stefanson said.
"This is not something to be swept under the carpet. This is not something that should be normalized. This is very serious. And we are taking measures, we have taken some measures so far."
Pointing to the province's five-year action plan, Stefanson said more support for Manitobans who want to get off addictions is going to be the province's primary focus.
Bourbonniere said all social issues are intertwined and will need a multifaceted approach to deal with.
"If there's an increase in need for mental health, there's often an increase in need for addiction, which does impact safety, it does impact crime, poverty, isolation."
METHODOLOGY
The results from this poll were collected by Probe Research with a random survey of 600 adults living in Winnipeg between September 8 and 18.
Probe Research says, with 95 per cent certainty, the results are within a +/- 4.0 percentage points of what they would have been if the city's entire population was surveyed. It said the margin of error is higher within the survey's population subgroup.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Canucks claw out 5-4 comeback win over Oilers in Game 1
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.