'It's getting scary': Kenora woman attacked in store wants action to curb violence

A Kenora store owner is left shaken after being attacked in her own shop by a stranger. She's calling for immediate action to address the root causes of violence.

It was close to closing time on Dec. 23, when a man walked into Michelle Livingston's store Island Girl in Kenora. After asking the man to leave the store because it was closing soon, she said things started to escalate.

"He started getting mad, and he started putting his fist up like he was going to fight me," Livingston told CTV News. "At that point, I looked at my employee and said, 'phone 911.'"

She said the man refused to leave and began trashing the store. When she tried to get the man to leave, she said he got violent.

"He threw me to the ground, and started punching my head towards the floor and pulling my hair," she said.

Livingston said she was able to fend off the man using a metal clothing rack and started a Facebook Live video until the police arrived.

"I didn't know what else to do and I am just sick and tired of this happening," she said.

The Ontario Provincial Police arrested and charged a 29-year-old man with assault and mischief under $5,000 in connection to the incident.

In the aftermath of the attack, Livingston said she has locked her store and now requires customers to use a doorbell to get in. She has also gone over some training with staff just in case a similar situation happens again.

She said this attack is just one sign of a larger issue facing a community struggling with the impacts of a drug crisis.

"It's getting scary," she said.

The concerns prompted Kenora's Mayor Andrew Poirier to call a special meeting of council Thursday to come up with ideas to deal with the violence.

Residents packed the gallery to share their similar stories of violence in Kenora and their concerns about crime.

"This takes time. This is not going to happen overnight. The issues didn't happen overnight, and the solutions won't happen overnight," Poirier told residents during the meeting.

Council committed to three action items as a result of the meeting; hiring a community safety and wellbeing coordinator, redeveloping a community safety and wellbeing plan and calling for increased police patrol in the downtown area.

In a statement, Ontario Provincial Police Inspector Jeff Duggan said he had a chance to sit down with the mayor and council to discuss the issues facing the community.

"We are committed to making changes to our front-line response and are committed to rolling that out as soon as we can," the statement reads.

Const. Jason Canfield, a community safety officer and media relations officer with the Ontario Provincial Police, said work is already underway to add an office in Kenora's downtown core.

He said there have been a couple of incidents of random and unprovoked attacks recently in the community, though he says statistics are not showing a spike.

"The majority of the crime definitely happens as a result of drugs or alcohol, as it seems to be everywhere in North America right now," he said. "Every city you hear about is really struggling right now especially with the methamphetamine really just ramping people up and making them do stuff that they maybe wouldn't normally do and become more violent."

During the meeting, councillors told residents the problems are systemic and beyond the purview of Kenora's council alone. They say council will be advocating for help from provincial and federal partners.

In a prepared statement, Ontario's ministry of health said it is responding to the opioid crisis and has put over $93 million towards community addiction services as well as more than $9 million for youth wellness hubs.

Livingston said action is needed now to deal with the issues facing her home.

"People travel from all over the world to come here, and I mean this is what they are seeing now. And I mean if we can't feel safe in our own community, how can we expect others to feel safe in our community," she said.

"Businesses will close, people will sell their buildings, or they will burn down. Who knows, but we are not going to have a town anymore."