Hungry and desperate: Address basic needs to improve downtown Winnipeg safety, community groups say
CBC
As food continues to get more expensive, more people are in need — and hungry people are desperate people, says the head of the Winnipeg's Bear Clan Patrol.
Kevin Walker, the citizen patrol group's interim executive director, says he sees a link between hunger and increased crime.
"Hungry people and thirsty people are usually desperate people," he told CBC Manitoba's Marcy Markusa, host of Information Radio, in an interview Wednesday.
He related a recent experience while on patrol in the city's North End, passing by a convenience store on Salter Street.
"We passed a young gentleman who I stopped and asked if he needed something to eat or something to drink. He replied, 'Yes, that would be very helpful, because I was just about to rob 7-Eleven.'"
Concerns about safety in the city's core are growing after a recent bout of violent incidents in The Forks and the surrounding area, including the stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on Canada Day.
The victim in that stabbing says he is now considering leaving the city, said Joanne Lewandoski, president of the Ukranian Canadian Congress' Manitoba provincial council.
"I'm embarrassed, as a Manitoban, that things like this are happening to people who were fleeing a country that is at war and then they come here, where they think it is safe, and they get attacked," she said.
She recently visited the man, who remains in hospital in stable condition, to offer support.
He told her he and a friend had only been in Canada for two weeks and, on Canada Day, had just moved into their downtown Winnipeg apartment, she said.
They went to The Forks because "they felt they should go and celebrate," she said. But near the site, they brushed shoulders with three males, Lewandoski said.
When the Ukrainian men turned to apologize, they were pepper-sprayed, and one of the men was stabbed.
"They chose Canada because it's a peaceful country, it's a welcoming country. [Now] he doesn't feel safe," said Lewandoski.
"Is it safe to walk in the evenings to The Forks? I'm not sure."