Manitoba service providers address how to tackle youth crime, violence

The heads of two inner-city youth programs say they’ve noticed an upward trend in youth violence in recent years, and say more needs to be done to prevent it. “We see it in the behaviours of our children, but also the random activities that happen even across the street or just on the sidewalk,” said...

The heads of two inner-city youth programs say they’ve noticed an upward trend in youth violence in recent years, and say more needs to be done to prevent it.

“We see it in the behaviours of our children, but also the random activities that happen even across the street or just on the sidewalk,” said Rossbrook House executive director Patty Mainville.

Rossbrook House has been a safe haven for youth in Winnipeg’s Centennial neighbourhood since 1976. Mainville says youth tend to leave their lives “at the door,” but knows they’re impacted by the “increased use of drugs and how that spills out into our community.”

She says some youth feel forced to carry weapons to protect themselves.

“That’s all due to the increase of drugs in the neighborhood that they see and the chances of being robbed out on the street,” she said.

According to the Winnipeg Police Service’s 2023 Statistical Report, youth crimes decreased each year from 2018 to 2021. Between 2021 and 2023, youth crime trended upward — but 2023 still saw fewer instances than 2018, at 2,054 and 2,442, respectively. However, a higher proportion of those crimes were violent in 2023 than in 2018.

CommUNITY204 founder and executive director Daniel Hidalgo has also noticed the upward trend.

“It’s really disheartening to see it, because I do think that those instances and that susceptibility is preventable,” he said.