Standing in front of a broken window at the Regional Multicultural Youth Centre on Victoria Avenue East, Moffat Makuto said it’s hard to work with young people and tell them a neighbourhood is safe when vandalism and violent crimes are commonplace.
“We’ve had big issues since the bar opened next door,” said the executive director of the youth centre. “It’s not very compatible with what we are trying to do to promote to young people about safety. We all know in Thunder Bay we have gangs – that’s a big issue – drugs and alcohol abuse. They can lead to violence, which really threatens our safety."
Makuto said the Victoria Ave and Brodie Street area has really gone downhill in recent years and people are frustrated. He said the number of times police get called to the area speaks for itself and at night he’s even worried about walking by himself.
“It’s not so comfortable anymore like it used to be,” he said. “When we are doing programs here we have to keep the doors locked and you never want to feel something like that for a drop-in centre.”
He’s not the only one worried, especially after last Saturday’s incident when a 16-year-old male was robbed by three adults on Victoria Avenue at 9:15 a.m.
Ski Haus manager Steve Scollie said he does feel crime is worsening in the area, but he is optimistic with the changes occurring in the south core.
“There is some light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We’re hoping to survive the construction of the new courthouse and with the destruction of the bus terminal, I feel the area will be improved dramatically. It’s unfortunate to hear about recent incidents. I think in a downtown area that’s not unusual but unfortunate nonetheless.”
But Scollie isn’t afraid to walk down the street.
“I’ve been working in the area for 20 years starting part-time as a high school student,” he said. “I’m very comfortable in the area.”
Caryll Watkinson, owner of Caryll’s Yarns, also isn’t afraid of the area.
“It doesn’t scare me,” she said. “I guess I’m a tough old lady.”
Other than a couple of broken windows, Watkinson said she hasn’t had any trouble.
“I feel pretty secure in my building,” she said. “I haven’t had anything that has worried me as far as fearing for my life or anything like that so I’m fine.”
Despite incidents like last weekend’s robbery, Thunder Bay Police Services’ Chief Bob Herman said the vast majority of violent crimes happen outside of the city’s two downtown cores, with only about 19 per cent happening in the north and south cores. And just 12 per cent of property crimes occur within the cores.
“If you look at incidences we have to respond to as a police service, the bigger issue is obviously outside of the cores,” he said. “But at the end of the day because you do have people congregating into the cores, it doesn’t really matter what the statistics are.”
“What it boils down to is if they feel safe,” Herman added. “It’s making people understand that sometimes what they see may not be a criminal act or people involved in criminal activity but are certainly involved in disorder issues that they feel the police should be dealing with.”
But the police can only deal with it to a certain point, Herman said.
“At some point the community has to come together to deal with those issues,” he said.
However, the police have addressed people’s concerns in the area with a number of initiatives including the beat officer program, which Herman said they are planning to enhance.
“At the end of the day we want the cores to be a place where people feel safe to go,” he said. “In order to do that, we’re going to have to increase our presence. There are issues around contracts – collective agreements that we have to deal with – but the association has been very good coming to the table to discuss those issues with us.”
Herman said the police are also going to revamp their neighbourhood policing model and they have their drug, gang and special units that do routine walks through the south core
