AMC responds to growing rates of violent crime in Manitoba
August 7, 2018
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba
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Treaty One Territory, MB – Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is responding to a report from Statistics Canada that says violence is increasing in Manitoba.
Statistics Canada recently released The Crime Severity Index, which is a tool for measuring the increase or decrease in the severity of crime over time in any given jurisdiction, such as provinces and territories, and for comparing the seriousness of crime among jurisdictions.
This report shows violent crime in Winnipeg has grown to an extreme level. Statistics Canada is reporting 153 crimes per 10,000 people. Winnipeg already had the worst violent crime rate in Canada in 2016, but the numbers increased in 2017. Manitoba as a whole has the highest homicide rate in all of Canada.
High rates of crime are also occurring in rural areas of Manitoba.
“These increasing and high rates of violent crime are alarming,” said Grand Chief Arlen Dumas. “It’s important that we look at the root causes of violence and focus on prevention. We encourage all levels of government to work closely with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to ensure that we are working together to combat violence at the grassroots level. We also commend organizations such as the Bear Clan Patrol for the outreach work they do to help prevent violence from happening in the first place.”
“First Nations people, especially women, are disproportionate targets of violence,” stated Grand Chief Dumas. “The City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba both need to ensure we are using a multi-lateral approach to addressing this rise in violent crime.”
You can access more information about The Crime Severity Index for 2017 here.