by Harvey Oberfeld
Keeping it Real…
September 29, 2024
Last Tuesday, I had an early morning appointment on Burrard Street near Davie. I parked on Davie towards Thurlow and headed east … and there he was, in my path, a shabbily-dressed middle-aged (seemingly) homeless-type individual, grumbling out loud at some unseen foe, and carrying a long wooden stick as he careened down the sidewalk.
I have to admit, as we passed, I felt anxious.
Would he swing at my head as he went by? Try to mug me? Would anyone come to my aid?
Nothing happened … except it reminded me why, for more than a year now, I have tried to avoid walking/shopping along Davie Street east of Thurlow to Granville, and on Granville from the bridge to Smythe.
Times have changed.
I used to live in the West End: loved the area, never felt unsafe walking the streets (or even the lanes) day or night.
I had even become accustomed over the years more recently to homeless people … some of them quite young … sitting in doorways or sleeping, bundled under blankets or asking for spare change. No problem.
However, in recent memory there have been too many very scary incidents in Vancouver: unprovoked assaults; murders of innocent passersby; a man’s hand was cut off; stabbings; people openly shooting up; shoplifting; robberies; wanton vandalism etc. etc.
Who could blame people for being scared!
In the past two years, there’s a new breed that seems to “commute” up Davie from the Granville area each day … lots of them, some clearly drug impaired or mentally unstable, often acting out … making that area somewhere I now avoid, unless absolutely necessary.
Sadly, it’s not just a Vancouver problem.
That same day, public safety was an issue broached on CKNW’s Mike Smyth talk show.
First, there was discussion of a video taken at a New Westminster bus shelter, right across from the police station, showing a young child trying unsuccessfully to flag down a passing bus as two druggies acted out … one quite aggressively … right near her, but the bus driver either didn’t see her or declined to stop.
“I don’t know what’s going on in our city … why we are not getting any help or direction for this obvious huge problem,” complained the neighboring resident whose camera caught the incident.
“People are not feeling safe; my staff don’t feel safe … something has to be done,” added a nearby business owner.
A caller from Maple Ridge told how bus shelters there, also near a police station, often can’t be use by transit riders because of the homeless camped in them, taking drugs openly and even starting fires to keep warm.
Another caller dared public officials and politicians who believe “there’s no danger” on the streets where druggies frequent and shoot up and then act out, to actually spend 24 hours in those areas without bodyguards and predicted they’ll change their tune.
People ARE afraid in BC … in record numbers!
On that same evening’s TV News shows, a survey of 1,200 British Columbians was released by Save Our Streets (SOS), described in a Canadian Press story as “a coalition of big-name retailers, business groups, and community associations who believe street crime and violence have reached a crisis point in B.C.”
It found a whopping 74% of respondents in large and small communities said crime and violence have impacted their “quality of life”; 55% of respondents felt the level of criminal activity had increased; and, 80% felt retail crime has made products more expensive.
And here’s where these results could impact the coming election: 61% taking the survey felt the present justice system “does not achieve balance between the rights of victims and offenders” and 87% supported “harsher sentences for repeat offenders”.
“Though violent crime spiked sharply in 2019 — and hasn’t changed much since then — Statistics Canada data shows the overall per capita crime rate, based on police reports, is down in B.C. by about 3 per cent since 2018,” the Canadian Press story noted.
However, SOS countered, the reason for the “decline” is that many crime victims don’t report incidents anymore, because little or nothing will happen.
You can read more details here: https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/09/24/survey-british-columbians-feel-crime-has-risen/.
And all of this came to light in just one day!
I can’t recall another time in BC when so many people in so many communities have fear for their personal safety and the safety of their family, friends and neighbours just going about their daily activities.
And it likely didn’t reassure anyone when, at the end of the same day that all this above occurred, RCMP announced they had recently arrested two individuals inside a “safe injection site” right downtown in Nanaimo, seized a large quantity of drugs/paraphernalia at a nearby motel, and laid charges of drug-trafficking and possession of a prohibited firearm.
How ironic: the injection site involved is reportedly “next door to city hall and across the street from offices of the local MLA and MP,” noted Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.
“As politicians, we are literally in the thick of it,” Krog was quoted in the Times Colonist.
And so are the voters.
Too many ordinary citizens now feel anxious or even fear just walking their neighbourhood streets during the day; lock themselves inside their homes at night … or only go out in pairs or groups; and avoid many areas they used to stroll/frequent/shop without a second thought.
It also certainly doesn’t help that so many British Columbians don’t feel the Courts do enough to protect citizens, even from serial recidivist criminals, aided and abetted by provincial Crown Counsels who refuse to even purse charges in many, many cases.
What will be fascinating is whether/how this fear affects how people vote in the upcoming election.
I do believe every level of governments want us to stay in fear, thus we will then ask for their help. Yep take away Trudeau’s and all governments security people and they will not feel safe either. This has been done deliberately.