The federal government should be taking the heat for crime in the Lakeland, according to Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA Scott Cyr, who hosted three provincial ministers, as well as Indigenous chiefs and municipal leaders for a discussion on Nov. 25.
The ministers in attendance included Mike Ellis, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, Mickey Amery, the Minister of Justice, and Rick Wilson, the Minister of Indigenous Relations.
“We prioritize engaging with Albertan communities like Lakeland to actively listen to their safety concerns, ensuring that their voices are heard and valued. By fostering open dialogue, we aim to build trust and collaboratively develop effective strategies that address their unique needs and enhance overall safety,” said Ellis.
Municipal Response
Municipal leaders were united in their praise of Cyr for organizing the meeting, their appreciation of the opportunity to sit down and speak with three ministers at once, and their support of local RCMP detachments.
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said it was good to see so many people from around the constituency at the meeting because it demonstrates that crime really is an issue and a concern for the whole region.
“We ran out of time, so a lot of municipal and First Nations and Métis leaders didn't get a chance to speak, so that was unfortunate,” said Copeland.
He said one of the concerns he raised at the meeting was the funding formula for policing. According to Copeland, Cold Lake will be seeing a 4.4 per cent tax increase, which is almost entirely attributable to becoming responsible for 90 per cent of their policing costs now that the city’s population has surpassed the threshold of 15,000.
Steven Jeffery, CAO for the Town of St Paul also attended the meeting. He said he spoke about the challenge of the local hospital being designated as a mental health hub facility for northern Alberta.
“Not only are we labelled with that, we are actually the oldest hospital in the province. So it's just a compounding problem that is putting more strain on the court system within our community - on the policing that our RCMP are doing a great job of - but [they] do not have enough resources to deal with the crime that we are experiencing,” said Jeffery.
Coun. Maxine Fodness attended on behalf of the County of St. Paul. She thought everyone came out with a better understanding of the challenges.
“My takeaway was that the problem is bigger than what they have answers for, because if it's linked to addictions and mental health, there has to be a lot of cross ministry work done to correct it,” said Fodness.
One thing Fodness said she found quite shocking was that St. Paul had the highest Crime Severity Index (CSI) of any municipality in Alberta in 2023.
The CSI is a weighted calculation that includes both the number of crimes committed in a community as well as the seriousness of those crimes. The more serious the average sentence for the crime, the higher it is weighted in the calculation. Because it is also being measured and expressed per 100,000 people, the CSI for small communities can be dramatically impacted by a single murder or robbery.
CSI discrepancy
In follow up with Cyr, Lakeland This Week was referred to a table on CanadaCrimeReport.com, which in turn cites Statistics Canada as the source of its data. The Canada Crime Report ranking includes the municipalities of St. Paul (1st), Bonnyville (3rd), Lac La Biche (6th), Elk Point (8th), and Cold Lake (10th).
Analysis of the data from Statistics Canada still ranks most Lakeland communities in the top 25 per cent of the 156 rural and urban municipalities where specific data exists, and all have CSIs above the provincial average of 103.
St. Paul (municipal) and St. Paul (rural) are both in the top 10 overall, ranked seventh and ninth respectively. Because of the way the data are gathered, Statistics Canada is not able to provide blended statistics for communities where police serve both rural and urban areas.
According to Statistics Canada, Bonnyville (municipal) is 14th, Lac La Biche (rural) is 17th, Elk Point (rural) is 19th, Cold Lake (rural) is 22nd, Smoky Lake (rural) is 23rd, Cold Lake (municipal) is 24th, Lloydminster (municipal) is 25th, Boyle (rural) is 31st, Bonnyville (rural) is 33rd, and Athabasca (rural) ranks 36th.
Bill C-75
According to Cyr, much of the crime in the Lakeland and other rural regions “stems from the impacts of federal Bill C-75.”
The bill, which came in to effect in June 2019, made a number of changes to the bail system including the addition of Gladue considerations to bail hearings, creating a reverse onus for people accused of intimate partner violence, and codifying the “principle of restraint,” which requires release at the earliest opportunity and that bail conditions be reasonable, relevant, and necessary.
“Albertans have a right to feel safe and protected in their communities, no matter where they live. The federal government needs to make substantive and immediate changes to the bail system, which will stop that cycle of repeat offenders that are being released and reoffending, especially in the Lakeland,” said Ellis.