Winnipeg’s downtown safety plan possible template for Brandon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/07/2024 (481 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s an announcement made in Winnipeg that should be getting attention here in Brandon.

On Tuesday, Premier Wab Kinew announced that his government is “enhancing public safety and well-being in Winnipeg by implementing a downtown safety action plan,” which he indicated is going into effect immediately.

At a news conference to announce the new plan, Kinew said that “When somebody is in crisis, when somebody is acting out in the streets, we want to get them health-care services, but the desire to respond with compassion and health care cannot be an excuse for inaction in the face of issues we see are causing other Manitobans to be threatened or to feel unsafe.”

Echoing Kinew, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham told the assembled media that “We want to ensure that individuals who are struggling with addiction and mental-health issues or housing needs have access to the necessary supports.

“At the same time, we cannot let unwell people determine the state of our downtown,” he added. “We can’t be continually threatened by safety issues … Together, we are taking decisive actions to make our downtown safer and more secure for everyone.”

Under the new plan, which was developed in response to concerns raised by downtown Winnipeg residents, workers, businesses and organizations, the province is contributing nearly $1.5 million to expand community safety patrols and mental health training for downtown partners.

That includes up to $1,063,000 for a sobering centre in the N’Dinawemak facility on the Disraeli Freeway, which, according to the government press release, “will support new health and mental-health positions at the sobering centre, as well as associated capital improvements.”

The province is also contributing more than $435,000 in “expanded support” for Winnipeg’s Downtown Community Safety Partnership, in order to increase that organization’s visibility in the city’s downtown area. That money will be topped up with $100,000 from Gillingham’s office, along with $50,000 from the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone.

Finally, there is also a $100,000 contribution from the province “for mental-health training for downtown partners who provide mental health and well-being services.”

It was also announced that the Downtown Community Safety Partnership and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service have developed a new integrated system that allows the two organizations to co-ordinate calls through shared radio systems and computer-aided dispatching. By doing so, the two organizations will be able to communicate on the same radio frequency and dispatch the appropriate response to a situation.

This is the point in the discussion where many Brandonites might ask why a similar plan isn’t being implemented for downtown Brandon, which has many of the same safety issues as downtown Winnipeg, and many of the same adverse consequences arising from of those issues.

Those citizens might even suggest, yet again, that Brandon is being short-changed compared to the funding support that Winnipeg regularly receives from the province.

They could ask that question and air that complaint, but there are three other questions that they should first ask, and they are as follows:

Did Brandon even ask for similar funding for a similar program? Second, isn’t it possible, perhaps even likely, that downtown Winnipeg’s new safety measures are being implemented because the City of Winnipeg, the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, N’Dinawemak, the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service collaborated to devise a viable plan to make their downtown safer, which they then presented to the province for funding?

Finally, is it possible that Brandon isn’t getting similar funding to solve similar problems this summer because this city’s leaders and downtown stakeholders haven’t come up with a similar plan that would warrant provincial funding?

Now is not the time for complaints about unfair treatment. Rather, it is an opportunity for Brandon’s downtown advocates to observe and learn from the successes and setbacks of this latest Winnipeg plan, and to work together to craft a viable “made in Brandon” strategy that will make our downtown safer.

To quote Winnipeg’s Mayor, we need “decisive actions to make our downtown safer and more secure for everyone.”

That’s a goal we can all get behind.