Meeting chance for Ward 2 to be heard

Opinion

“If the downtown area is safe for business and safe for our citizens, that is something that is going to contribute to overall community wellness. So, I am meeting with a multiplicity of stakeholders and partners that work in the downtown core.”

— Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates (March 10, 2025)

As part of the Brandon Police Service’s ongoing consultation sessions, residents of the downtown in Ward 2 have been invited to meet with Chief Tyler Bates this morning for a public followup session to discuss Brandon’s Downtown Public Safety Strategy.

In case you were not aware of it, the two-hour meeting will start at 10 a.m. at the Cultural Resource Centre at the A.R. McDiarmid Civic Complex at 638 Princess Ave. Ward residents who own homes or rent property are invited to take part in this meeting.

This is, so far as we are aware, the last of these consultations regarding downtown safety. A previous public consultation that was to include people who live in the region was not well advertised and not so well attended, so this followup meeting appears to be a way trying again to reach out to area residents.

Until now, much of the focus of these public consultations has been on people who work in the downtown region. The first meeting in March, for example — which was not open to the public — included only partner agencies that are providing services to the vulnerable population downtown, including Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, Westman Immigrant Services, the Safe and Warm Shelter, the Brandon Friendship Centre, Prairie Mountain Health and the City of Brandon’s community housing and wellness co-ordinator.

These are all necessary partners in the work that needs to be done to make downtown a safer and more welcoming part of this city. Consultations need to be followed by actions, and there have been organizations working to make downtown a safe and interesting destination. Those efforts should be applauded.

We’re also keenly aware that Chief Bates is working toward solutions, and understands that there is an “overwhelming” amount of work to be done in the downtown area — beyond merely cosmetic changes — to turn the situation around.

However, we remain somewhat concerned that any actions taken under the plan that Chief Bates and his officers create as a result of these consultations will fall short, simply because the bulk of these sessions will not take into account the concerns of those who want to walk the streets near their home without incident.

In other words, last consulted should not mean not least considered.

There are certainly public safety concerns to address, as evidenced by what has been happening just this year alone.

As we have reported before, an elderly man and woman were accosted last January on the sidewalk on the south side of Rosser Avenue. They were approached by a younger man who hit the older man in the head with a baseball bat. The attack was entirely unprovoked.

The alleged attacker in that case was arrested shortly after the assault happened, and has been charged with assault with a weapon. He has a lengthy criminal record for violent crimes and, just one day before the assault on Rosser Avenue, had been convicted in Winnipeg of other assaults.

In March, a 30-year-old woman was beaten and robbed by four teenagers outside The Town Centre.

And since that first consultation meeting in March, there have been several other incidents downtown that serve to underline just how seriously our police and city councillors should be taking public safety in the ward.

In April, escalating violence and safety concerns, along with operational challenges, prompted the Blue Door drop-in centre in downtown Brandon to shut its doors permanently. The closure came a month after Brandon police responded to a deadly assault at the same building that once housed the shelter.

“There was a very serious assault that took place there on March 11,” Bates told the Sun at the time, “and the victim of that serious assault died in hospital shortly thereafter.”

Bates has told media previously that more than a third of the calls that Brandon police officers respond to are within the downtown core.

All things considered, that’s not terribly surprising. This past month, there have been several new public safety incidents of note. Just this past Friday, a woman was arrested near 10th Street and Pacific Avenue for chasing someone down the street with a machete.

Our hope is that area residents who care about their neighbourhoods and the people who operate businesses and social services downtown will show up today to offer their experiences and their input.