Native leaders' help needed to solve crime problem: councillor

Last Updated: Monday, July 30, 2007 | 6:18 PM CT

CBC News

A Winnipeg city councillor says it's "high time" for aboriginal leaders in the city to work with governments to help put an end to a crime wave that has kept city police hopping.

Winnipeg police say they have never seen call volumes as high as this summer.

After another violent weekend in the city — with at least three stabbings, one fatal — police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Dennison said Monday that police officers are literally running from call to call.

"Our officers are experiencing far more violent crime," he said Monday. "We are seeing a lot more serious offences being committed, and it's just a sheer volume thing for the [Winnipeg Police Service] right now."

Harry Lazarenko, city councillor for the Mynarski ward, said his area sees violent crime every night, and he's received calls from constituents who are afraid to leave their homes.

The longtime city councillor called on aboriginal leaders in the city to get involved in solving problem.

"My concern is, where are the native leaders? They are heard any other time," said Lazarenko, who lives on Magnus Avenue, which has been the scene of several shootings this year.

"People are getting killed, innocent people, young people, and I think that it's high time they would step up to the plate and come and meet with us, meet with the province and the federal government and say, 'Look, we want this problem solved.'

"I'm asking these aboriginal leaders to get involved because this is the biggest — you know, people that are having problems is with them — they've got young kids, they're leading a life of crime. They're dying."

Morris Shannacappo, head of the Southern Manitoba Chiefs organization, bristled at Lazarenko's remarks.

"I'm surprised at Lazarenko for making such a comment without looking at history and exactly why we are the way we are today," he said. "Why can I not share the bountiness of this whole country, so that there's absolutely no poverty for anyone?"

Aboriginal people are more likely to be the victims of crime and more likely to be involved with the justice system as an offender, according to Statistics Canada.

The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, an extensive examination of aboriginals' relationship with the Manitoba justice system in the 1990s, estimated aboriginal adults in the province were six times more likely to be incarcerated than non-aboriginal adults.

Shannacappo said the problem is partly a result of aboriginal people being continually frustrated and pushed to extreme behaviour. The federal government is not living up to its treaty obligations to First Nations, he said.