String of crimes involving Winnipeg youth a worrisome trend, says outreach worker

Crimes involving youth in Winnipeg appear to have spiked in the past few months, which is causing concern for some outreach workers.

In the last month, several teens in Winnipeg have been charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, and have been involved in shootings and stabbings.

Community outreach worker Mitch Bourbonniere says this is all fuelled by drugs and gangs.

“It’s alarming and it’s disheartening. Obviously we are in a spike right now,” said Bourbonniere.

“Given historical trauma, generational trauma, poverty, dislocation and root causes that cause children to be alone and at risk and out there on their own, we have to fix that.”

Bourbonniere says he has seen too many kids fall through the cracks in his 40 years of community service.

“One is too many, but I have been to too many funerals in my career. Most notably, I lost a young person that I have been working with for the last 12 years.”

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CRIME INVOLVING TEENS THIS MONTH

• Winnipeg teens allegedly robbed at gunpoint in string of firearm incidents
• Teenager, 15, charged after stabbing death in Thompson
• Three teens charged with aggravated assault after school incident
• Manitoba teenage girl charged with 2nd-degree murder after ‘intentionally’ hitting pedestrians: RCMP

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Devin Bray with St. Boniface Street Links says the drug epidemic has a big role to play in this issue.

“I have met 12- and 13-year-olds who are drug users, who have been using since they were 10 or 11,” said Bray. “To start a treatment plan, where plans are 30 days, it’s lifelong journey for someone to get off these substances, and when you are talking about a child, whose brain isn’t fully developed, it’s years away from where we can actually work with them.

“It’s a totally different generation right now.”

Bray says there are about 11,000 children in care right now. If nothing changes, he says the next generation could have hundreds or even thousands of unhoused and unsupported people who are coming out of Child and Family Services.

Bray believes that is why we are seeking spikes in youth crimes.

“We need to prepare for the next generation of kids who may have substance abuse issues, mental-health issues and they have been in the system for a long time that may not have given them a fair shake,” he said.

Overall youth crimes down

Dr. Kelly Gorkoff from the University of Winnipeg says it’s not unusual to see a slew of youth crimes in a short period of time. She says crime rates tend to spike in the spring.

“More people are out and about, more people are interacting with each other, so that’s a consistent trend in terms of most crime,” said Gorkoff, an associate professor in the criminal justice department at the U of W.

“We see a little spike when it comes to spring and summer. But overall, youth crimes have been dropping consistently since 2006.”

Bourbonniere says nothing will change, unless the government, funders and community organizations have a specific focus and are on the same agenda.

“I think we need more land-based programs, we need to get youth involved in ceremony positive activism, volunteerism,” said Bourbonniere. “Whether it’s Bear Clan or Mama Bear Clan, we need to get them into the good gangs.”