Manitoba announces plan to make downtown Winnipeg safer

Being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. That’s the approach Premier Wab Kinew says the province is taking to make downtown Winnipeg safer.

“If you see somebody on the street under the influence of drugs having a fistfight with an imaginary person we need to take them off of the street in the name of public safety before they cause more problems to themselves and to others,” said Kinew.

Paul Pantel, the owner of Awesome Dog says, “Downtown safety, well…the first week I was here I had somebody pull a knife on my first week.”

The first week he’s talking about it, is the first week of this summer. Pantel has been working his hot dog stand for 30 years and last year he was robbed.

As for how he protects himself while working downtown, Pantel says, “Just hope that I am big enough to scare them, that’s about it.”

The province is spending $1.5 million for the 2024-25 year in hopes that fewer people feel this way while being downtown.

$1 million is going towards a sobering centre at N’Dinawemak – Our Relatives’ Place and $100,000 is being allocated for mental health supports.

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership will receive over $400,000 to increase its visibility downtown, with the city also pitching in $100,000 and the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ giving $50,000.

“What we are standing here together to do is an emergency immediate response over the course of the summer months. The longer-term solutions that we see in the downtown are going to be about investing in education, investing in recreation, investing in mental health and addictions services,” said Kinew.

Criminal Justice Professor Michael Weinrath says while this move is in the right direction, it’s important to track the success of initiatives like this.

“It still would be good to evaluate these services. Are we actually getting a bang for our buck because it is still a very substantial amount of money, are we getting the results, are people actually working together?”