“Edmonton is the safest city in Canada” — that’s how the headline might read in 2030 if city council successfully turns the city’s ranking around dramatically in 10 years.
Coun. Sarah Hamilton proposed the lofty goal at the end of a lengthy debate on policing last Monday, which council unanimously supported.
It would be quite the opposite of the current reality and reputation.
“For most of my life — and I would wager most of the rest of council lives — Edmonton has held the dubious title of one of the most unsafe cities in Canada,” Hamilton said. “Ten years ago, we had the name Stabmonton and our city routinely ranks high on the crime severity index.”
Hamilton’s motion directs administration to review the goals for a future, healthy city as outlined in the strategy called ConnectEdmonton.
Council agreed Edmonton needs to drop in the ranking of Statistics Canada’s crime severity index.
In 2018, Edmonton’s CSI was 115, compared to Calgary’s 88, Vancouver’s 84 and Toronto’s 54.
Among Canadian cities, only Regina at 126 and Winnipeg at 119 were worse than Edmonton that year.
The crime severity index includes all Criminal Code violations including traffic and drug violations and Federal Statutes, according to Statistics Canada.
Hamilton listed the numerous areas the city invests in safety-related efforts, such as the plan to end homelessness, countering violent extremism, segregated bike lanes, Vision Zero for traffic, and pedestrian safety and mental health initiatives.
“By putting a target date on it and setting it out plainly that we’re going to be at the top of that list by that point, we’re validating the investments that we have already made,” Hamilton said.
Worst city for women
Other studies assessing the overall quality of life in Canadian cities also put Edmonton at the bottom.
In 2014, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ranked Edmonton the worst city in Canada to be a woman.
In its 2019 study, the CCPA placed Edmonton second last among 26 cities, one step above Barrie, ON.
Last year, Kingston, St. John’s and Victoria were the top three best places in Canada to live as a woman, the CCPA found.
The study includes safety but also factors in economic security, the number of women in management positions and non-traditional careers — categories in which Edmonton ranks quite low.
The author of that report and senior researcher at the CCPA, Katherine Scott, said Edmonton hovers around the middle of the 26 cities in relation to general safety.
Hamilton’s initiative is a positive step, Scott told CBC News in a phone interview Friday.
“Change doesn’t come unless we identify problems and set goals and you measure your progress,” Scott said.
Scott said the timing is appropriate, as municipalities “rethink” their approach to security and policing, and lean toward community development and education.
“A good piece of the answer lies in community resourcing, tackling issues of economic security, ensuring affordable and safe housing,” she said. “These are all key pieces to creating a much safer community.”
Councillors Jon Dziadyk, Scott McKeen and Sarah Hamilton at a council meeting in 2018. (CBC)
Coun. Bev Esslinger said awareness about safety for women has increased over the past few years, with movements like MeToo driving more conversation.
“This is something that’s not going to get solved by any one group or any one organization,” she said Friday. “It won’t be resolved until the community comes together to do it.”
Esslinger said the city has taken steps, involving a variety of groups over the past few years.
For example, the city hosted the United Nations Women’s Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces in Oct. 2018, she noted.
Esslinger acknowledged it takes time to change behaviour, but that every measure will add up.
“You need a goal and then you need to have specific actions to get to where you want to go,” Esslinger said. “And what are the outcomes that you’re going to know you get there?”
The motion is aimed at safety for everyone, including seniors, LGBTQ people, BIPOC, cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, Hamilton added.
“Having a safe city is closely tied to having a just city, and having a safe and just city will in turn be a healthy city.”
The motion directs administration to report back in November with specific metrics or targets to improve safety in Edmonton.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
