ATHABASCA – The Municipal District of Opportunity, which declared a extended its Oct. 11 State of Local Emergency (SOLE) declaration a further seven days, after a community meeting yielded progress but no firm short-term solutions.
Under Section 21(1) of the Emergency Management Act, a SOLE provides municipalities with a broader range of powers than the Municipal Government Act regularly allows. The declaration lapses after seven days have passed, unless it is renewed or revoked by the municipal council.
M.D. reeve Marcel Auger declared the SOLE Oct. 11, citing a six-month long increase in public safety issues — residents say that gun-related crimes have increased, leading to MLA Scott Sinclair to call for a return to “common sense law and order.”
Following an Oct. 18 meeting, which included representatives from the RCMP, Sinclair, and a selection of community leaders, M.D. reeve Marcel Auger said that he would be extending the SOLE until the community felt confident with where it was at.
“I do feel a little better about it (after the meeting), I think we’ve looked at some short-term and long-term solutions to the situation we’re dealing with,” said Auger. “At this point I’ll be extending the state of local emergency. We don’t feel confident to lift that, we’re still dealing with the issues and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
The M.D. is exploring an increase in law enforcement to help fix the issues at hand — Auger said that they are looking to buy some more man-hours from the Athabasca RCMP to help achieve what he envisions as a “boots on the ground” solution.
“The long term goal here is a detachment in the community, we think the size of the community, and what we’re dealing with warrant having a detachment right here,” said Auger.
Another possible solution would be to have Alberta Sheriffs’ on-site to help with response times, which community members say can exceed the two-hour mark. While the province can provide the officers, Sinclair said the RCMP would need to ask for the support.
A frightened community
“We’re very concerned about the area, even if the numbers don’t match it,” said Sinclair, who also serves as the Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Policing. “We believe that the community and residents in the area, even though they’re in the northern part of the province, fundamentally deserve the right to raise and to live in communities where public safety is paramount. We need to restore common sense law and order.”
According to the RCMP, the statistics show an overall decrease in crime over the previous five years — Gary Graham, Chief Superintendent of the Eastern Alberta District, said that a recent spike in property crime, particularly break and enters, left the community feeling concerned for their safety.
“We want the community to be able to feel safe,” said Graham. “Working together with stakeholders is nothing new, but it was proposed today that we work with the Sheriffs. We’ll be looking at and assessing the work with our Sheriff partners, and see what, if any, appropriate responses could be applied.”
Graham said that the solution won’t be as simple as “just calling in more resources” to the area. According to him, background data including crime severity, call load, and the workloads for the officers help the organization determine how many officers are needed.
Roger Smolnicky, president of the Calling Lake Community Society, felt that the meeting was a step in the right direction, although it did leave him waiting for action to occur.
“Our society wants to support the community in any way possible, and our community members were vocal about the meeting,” said Smolnicky. “It was good to hear that we had some solutions, because it is still an ongoing problem.”
“Catch and release” policing
Smolnicky also called for judicial reform, saying part of the solution had to come from the federal government — a common complaint from community members has been the so-called ‘catch and release’ system of policing. Graham said the RCMP do work to notify the prosecutors when they oppose bail.
“We give them the heads up, so that they can then speak to and address the catch and release concerns that the community has,” said Graham. He added that there were programs that the RCMP offered to repeat offenders that offered support for addictions and homelessness through the judicial system.
Opportunity is working towards the creation of a committee to help address the problem. While Auger or Sinclair didn’t have concrete dates for a follow up town hall, Auger said that they were hoping to have something organized within the week.
