Is Canada becoming a more violent society?
Just this year alone saw the following headlines:
Ottawa, 1 April 2022 Marie Gabriel was trapped in a violent relationship with an older man who controlled her every movement — from where she worked, to whom she spoke, and when she left the house, according to her family and friends. Gabriel, 24, was found bludgeoned to death inside the basement of her Heatherington Road townhouse on Monday morning. She moved there in December with her two children — a boy and a girl both younger than three — in what her family hoped would be a new start for her. Police have charged the 40-year-old father of her children, Jean-Bruno “Berno” Fenelon, with second-degree murder in the homicide.
Ottawa, September 12, 2022, A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a young woman in southwest Ottawa. Ottawa police were called to a home on Woodvale Green, near Knoxdale Road and Craig Henry Drive, at about 10:20 a.m. on Sunday, where they “discovered a woman deceased,” the force said in a news release issued Monday. She has been identified by police as Savanna Pikuyak.
Pikuyak was 22 years old and would have turned 23 later this month, according to her mother, Sheba Pikuyak. Sheba says her daughter arrived in the city from Nunavut last week to attend Algonquin College, with the dream of becoming a nurse.
Ottawa, September 19, 2022 A 19-year-old man is dead and an 18-year-old man faces second-degree murder charges after a triple stabbing at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre on Friday. Toronto 13 September: A Toronto police officer was shot dead in an unprovoked “ambush” before a gunman killed another man and left three others with serious injuries in a deadly rampage on Monday afternoon. The suspect was later killed in a cemetery following a standoff with police.
James Smith Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, 7 September 2022 The hunt for the killer behind the rampage that killed 10 people in Western Canada ended on Highway 11, a rural Saskatchewan roadway surrounded by dusty fields. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had run the fugitive’s stolen white truck off the road after chasing it at speeds of more than 90 m.p.h. Then they surrounded the suspect and captured him.
No, in case you are wondering, these are not trailer promos for Hollywood movies, but real-life as we are seeing in living colour in front of our very eyes. Is this the Canada we have come to know and love? According to Statistics Canada (3 August 2022): The number of police-reported hate crimes increased 27% to 3,360 incidents in 2021. Compared with 2019, hate crimes have increased 72% over the last two years. More hate crimes targeting religion (+67%) (including Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic) and sexual orientation (+64%) accounted for most of the national change, along with more incidents targeting race or ethnicity (+6%).
So what exactly is going on? Is Canada becoming more violent by the day? For a long time, Ottawa, the nation’s capital was referred to, in jest, as the city that goes to sleep at 6.00 p.m. Not anymore! Our city appears to have undergone a transformation and is making headlines for all the wrong reasons almost on a weekly basis. And both the victims and alleged perpetrators appear to be from across the board: Caucasians; people of colour; indigenous people, you name it.
Is this a failure in the justice and correctional system? A failure on the part of the various levels of government? A failure in our educational system where children are supposed to learn the fundamentals of proper behaviour, including respect for the laws of the land? A failure on the part of parents in inculcating in their children the norms of correct social behaviour and respect for one another? Or has the Covid pandemic made normally sensible and law-abiding people lose all their inhibitions and turn to anti-social behaviour? Or all of the above? Whatever the root cause or causes, this is a clarion call that our society is becoming something we can no longer say we are proud of. All Canadians need to start a process of soul-searching during which we have conversations with our families, our friends, mosques and churches, educational institutions, workplaces, legislatures, and any other places we meet in person or virtually such as social media. Ask ourselves what kind of country we want and begin the process of healing and bringing back all that is best for us, our children, and generations to come.
*****************************************************************
And in other news
Our Top Story for October 2022 features Community Builder awards by Flos Seniors to three distinguished Black community leaders, activists, and advocates. Congratulations to Yomi Pratt, Jennifer Dennis, and Marlene Hyppolyte on their well-deserved honours. This edition features the return of our regular columnist Ketcia Peters with her piece titled: Black Mermaid. We also carry two reports by veteran journalist Joy Osiagwu on V2V JAM competition and the CADHO kidney disease webinar. All these and more in the October edition of favourite newspaper.
Here is the result of the September 2022 poll: Will you be voting in the October 2022 municipal elections? Yes, 90% No 10%. Thank you to all who voted. Here is the poll for October 2022: Do you believe that Canada is becoming a more violent society?
All the best to you, our dear readers. Do keep yourselves safe and well as you enjoy the fall season.
Godwin Ifedi Editor
Brother Godwin,
There are many reasons behind the stories you cite but one reason is not, as you surmise, “a failure in the justice and correctional system”. In each case, the police behaved as they were designed, and therefore, expected to. The police were created to protect property and maintain “order” by controlling marginalized people – and that’s what they continue to do to this day.
In Marie Gabriel’s case, her alleged killer was known to police as, when she found the courage, she had called them several times to have him arrested, but had then, time and time again, bailed him out or forgave him, her father said. The police followed the rules within a system and that led to Marie’s death. That system has the City providing the police with a $400 million budget while it spends only $15 million on affordable housing when housing is a key thing domestic violence advocates say is needed to help women escape abusive partners. Last July, the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, OCTEVAW, cited a Globe and Mail story that found that for every 5 women who report sexual assault to police, the police assume one is lying. As a result, only 5% of survivors of sexual violence ever report their assault to police. Who knows how many times Marie may have thought of calling the police each time before she felt she had no choice?
Savanna Pikuyak’s alleged killer, Nicolas Ibey, was on probation at the time of the killing, having been sentenced to 45 days in jail after being convicted in Belleville on Jan. 5 of assaulting his former girlfriend, Lori Roche. He was also convicted of breaking and entering, uttering threats against her, threatening to kill an OPP officer and his family, and failing to comply with a restraining order to stay away from Roche. Yet, with all this information, the Ottawa Police had no way of keeping Pikuyak safe. This situation hasn’t changed in years because it’s that way be design.
And the alleged assailant in the mall stabbings is 18-year-old Black youth Mohamed Osman. The manager of the store in front of which the altercation and stabbings happened was quoted as saying, “Young people frequently commit violence near the [store]. The glass at the storefront is “always broken because of their fights””. How could stories like this be different if some of the police budget was, instead, spent on employment and other programs for our youth?
It’s time to start rethinking public safety.