Chief Peter Beatty (left) discusses community safety issues in PBCN communities with Director General Adrian Walraven of the Indigenous Affairs Branch at Public Safety Canada. Pelican Narrows stands out as having the highest violent crime rate in Sask. and possibly in any province. (Tina Pelletier/submitted)

By Susan McNeil

Sask and violent crime

Northern communities drive high crime stats in Sask.

Jul 26, 2024 | 5:00 PM

For the 25th year in a row, Saskatchewan has led the way when it comes to the dubious distinction of having the highest numbers on the Crime Severity Index amongst Canadian provinces.

Within Saskatchewan, northern communities are leading the way and of those northern communities, Pelican Narrows has the highest number with a Violent CSI number of 3775.

Neither the cause nor the solution is simple however, said the RCMP on Friday while acknowledging the ever-rising number.

“It’s important to understand the complexities of policing, evolving criminal activity and the resourcing realities that we are faced with on a daily basis,” said Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore at a media conference broadcast on social media.

While Pelican Narrows stands out as far as violent crime goes, it is a trend that applies to other northern communities as well. Black Lake (1,750), Waskesiu (1,936), Wollaston Lake (1,288) and Sandy Bay (1,410) are all significantly higher than the provincial number of 201. The violent CSI number for Canada as a whole is 99.45.

Volleyball Provincials

JPII wraps up the season with 4th place

25m ago

NOV. 27, 1885

'We never forget our people': First Nations commemorate eight men lost in Canada's largest mass hanging

5h ago

Local Soccer

BUFC have a successful weekend in Saskatoon

22h ago

Leadership in Pelican Narrows are well aware of their high ranking on the violent CSI index. (screen shot/Stats Canada)

Leadership in Pelican Narrows are hardly ignoring the burning need in their community.

They have begged for help and declared a state of emergency last year, things were so bad.

At a meeting in April of this year with Public Safety Canada, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (Pelican Narrows is a member of the PBCN) Chief Peter Beatty pointed directly at the CSI as proof of the community’s desperate need.

“Pelican Narrows is under tremendous strain – we are dealing with a Crime Severity Index six times above the province’s average with violent crimes having doubled in the past four years. It’s clear that our situation demands immediate action,” he said.

Weapons charges in the community with a population of less than 3,000 have tripled. Hard to solve problems like a lack of housing, a shortage of police officers and a need for anti-gang and violence prevention initiatives were all brought up.

Much of the severe violence and weapons issues are the direct result of gang activity across the northern parts of Saskatchewan.

Despite there being fewer residents in the North District, the vast majority of crime is happening there. (source: SK RCMP 2023 Crime Stats and Yearly Trends )

Several weeks ago, Prince Albert Police released weapons-related stats for the first three months of 2024. In that time, there were 61 incidents that involved a weapon with about one-half of those involving a knife.

However, when a gun is involved (which it was in 12 incidents) the level of injury is vastly increased.

Breaking down the numbers further, seven of the 12 gun-related incidents are believed to involve organized crime or gangs and drug trafficking. In six cases, the gun was discharged and most of those resulted in injuries, sometimes life-threatening.

Two were targeted shootings at residences believed to house gang members.

Between January and March, police seized 58 weapons from suspects. Of those 31 were knives and seven were guns. Not all of the guns have been recovered. Of the five that were not found, all were related to gangs and trafficking.

Using handguns during criminal activity is relatively common in Canada as a whole, but not in the Prairies. Gang activity is changing.

“In Prince Albert, the increase in handgun seizures appears to be related to either an increase in numbers, or an increase in intelligence, police detection, and enforcement of individuals involved in drug trafficking, who come to Prince Albert from other provinces, such as Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta,” reads the report as presented to the Police Commission.

A recent report from PAPS shows the gun related crime for the first three months of 2024 U/K is unknown. (PAPS)

Outside criminal organizations send young members to Prince Albert to sell drugs for several months then switch them. They move residences frequently, making them harder to find.

“While handguns are typically seized from this type of drug trafficker, PAPS has also started to see seizures of handguns from local drug dealers and/or gang members,” said the report.

In three months, officers seized 11 handguns three of which were illegally imported from the US. Four had been reported stolen (three in Saskatchewan, one in BC).

Prince Albert’s violent CSI number is 496, an increase of 4.5 per cent between 2022 and 2023.

Importing criminals from outside of Saskatchewan is something that the RCMP have also noted as a trend.

“Some of those things that we’re seeing is some of those vulnerable communities being impacted by gangs outside of their community, outside of the province,” said Blackmore.

She said she was glad to hear the province was willing to fund the full complement of 1,047 RCMP officer positions in the most recent budget as additional resources are needed to deal with increases in crime.

In the last 10 years in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction, the number of homicide victims has increased by 275 per cent, the number of violent firearms offences has increased by 271 per cent,” said Blackmore.

Assaults on officers are up 79 per cent and assaults in general are up 33 per cent although over one-half of the violent crime is still caused by intimate partner or family violence.

Numbers about how many of those assaults had drug use as an underlying factor were not available.

susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com