In northwest Winnipeg, residents say crime is rising so they're reaching to each other for help

Kaur Sidhu loves his northwest Winnipeg neighbourhood. But he says recently,it seems like crime has increasedin the Waterford Green area.

He's experienced it himself, from having a lawnmower stolen from his garage to seeing strangers walk through his neighbours' yards.

That's led some to put up fences, which has created a different feeling on his street.

"They provide more privacy, but also it segregates the neighbourhood," Sidhusaid.

"I like it without fences [in the] area. It's open. When you cut your grass, you talk to your neighbour. You sit, you have beer, you talk about the weekend or the family."

While police statistics suggest property crime has actually dropped in the past year, Sidhu and his neighbours aren't the only onesin the area whose sense of safety has been shaken.

Grip Singh said his Amber Trailshouse has been broken into three times in the last decade.

He says last fall, his son, Nico, was almost kidnapped when a passenger in a vehicle tried to pull the 12-year-oldinas he walked home from school just a short distance from his house.

Now, the longtime resident is relying on his community to keep an eye out for trouble, from patrolling with a neighbourhood watch group to Facebook, where a group tried to help him track down his son's attackers when police weren't able to.

Singh said many peoplein his neighbourhood have started to feel like officers don't patrol the area enough.

"It's very frustrating for all the residents," he said.

Area property crime down last year

According to the Winnipeg Police Service's crime map, property crime in northwest Winnipeg reached a five-year high between 2019 and 2020.

Between February 2020 and February of this year, the rate droppedboth in the area and across the city though it's unclear whether the pandemic or other factors are behind that shift.

Sidhu suggested another possibility is the area's increase in newcomers to Canada, who may not always report crimes to police.

From 2006 until 2016 (the most recent census data available),northwest Winnipeg welcomed thousands of immigrants. The number of newcomers from the Philippines and India, for example, more than doubled in that time.

Sidhu said he's heard from neighbours who haven't called police when they've had things stolen.

"If somebody goes into your garage to grab something and walks away, they don't report that," he said.

The growth of thearea itself may also be contributing to a sense of unease, says one urban studies expert.

A recent planning document presented to city council said Winnipeg plans to see 1,700 new homes every year over the next two decades along the city's outskirts neighbourhoods like those in northwest Winnipeg.

When a neighbourhood grows that quickly, it's common for longtimeresidents to feel less safe, whether crimeis actually going up or not,saysChris Storie, director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

"As a neighbourhood changes, for the good or for the bad, the change sort of generates a perception of, 'Something's going wrong,'" he said.

While the area has seen an increase in newcomers from countries like the Philippines and India, Storie said the phenomenon isn't necessarily as simple as white people becoming uncomfortable when people of colour people move in next door.

"It's the fact that the group has changed that really generates that concern," he said, regardless of where they've come from.

That doesn't discountresidents' experiences with crime, he says,but it could be a factor thatchips away at their sense of safety.

Know your neighbours

Storie suggests a solution is getting to know your neighbours building connections instead of fences.

"That growth of community, that growth of that interconnectedness, really creates a safety net," he said.

"It has much more impact than just keeping petty crime down."

That's something many residents in northwest Winnipeg are alreadydoing.

In the Seven Oaks area, Elizabeth Ashe said she recently joined herneighbourhood'sfirst residents' association, after noticing she had started to feel less safe where she lives.

"I think it's a start," she said."We need to get back to knowing everybody who lives on your street."

And while crime is still a frustration for Singh and his neighbours in Amber Trails, community groups have strengthened their sense of safety, too.

"We have a very good, strong, closely knit community," he said.

"We all look out for each other."

Neighbours grow sense of community to try and bring down crime

3 years ago

Duration 2:27

Neighbourhood groups across northwest Winnipeg are banding together to try and bring down crime. According to Winnipeg Police data, property crime in the area rose exponentially for five years. People there are now working to build up a sense of community.

This story is part of CBC Manitoba's On the Move community journalism project, which invites residents to shine a light on the stories we should tell about their communities. The first communities we're featuring are three Winnipeg suburbs: northwest Winnipeg, Bridgwater Forest and Valley Gardens.