Winnipeg: Crime capital linked to racism and social injustice



Recent figures released by Statistics Canada show Manitoba is the most violent province in the country and Winnipeg is the country’s most violent city.

Manitoba tops Statistics Canada’s violent crime severity index at a rate of 162.3 (per 100,000 people) for 2010, while Winnipeg scored a rate of 163.9.

Winnipeg crime problem could be easily solved by redressing rampant denial and institutionalized racism which spawns human rights abuses and social alienation. However the hatred against aboriginal peoples runs deep in among municipal, provincial and federal levels of governments.

Winnipeg's North End, where many aboriginal peoples live, has experienced worsening gang activity, including sexual exploitation of children and youth, gun violence and drug related crime.

The high rates of self-injurious behaviour and suicide in Winnipeg’s North Ends speaks volumes about the hopelessness of the city’s youth in the supposedly progressive society that Canada represents.

More aboriginal people live in Winnipeg than in any other major city in Canada, according to new census data released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

One in 10 Winnipeggers identified themselves as aboriginal in the 2006 census — the largest percentage of any major city in the country. The Manitoba capital also has the largest aboriginal population in sheer numbers, at 68,380.

The growth of the city's aboriginal population — defined as those who said they were Indian, Métis or Inuit — has been dramatic in recent years, growing by 22 per cent over five years, compared with only one per cent for non-aboriginal Winnipeggers.

The combination of profound institutionalized against aboriginal people which are a significant part of the city’s population, make a culture of drugs, crime, and violence inevitable.

Mohandas Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” It is a form of violence that can tear apart individual lives, destroy families, and create unhealthy communities. It is the worst form of violence because often the damage it causes can be silent and subtle, grinding down hopes and ambitions over time, creating feelings of shame and isolation, and passing on despair and hopelessness from one generation to the next. When our communities are broken it affects everyone of us.

The same kind of institutionalized racism which precipitated genocide against aboriginal peoples in relation to the ‘Residential Schools Holocaust’ appears to be alive and well in Winnipeg.

One of my favourite shows has been Moccasin Flats which presents the kind of struggles the many aboriginal communities deal with on a day-to-day basis in western Canadian cities. Moccasin Flats is a Canadian drama series that ran for three full seasons. This series, which has been aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and Showcase Television since 2004, is a co-produced by Big Soul Productions Inc. (Toronto, ON) and Stephan Onda Productions inc. (Regina, SK).

Perhaps if the Harper government spent less money back U.S. President Barack Obama’s expansionist wars, and more money at home, there might be resources to support accountable First Nations organizations in Winnipeg that are seeking to make a difference.


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