Nickel Belt News
Volume 58 Number 11
Friday, March 16, 2018
Thompson, Manitoba
Serving the Norman Region since 1961
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
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Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 61 • Issue 28
High-profile safety and justice initiatives in Thompson still works in progress two Book a way preserve and pass on years aftertothey were announced
memories of growing up in Churchill
tember, but little news about responded to this June. the strategy has been forth- Two years ago, there were Public safety and criminal coming since, though May- around 20 articles about justice initiatives aimed at or Colleen Smook remarked incident police responded reducing crime in Thompat a recent council meeting to here in the same month. son and speeding up the that the draft version of it It probably isn’t because resolution of criminal charhad been received. crime has dropped by twoges dealt with at the city’s Within a couple of weeks thirds, since Thompson court office are proceeding after the provincial funding RCMP detachment comslowly, even as incidents for the safety strategy was mander Insp. Chris Hastie similar to those from the announced, plans for $11 said at a public safety compast continue to occur. million worth of renovations mittee meeting in May that Manitoba RCMP’s media to the Thompson court of- he expects the number of relations unit reported this fice were announced. Work calls officers deal with will week on two machetes beto be done included creat- normalize to 2019 levels ing seized in Thompson in ing a smaller courtroom as public health orders are the span of a single day, a for a judicial justice of the lifted. Certainly, there have little more than two years peace and a child-friendly been success stories over after a spike in knife-related courtroom as well as a safer the past two years, parand separate waiting area ticularly the reincarnated for victims, including child StreetReach North program, witnesses. Security equip- which has helped to drasticment such as closed-circuit ally reduce the number of (CCTV) cameras, X-ray missing youth reports that machines and handheld police have to deal with. and walk-through metal The difference could also detectors were also among be partly due to a drop in the improvements proposed. the number of local RCMP Thompson RCMP seized two responded to a fight on Parkway released for a court date in ThompA perimeter security news releases. In October machetes and a sawed-off .22 cali- Crescent. They learned that two son in August. screening area, the addition 2019, a few months after an bre rifle in three separate incidents male suspects with a weapon had “Thankfully there were no injurof a building lockdown sys- article in the Thompson CitJuly 5. fled on foot. They were located ies to the public or our officers,” tem and upgraded CCTV izen decrying the fact that The gun was seized on Monday nearby and arrested. A machete said Thompson RCMP detachment security cameras inside and the only way to get informaafternoon after police received a was seized and the two accused, commander Insp. Chris Hastie in outside the building have tion about some local crime report of a man holding a firearm aged 14 and 15, were later released an RCMP news release. “Our offibeen completed so far, incidents was to read about in the parking lot of a business with court-imposed conditions cers will continue to work diligentJustice Minister Cameron them on social media and on Thompson Drive. The suspect for an upcoming court date in ly to make the City of Thompson Friesen said in a response to contact Manitoba RCMP was found near Grey Wolf Bay and Thompson. a safer place and appreciate the a letter requesting an update media relations in Winniarrested after a short foot chase. A report of a man walking down public’s timely assistance in rethat the mayor sent him in peg, there were 24 releases The gun was located nearby and Churchill Drive with a weapon just porting suspicious activities, such May. from the Thompson RCMP the 24-year-old remains in custody. before 5 p.m. led to the seizure as these, to the police.” “Providing efficient and detachment. In June 2021, The first knife seizure occurred of a machete and the arrest of a Police continue to investigate responsive criminal justhere were four. It may be around 2:30 a.m. when police 22-year-old man, who was later the incidents. tice services in Thompson due to a drop in incidents or and its surrounding com- policy changes on what gets munities is a priority for released and how, perhaps a my department,” Friesen combination Nickel Belt News photoof byboth. Ian Graham noting that a vacant When it comes to Addictions Foundation of Manitoba northern director Gisele deMeulles has written a book about her experiences growing wrote, up, mostly in Churchill. Crown attorney position at improving community the Thompson office Thompson, the BY IAN GRAHAM For allinthe harsh weather to write things that you have ‘Oh, I’m just as bad, right?’ was not a very safe thing swallow when court people say safety to be filledresidents by a new current of councilEDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET to figure out. It’s pretty clear I have all these stories and to do but I jumped at it. I was thatset Churchill and the group dangers of polar RCMP photos lawyer last and that a bears, lors is running outsaid of time. Though she’s now written when I get through.” I need to capture them for thought that was exciting should just month find somewhere deMeulles if it Two machetes, including competition then underway Funding for the strategy a book about her experienDeMeulles said she wrote my grandchildren really until the plane landed and easier to live. had been viable she would this one, and a sawedfind asay, Crown attorney for was announced during ces growing up in Churchill, her book, titled Whispers in because they will be lost if they the to “To ‘Those people have moved back to Churchoff .22started calibrethrowing rifle, were The Pas would result in the the first year of their term. Addictions Foundation of the Wind: Stories from the I don’t.” fuel off and I realized, ‘Holy choose to live there. They ill in a heartbeat. seized by Thompson RCMP elimination the last such Less than four fromI Manitoba northern director North - Life in Churchill for She also has a reputation cats, I was probably sitting should just of leave,’ is quite “I miss the months shoreline, in separate incidents vacancy forIt’s those positions now, the they’ll beI into Gisele deMeulles said writ- a couple of reasons. as a storyteller herself. onthree a bomb.’” simplistic. quite disre- miss rock, misstheir the 5. Northern Manitoba. last year. Theeven strategy isn’t ing wasn’t something she “I just sort of thought, “I had such a varied his- July Another thing that in spectful. If we were in the polar bears though It may like crime about a very quickdangerous fix, of course, always thought she would you know what, this his- tory and I would tell people spurred her on was the same boatseem in another area they’re and gonewe down in Thomptheremiss isn’tthe lot Hudson to show do. tory, this stuff that’s in my stories and they would go, hard times facing Churchill Ihas think would scream Ibut really since There some safety “In my youth I never head, it’s going to be gone ‘That’s not true, is it?’ I’d go, since the Hudson Bay Rail- son about that2019. so why don’twere they for Bay,” shehigh-profile says. “When I go half-a-dozen press releasand justice felt good at writing,” she if I don’t write it down,” she ‘Yeah it’s true.’ They’d go, way suspended operations have the option to do that? back home,announcements standing on the sent right out regarding in- Hudson more than yearsout after said. “But when I moved said. “My kids are not go- ‘You didn’t do all that, did north of Gillam last spring. Iesthink now they’re Baytwo looking on Thompson were made. to Thompson to get into ing to get it if I don’t do it you? You’ve got to be really “It used to be a really cidents feeling like they’re RCMP pawns they the bay, it just gives you an BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
incidents – five people were stabbed within a week of each other in late May and early June at that time – led to 2019 earning a reputation as the “year of the machete.” A public safety strategy for the city, which the provincial government pledged $300,000 towards, still hasn’t been released to the public, while court office renovations are, to a large extent, not even started yet. U n d o u b t e d l y, the COVID-19 pandemic and public health responses such as the ban on non-essential travel to Northern Manitoba
that was in effect for much of it, have hampered the ability of the city and provincial government to roll things out as fast as they’d like, but there are reasons that urgency is needed. When the results of a community safety survey, designed by Saskatoon-based consultant Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA), which was awarded the contract for the first phase of the public safety strategy on March 16, 2020, a few days after the first positive test for COVID-19 in Manitoba
took place, were revealed in September of last year, several hundred respondents indicated that they had plans to move to Winnipeg or elsewhere in southern Manitoba, or to another province, many of them within two years or less. Three-quarters of nearly 1,600 people said that if nothing was done about community safety for three or four years, the situation in the city would get much worse. One of those years has since elapsed. In-person public consultations about community safety were held last Sep-
Gun and two machetes seized in three separate incidents July 5 in Thompson
the school of social work, and it’s something I’ve alat that point I had to write ways wanted my mom to for university and realized, do. My mom’s an elder and ‘Holy, I’m not bad at this, she’s an artist, she’s got so right?’ I certainly developed many wonderful stories bea lot of skill in university cause she always tells her and came out of there with stories at Parks Canada in a very strong skill in my Churchill and I’ve always POWER SWEEPING, LAWN MOWING, AERATION, writing and confidence in hounded her, ‘Please, just DETHATCHING & SPRAYING, my writing. I write very putLICENSED it on tape, I will write it FERTILIZER AND WEED clear and that’s it. It’s there.CONTROL for you SERVICES because your story Some people say it’s kind of is going to be lost,’ and she’s blunt or direct. I don’t tend never done it and I thought,
“Weeds on your lawn? Gotta be gone.”
old.’ I was like, ‘No, actually I did all that before I was 27,’ and they went ‘What?’” Looking back, some of those experiences are things she might not do again. “I did some pretty bizarre stuff like fuel hauls into the high Arctic at -35,” said deMeulles. “It didn’t dawn on me until after. That was a very dangerous thing to do. Being on a plane full of fuel
thriving large community and it’s just dwindled down to such a small population now,” deMeulles says. Though she’s not there any longer, her parents and her sister and other family members still are. “My cousin owns the hardware store there,” she says. Because of that, deMeulles finds it hard to
in a political game and that’s really sad for them because I think the people of Churchill really want to thrive. They’ve built their worlds there. How would we feel if someone came to you and said, ‘I’m sorry, you have to leave your home community and we’re going to displace you somewhere else and all your loved ones and your history is gone?’”
incredible sense. You feel so small and you feel great.” Now that she’s got one book under her belt, deMeulles says she may try to produce another. “I have another book in me,” she says. “It’s a darker story, more about personal growth and struggles. Maybe in the next five years it’s something I’ll focus on doing.”
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