Surge in youth crime no surprise, says Winnipeg agency head who had to take knife from 10-year-old

The founder of an organization that provides programming for kids in Winnipeg’s North End says a new report showing a sharp increase in youth crime is no surprise.

“It was sort of an affirmation of what we know anecdotally. When I think about the number of conversations that we have in terms of debriefing violent incidents that staff have been intervening in, or hearing stories in the community, it maps what we’re hearing,” said Kent Dueck, executive director of Inner City Youth Alive.

“We’ve noticed that a lot of kids just carry a weapon — and even the good kids,” he told CBC Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Wednesday.

“We had an incident a while back where we took a knife off of a 10-year-old,” he said. “He was in tears, saying, ‘I felt I had to carry a knife, I was trying to protect myself.'”

The boy had no intent of hurting anyone, “but if everyone … feels like [they] have to carry something to protect [themselves], then it kind of just has a snowball effect,” he said.

The Winnipeg Police Service’s annual statistical report for 2023, released Tuesday, indicates youth crimes trended upward for the second consecutive year, increasing by 23.1 per cent over 2022 and 14.3 per cent over the five-year average.

Violent youth crimes were a staggering 43.4 per cent higher than the five-year average.

Dueck, who has been working with at-risk teens for nearly 40 years, says a major influence on the crime trend is drugs, particularly meth.

“It’s massive. Meth is a game-changer in that the crimes are somebody who’s maybe in psychosis and commits a heinous act and would never have done that if it wasn’t for meth, or somebody who’s dope sick and has to get another hit,” he said.

Lack of consequences, supports

Earlier this year, police launched an investigation called Project Surge, which looked closely at youth crime in the city. It identified a group of 117 youths responsible for 1,795 incidents — missing people reports, serious assaults, weapons offences and homicides — since 2023.

Within that is a nucleus of 30 youth who are responsible for the most crime and violence, police said when they released the data from that investigation.

Dueck doesn’t think there are enough consequences or supports for repeat offenders to turn their lives around. He’s been told many times by police that when they make an arrest, the person will tell them, “I’ll be out before you’re off shift,” he said.

The police service’s annual report backs that up, noting nearly one in five violent crimes involved someone violating their bail, probation, or other court order.

“So then that kid is out in the community. He’s had no deterrent, nothing holding him back. What’s stopping him from committing it again?” Dueck said.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he has discussed the issue of crime, violence and addictions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew during past meetings. 

All levels of government must contribute in concrete ways “to drive those numbers down,” he said Tuesday, following the release of the crime stats, noting it is the province that has “jurisdiction over so much of what is really going on.”

The city does not have its own health department, nor does it run detox centres or mental-health services, he said.

“That’s where the partnership between the city and the province is so critical,” he said.

He also stressed the need for bail reform to keep repeat offenders in jail.

Dueck echoed that, saying “they need to be contained and cared for.”

“I’m not talking lock them up and throw away the key, I’m talking we need to also take a look at our prison systems and services — how are kids dealing with their trauma when they’re incarcerated,” he said.

“There’s so much we could do to improve what happens if you have to incarcerate a kid to help them heal. Violence is the sound that pain makes, so people are acting out of their own trauma.”

‘Gangster university’: Kinew

Kinew, speaking to reporters Wednesday, was on the same page as Gillingham and Dueck.

For his government’s part, he highlighted funding for harm-reduction efforts in Winnipeg and more money for community-based safety patrols and for police to track down offenders who violate bail conditions.

“But the federal government has to do the same thing at their level as well, too,” Kinew said, adding Ottawa needs to take action on bail reform and issues within federal correctional facilities.

“Right now we have a phenomenon that I call ‘gangster university.’ We take people with addictions, they become incarcerated, and then they become gang-involved and more violent,” Kinew said. “That’s not helping them, that’s not helping the community upon release.”

He emphasized the need for services and supports in prisons “to try and get people onto a positive path” and to create a “holistic approach” to safety.

Elizabeth Fry Society board member Quinn Saretsky said organizations that already offer those holistic, wraparound supports desperately need increased and continual funding.

A lot of current funding is short term or tied to individual projects, she said.

“It takes a year to build a healthy relationship, sometimes, with a youth. Having funding that’s prolonged and ongoing is really critical,” Saretsky said. “Healing happens in relationships, it doesn’t happen in isolation.”

Elizabeth Fry is a social service agency that helps women and girls involved in the justice system. A majority of them are Indigenous, she said.

“We’re seeing that there’s a lot more folks who are getting involved with violent offences when they’re younger. That’s because of disconnection — disconnection from the land, disconnection from families.”

When those relationships can be restored, “they just kind of bloom. It’s really beautiful,” Saretsky said. “But that requires resources.”