Good morning. Wendy Cox in Vancouver this morning.
Calgary’s police chief was compelled Thursday to note that his city remains safe, with fewer shootings this year than in the same period last year.
Also this week, Vancouver’s Transit Police, which patrols the region’s network of subway lines, buses and ferry routes, said ridership has increased dramatically since the first waves of the pandemic. However, the rate of violent or potentially violent crimes reported to the agency has fallen by 21 per cent from 2021 to last year, the latest data available.
But none of law enforcement, transit officials or B.C. Premier David Eby are relying on statistics to soothe concerns that mounted further this week after a spate of horrific incidents in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta.
In Surrey, a family is grieving after a 17-year-old was stabbed on a bus and died of his injuries.
Ethan Bespflug had just left his friend’s house and was busing back to Surrey’s main subway station to get a ride home from his mother when a young couple began harassing him. The teen texted his mom that he was going to get off at the next bus stop in order to avoid a confrontation, but as he tried to exit they approached him and the young man stabbed him, his aunt told reporter Mike Hager.
When her son went incommunicado, his mom pinged the GPS co-ordinates for his phone and found he was across the Fraser River at a hospital in neighbouring New Westminster, where he was pronounced dead Tuesday evening, said Andrea Van der Gracht.
“His mom is still in that stage where she’s still waiting for him to get off the bus,” said Ms. Van der Gracht, who is co-organizing a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of the teen’s funeral.
In Calgary, someone was stabbed on a bus Thursday and a shooting on a bus on Wednesday left a man injured.
In Edmonton, police said a 48-year-old man was sitting by himself at a bus stop on Thursday when someone approached from behind and stabbed him in the back.
Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld said he’s talked to his counterparts in other cities and it’s hard to know what’s driving the violence, but calls related to mental health have been on the rise.
“There has been a post-pandemic impact that I don’t know that we fully understand,” he told a news conference on Thursday.
“But it’s manifesting itself in public spaces across the country and I think we’ve gone as far down this dark road as we are prepared to go.”
In response, police in Surrey, Toronto and Calgary have stepped up patrols of rapid-transit routes.
British Columbia is also attempting to tackle the problem on other fronts.
Earlier this week, Vancouver Coastal Health conducted a tour of the Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, a facility in which patients with entrenched addiction and mental-health issues and who have demonstrated a tendency toward violence are held for up to nine months.
Mr. Eby is pointing to involuntary treatment as a potential – though controversial – solution to the conundrum of what to do with people battling homelessness, mental-health issues or addictions, who continue assaulting strangers on city streets.
In an effort to reduce the number of offences committed by some people who cycle in and out of the justice system, repeatedly violating bail conditions with minimal jail sentences seemingly having little impact, Mr. Eby announced 12 communities in B.C. would be hosting specialized teams of Crown prosecutors, police and probation officers. The teams will target repeat violent offenders starting next month with more tailor-made punishments as well as ensuring they get mental health treatments and addiction treatments.
“This uptick in repeat violent offending that we’re seeing is unnerving for many and it’s completely unacceptable,” Mr. Eby said Wednesday.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Wendy Cox