Canada's cities can't follow Glasgow's crime-cutting lead on their own, experts say
Addressing root causes will take a new level of co-operation
Police, politicians and crime prevention experts are calling for a national strategy to stem the growing tide of violence in municipalities across Canada.
Earlier this month, Radio-Canada travelled to Glasgow, Scotland, where officials have taken a holistic approach to solving an epidemic of street violence, treating it as a public health problem rather than a crime wave.
After adopting its public health model, Glasgow saw a 37 per cent decline in violent crime in the decade between 2007 and 2017.
Ottawa police Insp. Carl Cartright believes the Scottish city was able to achieve those results because different levels of government cooperated toward the same goal.
"In Glasgow, the country itself has decided that change is needed. We are not yet in that state in Canada," Cartright said in a French-language interview.
"We need a national change."
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Nancy Worsfold, executive director of Crime Prevention Ottawa, said the provincial and federal governments need to reconsider how they fund crime prevention strategies.
The federal government set aside $327 million to fight gun and gang violence in 2017, with $200 million going to provinces and territories and another $86 million to try to stop gun smuggling.
Ontario is getting $54 million over three years.
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The Liberals pledged during the recent election campaign to give municipalities more power to ban handguns and buy back semi-automatic rifles as part of a national ban.
The NDP, one of the parties the Liberals could lean on for support in this minority government, had $100 million over five years in its platform for programs to prevent youth from getting into violence.
The Conservatives oppose a handgun ban and said they'd give more money to local police to address this. The Bloc Québécois did not release a crime policy.
"There is always a need for provincial and federal government investments in crime prevention," Worsfold said in French.
"But we would like to see more investment in social interventions."
'Outdated' models
Coun. Mathieu Fleury, whose Rideau-Vanier ward has seen its fair share of the rising violence, agreed it's time to review how responsibilities are divided between the three levels of government, but stressed affordable housing must be an integral part of any solution.
"The reality is, for it to work you still need the base of any effort [to be] the key to an apartment," Fleury said.
Both Fleury and Worsfold believe the tendency to "silo" those underlying issues lies at the root of the problem, and would prevent the implementation of the Glasgow model here.
Legislation preventing the sharing of private information between various stakeholders would further complicate the adoption of the Scottish approach, Worsfold said.
That can leave cities with enforcement and incarceration as the only tools at their disposal.
"I can put so many people in jail, but I will not stop this problem," Worsfold said.
"We have models that are outdated," Fleury agreed.
"Glasgow demonstrates a much more comprehensive approach that is relevant, which is important."
Ottawa's new police chief, Peter Sloly, has contacted officials in Glasgow to talk about their approach to violent crime, and there are early signs he's looking to shake things up here, with or without the cooperation of upper levels of government.
Discussing his priorities after being sworn in Monday, Sloly placed the reinstatement of community policing at the top of his list.
With files from Alexandra Angers, Martin Robert and Jérôme Bergeron