Substance use, mental health linked to city's 4 homicides: Brandon police

Manitoba's second-biggest city has been hit by another loss as Brandon's fourth homicide of 2023 was reported Saturday.

Three of the four recent homicides in Brandon, a city of 51,000, occurred in the downtown core. The growing number of deaths in the community is creating a cycle of endless grief, says Janis Irvine, Brandon co-ordinator for Community Mobilization Westman, a network of social service providers.

"There's never a break with that compounded grief ... People don't even have the chance to grieve in a good, healthy way," Irvine said.

"People aren't grieving one loss in the community when somebody dies, they're grieving all of the friends and family that they've lost over the last months."

The Brandon Police Service has responded to four homicides and one attempted homicide in 2023, said acting chief Randy Lewis. Each killing has involved mental health and substance use, and in each case the victims and assailant were known to each other, he said.

These numbers mark a sharp uptick for Brandon. There were three homicides in 2019 and one in 2022, but none in 2020 or 2021.

"These are very serious and tragic events in our community," Lewis said. "Brandon has been very insulated from this type of violence for a long time."

While the increase is concerning, "these were not random attacks. They boil down essentially to mental health, illicit drugs and addiction issues," he said.

Police know the community is concerned about safety, and Lewis said the service is working with non-government organizations to help keep the community safe by reducing addiction, and providing more mental health support and resources to help address crime and violence in Brandon.

Police have also increased their presence downtown with foot patrols, a satellite office and a cadet program to build community connections, he said.

"We're working hard to try and get a handle on the drugs coming into our community and it's a priority of ours," Lewis said. "It's all related to the efforts that we can take to increase the safety in our community."

Community in grief

The deaths of multiple people are creating complex trauma for other community members and service providers in Brandon, says Antoinette Gravel-Ouellette, co-chair of the Community Wellness Collaborative, which provides opportunities for people to discuss strategies centred on tackling core community issues. 

Some people are now experiencing anticipatory grief, she said — the expectation that more death is coming. In some cases, perpetrators and victims of crimes are interconnected, adding to the complexity of each case.

This is adding to the mental health and substance use issues in the community, Gravel-Ouellette said. People will turn to substances to numb the grief or trauma which can lead to further community losses. 

Various social issues can contribute to and amplify homicide rates, said Brandon University sociology professor Scott Grills. He cautioned that while these killings may not be directly linked, they could be related to various social issues.

Grills said in some cases a lack of resources such as mental health or addictions supports can lead to violence. He called for more discussions around how people can access these supports.

"We can learn about doing things more efficiently, doing things in a targeted way that can increase public safety in Canada, and a lot of those involve social and public policy to address issues of marginalization," Grills said. 

"A way to try to address interpersonal violence is to speak to these larger societal issues rather than stigmatize members within these kinds of communities."

Healing the community

All agencies, people and partners need to work together to help prevent future tragedies, Gravel-Ouellette said, and a major piece of that is proactive community outreach.

One of the greatest lessons for service providers is that "we are not responsible for the outcome, but we are responsible for the process," said Community Mobilization Westman's Irvine.

If the community wants to understand the human impact of these deaths, it has to see the human face and experience of everyone effected, Irvine said. She said steps can be taken to try to alleviate circumstances that lead to violence by focusing on emotional connections.

That means social supports that collaboratively intervene before there's a crisis or death. Irvine believes proactive steps to support mental health, addictions and other social issues can create a safer community.

"We need to figure it out now," Irvine said. "Things are not going to go well unless we get in front of this."