The City of Victoria says it will address “public disorder” in the city’s downtown core through a multi-step reallocation of $10.35 million in city funds, with the largest budget item to be spent on police and bylaw enforcement.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the single most important decision that council has dealt with,” said Mayor Marianne Alto at a Wednesday news conference.
“We must do this. We must.”
The funds are the first steps for the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan — part of the city’s 2023-2026 strategic plan, which was endorsed by city councillors in June.
The announcement comes on the heels of a number of violent incidents across the city within a 12-hour period on Sunday.
Police said in a statement on Monday that a business owner was assaulted by a man unknown to him around 6 p.m. on Yates Street.
That man is bike shop owner Tyson Schley, who said in a written statement to CBC News that local politicians need federal and provincial help to address crime in Victoria.
“These guys know they can do whatever they want, and I have been a victim of it,” Schley said.
The man was arrested shortly after the attack and taken into custody by Victoria police but was later released on conditions, police said in the statement.
On Sunday morning, a man with a weapon threatened the Victoria Fire Department building on Queens Avenue, preventing the firefighters from entering the building to attend to a potential fire. He was subsequently arrested, police said.
Another “stranger-on-stranger attack” on Yates Street Sunday involved a man who assaulted a victim with an “edged weapon,” Manek said.
The victim “ran into London Drugs to seek refuge for their safety,” Manek said, and the attacker was subsequently arrested and was held in custody pending a court hearing.
The city will spend $1.9 million of the plan’s budget to hire a dozen bylaw staff, with a focus on deploying to Pandora, Princess and the downtown area and working to complement police officers in the area, it said Wednesday in a statement.
The Victoria Police Department will receive $1.35 million to hire nine new police officers, as well as a one-time payment of $220,000 by the City of Victoria to match the Province of British Columbia’s Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program (C-STEP). The city says it will be investing $1.35 million more annually into Victoria’s police budget
The plan also includes more temporary housing solutions, with funds redirected from other areas of the budget.
While the city is fast-tracking parts of the safety and wellness plan following several police incidents over the Canada Day weekend, Alto says the plan is not reactionary.
“What you’re hearing and seeing today is a very intentional and thoughtful plan that has been percolating for months,” Alto said.
Victoria resident Sasha Santana says she’s glad there’s a plan in place to address violence in the city.
Santana says she’s lived in the city for the past five years and believes unsafe situations have been on the rise.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s 12 p.m. in the afternoon or at night, I have been in situations that do feel unsafe,” Santana said.
“I think there’s a lot of different aspects, mental health, substance use, those communities not getting the right support and also people not knowing how to navigate it … just escalating situations,” Santana said.
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak says it’s a welcome announcement, and the Victoria Police Department has been under-resourced for many years.
“The Victoria Police Department is 44 officers short, given the population growth that we have seen over the last number of years,” Manak said.
Manak says he will be coming up with an aggressive recruitment and hiring plan to fill the vacancies as quickly as possible. The new officers will be concentrated in areas around Pandora, Princess and the downtown.
Victoria mayor provides update on community safety plan
Alto says funding for the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan includes dollars to be poured into upstream services in hopes of mitigating the need for policing, including investments in temporary housing.
The plan includes $624,000 in additional support for existing housing non-profits to expand existing relocation services, but doesn’t specify which non-profits will receive funding.
In addition, the city will investigate and establish new short-term shelter options, including $1.95 million for up to two managed, secure, and short-term emergency shelter spaces, $850,000 for operations and $300,000 for property rentals.
“If we don’t step in on a temporary basis at least for a couple of years … they’re [unhoused persons] just going to languish where they are,” said Alto.
Other funds will be allocated to rehabilitate public infrastructure in focus areas and create a transport plan to assess and transport unhoused persons to services outside of downtown.
Victoria resident Priyanka Singh says while she agrees there has been a rise in safety issues in the city, she sees it as more of a holistic problem.
“I’m not seeing it as a safety issue,” said Singh.
“I see it as empathy and compassion, the way these people can be treated, and how we can prevent this.”
