Thanks for the comment. There are no evident or obvious answers to those questions. One of the reasons I pressed ahead with this post is I do think the city has reached a critical inflection point. Having grown by 100,000 people in merely two years, and with no reason for growth to abate any time soon, it is a good moment to decide what kind of big city Edmonton should be. Crime has often just seemed like a fact of life. But crime rates vary a lot across Canada. There must be reasons why crime is higher in the "shadow cities" than in the other cities. I hope we can make progress in understanding what's going on.
A combination of winter, nothing to do and nowhere to go. I was born in the prairies and can attest to the fact that there is nothing like a January day when even going across the street to the store is a battle. There is a sense of isolation that is very different from the West Coast. The streets in those shadow cities rarely sport any people, porch sitting is unknown and there is nothing at all whatsoever to detract from grinding poverty or a shitty desk job. People go mad. The endless sky and the flat apocalyptic landscape also contribute. The landscape itself affects you. Brutal.
I’m sorry you had someone chase you while you were running but… Edmonton as a physical manifestation of Jung’s Shadow? Errr.
Yes, Edmonton is remote and, mystery solved, Edmonton is relatively working class and has a higher proportion of First Nations/intergenerational poverty/trauma than cities of comparable size in Canada. Are crime rates high? Compared to Ottawa, yes. Compared to big American cities like Portland or San Francisco? Edmonton is like Switzerland.
I’d grant there is a generalized decline in safety among all of Canada’s big cities and I don’t want to minimize the psychological effect that has on perceptions of safety. However, it appears like you’re suggesting this phenomenon is unique to Edmonton. I doubt this is your intention but more than anything it comes across as snobby.
Well, I did some early morning googling myself and I think I owe Laurence an apology. Violent crime statistics are tricky to compare across jurisdictions, never mind transnationally, but the bits I was able to track down suggest my comments might have been correct 10 years ago, but now, maybe not. My understanding now is that Canadian cities have experienced significant increases in violent crime over the last five years that now place us neck-and-neck with our brothers and sisters to the south. Murder rates continue to be far lower, but on any number of other metrics (i.e. armed robbery, home invasion, assault) we experienced a steep increase and the American numbers either remained flat or decreased slightly.
So, a lesson to me: google before I get all judgy. Edmonton probably isn't some violent hellscape, but it has been become markedly less safe in recent years, which would probably be extra-noticeable for someone coming to Edmonton from central Canada.
To me, it raises interesting questions. I think we continue to invest significantly more in social services than the Yanks, which I had previously understood to be one of the reasons why our cities have remained slightly less crazy compared to theirs. Was I overestimating the effects of social spending on dampening crime? What's driving the increase in crime here that isn't occurring in the US (i.e. cheap fentanyl has not been a godsend to social order, but I doubt we have more fentanyl than they do)? Are the conservatives correct that our relatively lax justice system has had significant effects on crime rates?
American crime has seen a little downturn since the pandemic highs but murder rates are still much higher, doublish between San Fran and Edmonton and I wouldn't have hesitated to go to San Fran on Vacation. Actually going to New Orleans this year and when googling about running safety came up in the search right away.
Crime is certainly hard to measure. I read Noaopinion's substack quite a bit and he sticks to murder rates as the best measure because it's almost always reported while many crimes go unreported. Insurance claims for Car theft or home invasions should be well documented as well.
I think a big difference between Canada and the US is gun ownership but that doesn't explain the difference between Southern Ontario and most of the country. I would say a greater number of people closer to or in poverty and I suspect greater drug use where crime is higher. Of course why are people using more drugs in these places is the next question.
Winnipeg and Thunder Bay at over 5/100,000 are approaching the San Fan 6/100,000. We could pick various cities to make the point we want I suppose. Oddly Kingston shows 0/100,000 and I'm sure there was one. Small populations could see big swings in this with a few murders.
To those who come from away, Edmonton is deep in the frontier, a wild land of fierce creatures, a merciless climate, and cut off by distance from "civilization." The shadow comes from the fear we bring. It is in our collective unconscious and manifests from that. Imagine the dark, violent strength needed to come here and take the land from those who came before us. And then the desperate helplessness that must have been felt by those who were displaced. I don't know how we can make it better except to look into the shadows with loving hearts.
Thanks for this, Laurence. Many of the crimes you mention seem to be utterly random acts of violence; not robberies or attacks motivated by revenge or anything at all. That's so terrifying and perplexing. Who are these shadow people who emerge out of the fog of social anonymity to harm someone and then disappear again? What impulses drive them? Why are they so filled with violent rage? What are they doing with the rest of their time?
There is a tradeoff: rents are dirt cheap. I’ve been paying $800 a month for my one-bedroom near 118 Ave. and 82 St. Once a repository for drug-addled dregs, the neighborhood has greatly improved. The city condemned and demolished the flophouse next door two years ago, and as I write this, a brand new low-rise is going in its place.
I think it also depends on the demographic. I was reared in rural Newfoundland. Nothing scares me. I spent enough time in downtown Toronto and Hamilton, and in many ways, those areas are worse. Really, I’ve been here four years, and I don’t find it all that bad. Personally, I’d be much more uncomfortable living in a middle- or upper-class neighborhood because the people would tend to bore me, stereotypically speaking.
I'd bet money that almost every single one of the "random" stabbings you mention were committed by immigrants. The crime has risen in the last few years? Huh, what else has risen too? Oh, immigrant populations. Funny that. I visited West Ed mall a few years back and had the surreal experience of being outnumbered 100 to 1 by what appeared to be Arab Muslims. Let alone the Hindus and Chinese.
The single greatest change in the past few decades has been the immigrants. It is the problem. And no, just because you saw some white people commit crimes too does not cancel out the fact that immigration and the subsequent crime that ensues isn't a gargantuan problem.
Love this column. This reflects how I view my former home city. I only left several months ago. And living in the area around Mill Creek/Bonnie Doon area. It's not the city I remembered 20 years ago. In spite of what Iveson tried to make it cosmopolitan, it's still rough, and nowadays, not even safe.
Long ago a friend of mine, a journalist who worked at some university and lived in the nations playroom, got a job at an Edmonton University. She was born and raised in Vancouver. We warned her. We pleaded with her just because the job has better pay, lady, this is Deadmonton, contender for stabbing capital of Canada (Winnipeg and Saskatoon are the other contenders) and wondrous winters oh so lovely. Two of us knew what we were talking about, having hailed from the prairies.
She got the job. Her posts thereafter consisted of not being terribly excited about it. She could not deal with the winters. At all. And she could not understand the people. In Vancouver one is often wont to chat with a stranger while out and about. Don't know why people think Vancouver is not a friendly city. It really is.
Anyway, she lasted two years, found a job back home and got out of there.
A bit of a sad read. I grew up out west as the folks from Ontario call it. I grew up near Saskatoon and spent a term of high school there as well as my university years. Random violence isn't a new thing, I recall a couple of minors selecting someone to hit on the head with a bat, he died that was over 25 years ago. In Saskatoon my parents always lived on the bad side of town or really just the poor side. I had a bike stolen from my garage and before that someone had tried to take it from me while I was riding home from university. Now I wonder if it wasn't the same kid obsessed with my BMX?
Before moving to Sudbury for work I'd lived in Fort McMurry, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon of course, a few random small towns in Saskatchewan, Medicine Hat, Calgary. Edmonton was a fun city to go to in those days. I remember bringing my now wife there because I thought it's one of the places we might have wound up. I never really felt unsafe attempted bike jacking aside. Crime stats or paying more attention to the news might have made me feel otherwise. I think social media has made these incidents more obvious.
In Kingston now and the country has changed. 30 years ago I could wash dishes and pay for an apartment above a garage and buy groceries and car insurance. I don't think you can do that now. 30 years ago the drugs weren't as dangerous as they are now. We have far more homeless and drug addicted people in every city across Canada. I don't care who's leading the government but that will have to turn around before we see a reduction in violent crime.
Thanks for the comment. There are no evident or obvious answers to those questions. One of the reasons I pressed ahead with this post is I do think the city has reached a critical inflection point. Having grown by 100,000 people in merely two years, and with no reason for growth to abate any time soon, it is a good moment to decide what kind of big city Edmonton should be. Crime has often just seemed like a fact of life. But crime rates vary a lot across Canada. There must be reasons why crime is higher in the "shadow cities" than in the other cities. I hope we can make progress in understanding what's going on.
A combination of winter, nothing to do and nowhere to go. I was born in the prairies and can attest to the fact that there is nothing like a January day when even going across the street to the store is a battle. There is a sense of isolation that is very different from the West Coast. The streets in those shadow cities rarely sport any people, porch sitting is unknown and there is nothing at all whatsoever to detract from grinding poverty or a shitty desk job. People go mad. The endless sky and the flat apocalyptic landscape also contribute. The landscape itself affects you. Brutal.
I’m sorry you had someone chase you while you were running but… Edmonton as a physical manifestation of Jung’s Shadow? Errr.
Yes, Edmonton is remote and, mystery solved, Edmonton is relatively working class and has a higher proportion of First Nations/intergenerational poverty/trauma than cities of comparable size in Canada. Are crime rates high? Compared to Ottawa, yes. Compared to big American cities like Portland or San Francisco? Edmonton is like Switzerland.
I’d grant there is a generalized decline in safety among all of Canada’s big cities and I don’t want to minimize the psychological effect that has on perceptions of safety. However, it appears like you’re suggesting this phenomenon is unique to Edmonton. I doubt this is your intention but more than anything it comes across as snobby.
I have defended the west when Ontarians tell me how dangerouse it is but the Mclean's crime index proved me wrong in one disussion.
I might just do some googling about comparitive crime rates to US cities, I believe our much lower number of guns proves you correct.
Well, I did some early morning googling myself and I think I owe Laurence an apology. Violent crime statistics are tricky to compare across jurisdictions, never mind transnationally, but the bits I was able to track down suggest my comments might have been correct 10 years ago, but now, maybe not. My understanding now is that Canadian cities have experienced significant increases in violent crime over the last five years that now place us neck-and-neck with our brothers and sisters to the south. Murder rates continue to be far lower, but on any number of other metrics (i.e. armed robbery, home invasion, assault) we experienced a steep increase and the American numbers either remained flat or decreased slightly.
So, a lesson to me: google before I get all judgy. Edmonton probably isn't some violent hellscape, but it has been become markedly less safe in recent years, which would probably be extra-noticeable for someone coming to Edmonton from central Canada.
To me, it raises interesting questions. I think we continue to invest significantly more in social services than the Yanks, which I had previously understood to be one of the reasons why our cities have remained slightly less crazy compared to theirs. Was I overestimating the effects of social spending on dampening crime? What's driving the increase in crime here that isn't occurring in the US (i.e. cheap fentanyl has not been a godsend to social order, but I doubt we have more fentanyl than they do)? Are the conservatives correct that our relatively lax justice system has had significant effects on crime rates?
American crime has seen a little downturn since the pandemic highs but murder rates are still much higher, doublish between San Fran and Edmonton and I wouldn't have hesitated to go to San Fran on Vacation. Actually going to New Orleans this year and when googling about running safety came up in the search right away.
Crime is certainly hard to measure. I read Noaopinion's substack quite a bit and he sticks to murder rates as the best measure because it's almost always reported while many crimes go unreported. Insurance claims for Car theft or home invasions should be well documented as well.
I think a big difference between Canada and the US is gun ownership but that doesn't explain the difference between Southern Ontario and most of the country. I would say a greater number of people closer to or in poverty and I suspect greater drug use where crime is higher. Of course why are people using more drugs in these places is the next question.
Winnipeg and Thunder Bay at over 5/100,000 are approaching the San Fan 6/100,000. We could pick various cities to make the point we want I suppose. Oddly Kingston shows 0/100,000 and I'm sure there was one. Small populations could see big swings in this with a few murders.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/433691/homicide-rate-in-canada-by-metropolitan-area/
To those who come from away, Edmonton is deep in the frontier, a wild land of fierce creatures, a merciless climate, and cut off by distance from "civilization." The shadow comes from the fear we bring. It is in our collective unconscious and manifests from that. Imagine the dark, violent strength needed to come here and take the land from those who came before us. And then the desperate helplessness that must have been felt by those who were displaced. I don't know how we can make it better except to look into the shadows with loving hearts.
This gets right to the heart of the matter! The violence of Edmonton was perhaps there from the very beginning. We have to grapple with that somehow.
It's fascinating. Do we seem worse because we are "young"? Or is this the same wherever humans gather and colonize? Both probably.
Thanks for this, Laurence. Many of the crimes you mention seem to be utterly random acts of violence; not robberies or attacks motivated by revenge or anything at all. That's so terrifying and perplexing. Who are these shadow people who emerge out of the fog of social anonymity to harm someone and then disappear again? What impulses drive them? Why are they so filled with violent rage? What are they doing with the rest of their time?
There is a tradeoff: rents are dirt cheap. I’ve been paying $800 a month for my one-bedroom near 118 Ave. and 82 St. Once a repository for drug-addled dregs, the neighborhood has greatly improved. The city condemned and demolished the flophouse next door two years ago, and as I write this, a brand new low-rise is going in its place.
I think it also depends on the demographic. I was reared in rural Newfoundland. Nothing scares me. I spent enough time in downtown Toronto and Hamilton, and in many ways, those areas are worse. Really, I’ve been here four years, and I don’t find it all that bad. Personally, I’d be much more uncomfortable living in a middle- or upper-class neighborhood because the people would tend to bore me, stereotypically speaking.
I'd bet money that almost every single one of the "random" stabbings you mention were committed by immigrants. The crime has risen in the last few years? Huh, what else has risen too? Oh, immigrant populations. Funny that. I visited West Ed mall a few years back and had the surreal experience of being outnumbered 100 to 1 by what appeared to be Arab Muslims. Let alone the Hindus and Chinese.
The single greatest change in the past few decades has been the immigrants. It is the problem. And no, just because you saw some white people commit crimes too does not cancel out the fact that immigration and the subsequent crime that ensues isn't a gargantuan problem.
Home of Karen Straughan.
Love this column. This reflects how I view my former home city. I only left several months ago. And living in the area around Mill Creek/Bonnie Doon area. It's not the city I remembered 20 years ago. In spite of what Iveson tried to make it cosmopolitan, it's still rough, and nowadays, not even safe.
Long ago a friend of mine, a journalist who worked at some university and lived in the nations playroom, got a job at an Edmonton University. She was born and raised in Vancouver. We warned her. We pleaded with her just because the job has better pay, lady, this is Deadmonton, contender for stabbing capital of Canada (Winnipeg and Saskatoon are the other contenders) and wondrous winters oh so lovely. Two of us knew what we were talking about, having hailed from the prairies.
She got the job. Her posts thereafter consisted of not being terribly excited about it. She could not deal with the winters. At all. And she could not understand the people. In Vancouver one is often wont to chat with a stranger while out and about. Don't know why people think Vancouver is not a friendly city. It really is.
Anyway, she lasted two years, found a job back home and got out of there.
A bit of a sad read. I grew up out west as the folks from Ontario call it. I grew up near Saskatoon and spent a term of high school there as well as my university years. Random violence isn't a new thing, I recall a couple of minors selecting someone to hit on the head with a bat, he died that was over 25 years ago. In Saskatoon my parents always lived on the bad side of town or really just the poor side. I had a bike stolen from my garage and before that someone had tried to take it from me while I was riding home from university. Now I wonder if it wasn't the same kid obsessed with my BMX?
Before moving to Sudbury for work I'd lived in Fort McMurry, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon of course, a few random small towns in Saskatchewan, Medicine Hat, Calgary. Edmonton was a fun city to go to in those days. I remember bringing my now wife there because I thought it's one of the places we might have wound up. I never really felt unsafe attempted bike jacking aside. Crime stats or paying more attention to the news might have made me feel otherwise. I think social media has made these incidents more obvious.
In Kingston now and the country has changed. 30 years ago I could wash dishes and pay for an apartment above a garage and buy groceries and car insurance. I don't think you can do that now. 30 years ago the drugs weren't as dangerous as they are now. We have far more homeless and drug addicted people in every city across Canada. I don't care who's leading the government but that will have to turn around before we see a reduction in violent crime.
I am not aware of these 15-minute cages you speak of. If you could point out where they are and who is living in them, that would be helpful.