With crime rate 4 times Manitoba's average, Swan River calls on all levels of government for help

Linda Bird gets shaky every time a customer knocks on the door of her clothing store in the small western Manitoba town of Swan River.

Locking the doors and putting up a "please knock to enter" sign are among the many security measures she's taken in her shop, Work & Casual World, after an armed robbery two years ago shook her feeling of safety.

"It's very scary. I'll never recover from that," Bird said.

Bird also added an alarm system, set up motion sensors and security cameras, installed window bars and started closing her store early, because she feels unsafe leaving at night.

She's not alone. Many businesses lining the town's Main Street have metal bars on their windows and signs telling customers they must ring to enter the store. 

Swan River has experienced rising levels of serious crime in the past five years, leaving some business owners and residents on edge in the town of 4,000.

According to 2021 Statistics Canada data, the town's crime severity index — a measure that takes into account how much crime is reported and the seriousness of the crime — was 503, a more than 50 per cent rise from five years prior.

It's also more than six times the national average and almost four times Manitoba's provincial crime severity index. 

That suggests a stark difference from the family-oriented and safe community Bird remembers from earlier in her nearly four decades in Swan River.

"The last few years have been a real struggle," she said.

For small business owners like her, the costs of security add up, as do the losses.

"A lot of our businesses in town are small mom and pop stores like mine. So when you lose product, it's like they're taking it from my pocketbook."

'Catch-and-release program' to blame: CAO

Swan River CAO Derek Poole says the town is experiencing the unintended consequences of the federal government's attempt to modernize criminal justice laws in Bill C-75 in 2019. 

The law codified a "principle of restraint" that had been reaffirmed in a 2017 Supreme Court case, which means police and courts are required to release detained people at the "earliest reasonable opportunity" and under "the least onerous conditions," based on the circumstances of the case.

Poole believes Swan River's rise in crime is a direct result of the changes.

The town's crime severity index numbers had plateaued before the bill, he said, but since 2019, information gathered by the municipality suggests the rise in crime is driven by repeat offenders. 

"The catch-and-release program has enabled them to get away with these minor crimes, sometimes violent, and they're going unpunished," Poole said.

"We are looking with the province on creating a long-term solution for the addictions and the people who want to get help."

Derek Boychuk, who owns the local Star City Cinema movie theatre and Backstage Gym on Main Street, helped create a WhatsApp group for shopkeepers to share information about crimes.

Businesses are encouraged to report crimes to police, but they say they sometimes feel like that "falls on deaf ears," said Boychuk. There are several dozen repeat offenders in the community known to businesses, he's heard.

Boychuk, the municipality, businesses and others are part of a meeting planned for Monday evening to address crime in Swan River, and share steps the town and businesses are taking to try to curb crime.

"We are looking at things that we can do ourselves," he said.

'No silver bullet'

Mayor Lance Jacobson says crime is getting to the point where it's beyond the scope of something businesses can deal with on their own. 

One solution the town is considering is a grant for local shops to install security cameras on storefronts. A reserve of $50,000 is available to help fund the program. 

But the municipality has very limited power in addressing the situation, he said, making provincial and federal support essential.

Swan River has reached out to the federal safety and justice ministers, and is working with the provincial justice minister on some initiatives, he said, but getting the attention of higher levels of government has been "slow going."

Ultimately, Poole said there aren't any quick fixes to fighting crime and there needs a multi-pronged approach.

"There's no silver bullet that's going to stop this," the CAO said. "It's limited what we can do."

Instead, the town is trying to focus on short-term solutions, as are business owners. 

Denise Ashcroft's salon Hair Mechanics, which sits in the heart of downtown Swan River, recently experienced its first break-in after 25 years in the community. 

After the nighttime break-in last summer, she installed an alarm system — which triggered when a second break-in occurred.

A suspect was caught, and using fingerprint evidence, police determined he was responsible for the first break-in as well, said Ashcroft. 

Still, both break-ins cost her thousands of dollars.

She says more needs to be done to deter criminals, since police in town are busy and cover a large area, making it hard for them to get to every crime scene quickly.

She hopes all levels of government will find ways to help business owners so they don't feel alone in dealing with crimes. 

"Somebody has to help us," she said. "The government has to do something."