Hay River sets out next steps in battle to improve public safety

MLAs and Hay River town officials discussed new legislation, new initiatives and new experts to consult at a public meeting dedicated to the community’s health.

The Hay River Healthy Communities Committee formed after the town put in place a 10-year-strategy in 2024 to address challenges it’s facing.

“The committee came together because there was an increase in addictions, an increase in crime,” Mayor Kandis Jameson told residents at Tuesday’s meeting.

“It’s going to take all of us working together to solve a really big problem.”

The strategy and an accompanying background report outline a plan for the next decade to curb crime, foster a healthy community and encourage collaboration between government agencies, organizations and residents.

Committee chair Brian Willows said one initial goal is for groups to collaborate more effectively. A second is to have Hay River residents be healthy and safe.

“That one has a little bit to do about harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and those types of things that we’ll be looking at here in the first year,” said Willows.

At the public meeting, Premier RJ Simpson – the MLA for Hay River North – spoke about so-called Scan legislation, an approach he believes can help the territory.

Scan is an acronym for Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods. Simpson argues it allows communities to address what he referred to as “drug houses” that might otherwise be difficult to shut down.

The legislation “would allow an investigation to occur into a premises,” said Simpson. “If it’s found that that premises is causing public harm, then those investigators can go to the courts and seek an order to have that premises shut down.”

While Scan legislation exists in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, it was voted down in the NWT’s legislature in 2007.

Last September, a section of Scan legislation was also found to be unconstitutional in Yukon.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Simpson said public engagement on Scan legislation will begin this spring.

Simpson also spoke of civil forfeiture legislation, a process by which property connected to criminal activity can be withheld without a criminal conviction.

To explain it, Simpson used a hypothetical example of someone being pulled over and searched.

As it stands now, if drugs and cash were found in the vehicle but the person is ultimately not convicted – or if a court finds the search to have been conducted unlawfully – the person accused wouldn’t be given the drugs back, but they would be entitled to the cash.

That could change under forfeiture legislation, with the law being applicable to other types of property like cars and snowmobiles.

Additionally, Simpson spoke of the need for trespassing legislation.

“There’s no trespass law during basically daylight hours, and so this would provide that legislation,” said Simpson.

This, he says, is something RCMP have requested.

Psychologist, criminologist invited

Heather Coakwell, Housing NWT’s district director for the South Slave, said she has been in touch with a Wilfrid Laurier University criminologist about a program named SafeGrowth.

“SafeGrowth is a program to integrate safety and crime prevention with community development and planning.” said Coakwell.

“Unlike traditional methods that may only address surface-level issues, SafeGrowth focuses on building long-term, sustainable solutions by investing in local capacity and fostering community involvement.”

Coakwell said criminologist Tarah Hodgkinson is willing to come to Hay River to work with the town and Housing NWT on projects to improve neighbourhoods.

The town is also bringing in the expertise of Timothy Parker, a now-retired psychology professor at the University of Alberta who has studied and written about the psychology of addiction.

Parker will be speaking about his book, Trapped by the High, at the Hay River Public Library on March 31, and will speak separately with MLAs, hospital staff, protective services staff and members of the Healthy Communities Committee.

The town is also splitting a $5,000 Healthy Community Award between the Hay River Youth Centre and the Hay River Watch Society, which stemmed from a neighbourhood watch group on Facebook.

A member of the Facebook group who did not want to be named said he was encouraged by Tuesday’s meeting and the work being carried out by the committee.

“The town really is trying,” he said. “It was nice to see so many representatives at the meeting, and it was very informative – the public meetings are much appreciated.”

New offender management system

Sgt Phil Unger, detachment commander for Hay River, told Tuesday’s meeting the town detachment is relatively well-staffed compared to the rest of the NWT, which has faced a shortage of police.

“We’re actually in a very fortunate spot here in Hay River. We currently have 11 of 13 positions filled,” he said. “I would suggest that we’re probably one of the most staffed detachments in the territory right now.”

Last summer, the detachment began implementing a new “offender management system.”

According to a written statement provided by the RCMP, that system identifies “priority or prolific clients” who have curfew restrictions as part of their release agreement.

“Clients subject to curfew conditions are added to the Offender Management Program and officers will extend their nightly patrols to add curfew checks ensuring compliance,” said the RCMP.

“If the subject fails to comply with their curfew, the officer will add a report reflecting this to the client’s file.”

At the end of every month, each curfew breach gets amalgamated into one additional charge. The information about every breach is made available to the court.

If a curfew breach would threaten a victim or public safety, the person would be arrested as soon as possible.

“This approach to community safety puts the onus on the offender to change their behaviour and to show the courts that they can change their habits, while lessening the amount of time that officers need to take to prepare court disclosures,” RCMP stated.

Since January 1 the new system has resulted in four offenders being charged, police added, all known to have been involved in the illicit drug trade.