Williams Lake city council voted against declaring a state of local emergency (SoLE) at their special council meeting June 3 after some news from the province.
The six-to-one decision in favour of a recommendation not to declare a SoLE came after the city received an email from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General promising increased RCMP supports from the province.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said the email came just before 4:30 p.m. and he said it provided much of the result the city had been hoping to achieve if it was to declare a state of local emergency. So Rathor put forward a recommendation for the city to wait and give the supports time to take effect.
"The RCMP committed to deploying the Cariboo-Chilcotin Crime Reduction Unit to Williams Lake to assess the situation and develop operational plans as required," states the email from Karin MacMillan, chief of staff to the Honourable Garry Begg, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
MacMillan also said the ministry has reached out to connect Williams Lake RCMP to some of the additional funding the province has made available through the Safer Communities Action Plan.
Rathor said in a meeting at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities forum he was at last week, he asked his fellow leaders what they are doing to address issues around crime and homelessness and public safety in their communities.
“There was a pen drop silence in the room because nobody had a solution,” said Rathor. He said afterwards, he was surrounded by leaders asking him about what Williams Lake is doing and all sharing the same issues.
Coun. Joan Flaspohler said she hopes the provincial resources give the agencies the support they need to help address the longer term issues.
"There is no clean sweep option in my opinion," said Flaspohler. "Pro active work is required."
“I am, on a personal level, very disappointed in the negative media that we have received," she said, noting the hard work many in the community have been doing and the damage the negative publicity has done to this work.
Coun. Scott Nelson, who had initially brought forward a resolution asking the city to declare a SoLE, continued to voice his support for the declaration.
He raised concerns over more fires in the downtown in recent days and expressed fear a person who is mentally ill may hurt someone and said people are afraid.
“They want to feel safe in their community, and I support that,” he said.
Coun. Angie Delainey suggested helping to bring life to the downtown could help keep businesses safer and reduce crime and called for an approach to address more of the systemic issues, making suggestions for dealing with individuals responsible for much of the property crime.
After reading the report, which indicated the support agencies the staff spoke to did not see a SoLE as a solution, Coun. Jazmyn Lyons did not support declaring one.
“These are professionals that work with these issues daily,” she said, also indicating she didn't see a SoLE as being a solution to the problem of fires in the downtown.
Coun. Michael Moses made an impassioned plea to his fellow council members not to move forward with declaring a SoLE after representatives from a local First Nation and a leader of the local Pride Society spoke against the initial resolution at the previous council meeting.
“I want you to be wary of this path of discrimination that this council would be choosing and the repercussions of it," he said, having noted the mandated requirement in the Emergency and Disaster Management Act for meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities.
Coun. Sheila Boehm pushed for more engagement with local businesses and she expressed appreciation for the awareness Nelson's social media posts and proposal for a SoLE.
"Every other community is watching, because it isn't just us," she said. "This is not okay what is happening."
Council voted in favour of the recommendation put forward by Rathor to wait to give the province's additional resources time to take effect and therefore not to declare a SoLE. Nelson was the sole voice of opposition, as he still supported declaring a SoLE.
Gary Muraca, chief administrative officer (CAO) for the city, said he would bring back a report on how the RCMP will measure the success or effectiveness of the additional supports as soon as possible.
