The City of North Battleford wants federal and provincial officials at the table in crafting an action plan on crime.
To that end, council unanimously carried a resolution Tuesday. The original notice of motion called for the City to requests a joint meeting between the minister of public safety (Canada), minister of justice (Saskatchewan) and city council to discuss an action plan to address public safety in the city of North Battleford.
But Councillor Ray Fox suggested an amendment where the provincial public safety minister be invited as well. City Clerk Debbie Wohlberg responded relevant members that need to be at the table will be asked to be there.
The notice of motion was presented at the previous council meeting by Councillor Ryan Bater. Bater pointed to the city's high crime numbers as reason for the motion.
"The situation right now, property crime is a daily occurrence. Violent crime is almost a weekly occurrence. In fact, I don't think we've gone a week since the summer where there hasn't been some kind of violent action," said Bater.
"A lot of it seems to be geared towards gang activity. To me this is a growing fire that needs to be stamped out."
While he pointed to initiatives in recent weeks to ask people to step up to start Neighbourhood Watch and join Citizens on Patrol, Bater felt more was needed.
"The reality is, especially when it relates to gang activity, this is not an isolated City of North Battleford problem. This is a regional issue, this is a provincial issue." He pointed to perpetrators coming from Saskatoon, Lloydminster and other communities.
Bater made clear the resources they had were doing everything they can but added the results were out there. "Crime is on the rise."
He said additional resources were needed to fight the crime, but suggested the burden of paying for additional resources "does not necessarily need to rest on the shoulders of the taxpayers of our city."
He suggested the relevant ministers from the federal and provincial government should be called on, and particularly pointed to the fact that the local representatives were both members of the government side of the house provincially and federally.
In the case of Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz, he "happens to be a member of the senior cabinet of the Harper government. Therefore engineering a meeting is a lot easier to do when you have those types of assets," Bater said.
In speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mayor Ian Hamilton expressed hope such a meeting could be set up.
"The thrust of the motion was to bring attention to our needs, so we certainly will be having discussions with the ministries involved, federal and provincial, and making them aware of where we're at and how it impacts them as well."
Hamilton also commented on North Battleford being known for having "the highest crime severity rating in the country. No one wants that, and they clearly don't want that recognition either. All levels of government want to see some progress made at changing those numbers."
