Chinatown reflects on safety in the community on anniversary of homicides

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by Samuel Pordengerg May 20, 2023 News
Chinatown reflects on safety in the community on anniversary of homicides

On Friday, members of the Chinatown community gathered to remember the two locals who were killed on the same day a year ago.

A large group of people attended a traditional Buddhist ceremony for two people.

The men were attacked while at work in Chinatown. There are two counts of second degree murder against the accused.

Police chief Dale McFee and the mayor were among the people who paid their respects.

It's hard to recover from acts of violence like this. The community is still reeling even though it could have been avoided.

Families are still grieving the loss of a loved one.

The mayor and city council were asked to do more to fight crime after the ceremony.

On the one year anniversary of her father's passing, she wondered if anything had changed. Is our city any safer?

A number of initiatives have been announced by the city and the province.

Those efforts are not sufficient.

There have been more murders in our city. What is the best course of action for our city council?

The approach is not working.

More needs to be done to address crime in Chinatown, according to Sohi.

Positive changes include increased police presence, more supportive housing and extended funding for day shelters. He said that there was only so much they could do.

The city has a limited amount of resources. We need to keep working with the provincial government to convince them that we have solutions.

Let's scale those solutions up.

The deployment of the healthy street operation centre has helped the area. She didn't like the idea of bringing more social agencies to Chinatown.

The agency said in March that it would be moving from its current location to a new location. The decision was questioned by the McCauley Community League.

She said that no amount of money can resolve social disorders.

The Clean City Initiative is not helpful.

"Focusing on marketing plans and the beautification of neighbourhoods while people and businesses are driven out by social disorder is not a good use of time and tax dollars," she said.

Nahreman Issa and Sean Amato are from the television station.