Town of Leaf Rapids a drunken 'free-for-all,' mayor says

[Only The Lonely..]

Town of Leaf Rapids a drunken 'free-for-all,' mayor says

Winnipeg Free Press | May 22, 2008

Leaf Rapids, better known for its ban on plastic shopping bags, is in desperate need of help to deal with widespread public drunkenness and criminal behaviour, the northern town's outspoken mayor said this week.

"I want it to be a safe place to live," Ed Charrier said. "Right now it's a free-for-all."

Charrier said despite having eight RCMP officers in town to police the community of about 500, there are ongoing problems with uncontrolled drinking and a recent case of several young children allegedly molested by a known suspect, yet criminal charges were stayed against him.

He also said the court docket is now 60 pages long -- 40 with adult offenders and 20 with youth. And that number goes up from year to year as Mounties lock up more and more people.

"We have staggering numbers," Charrier said of the former mining centre about 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg. "In my opinion, it's an epidemic."

Charrier said he's appealed to the province for additional social services and health-care facilities. Plus he wants additional dates added on the circuit court calender so the number of cases does not back up as it has now. There were only three court dates last year.

"I fear for the safety of our children," he said. "This is just an abuse of the system."

He said he wrote to Premier Gary Doer in January describing the problems, but to date he said little has happened.

"The escalating health, judicial and social problems that the residents of the community sensed in the first year after the mine shut down were not nipped in the bud," he said in the letter. "Leaf Rapids now suffers the consequences. While it is true that our population had declined by almost two-thirds, our social, judicial and health-care problems have remained the same. In some cases they have magnified."

The plight of Leaf Rapids was raised in question period at the Manitoba legislature Tuesday and Wednesday by Liberal MLA Kevin Lamoureux. In response, Attorney General Dave Chomiak said the province was aware of the problems and is working with the town's administration to fix them.

Chomiak also said eight court dates have been scheduled for Leaf Rapids this year to deal with the overloaded docket.

The issues in Leaf Rapids have been increasing since the Ruttan Mine was closed down in 2002. The town is searching for an economic lifeline to support the people who still live there, including a plan by fishing star Bob Izumi to buy dozens of vacant houses in the town and in nearby Lynn Lake to turn them into vacation lodges for out-of-town anglers.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

[Greco Roman]

Is the majority of the town Aborigional? It appears as though most of these northern town are becoming more like reserves.

[rrskylar]

Sounds like just the place where I would I would want to spend money on a fishing trip. Bet on Bob never setting foot in that town again!

[harls]

Sounds like there's nothing to do but drink.

[rrskylar]

^ Which begs the question of why anyone would continue to live there?

[socialisthorde]

Is the majority of the town Aborigional? It appears as though most of these northern town are becoming more like reserves.

Please read the following as satire.

Is the majority of the town English? It sounds like these Northern towns are becoming more and more like English pubs.

[93JC]

"We have staggering numbers," Charrier said of the former mining centre about 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg.


:D

[204]

Please read the following as satire.

Is the majority of the town English? It sounds like these Northern towns are becoming more and more like English pubs.

The tactic of arguing moral equivalence is to focus attention away from the real problem.

[Greco Roman]

Please read the following as satire.

Is the majority of the town English? It sounds like these Northern towns are becoming more and more like English pubs.

I'm calling you out now, Mayor Quimby. You used essentially this same line in the First Nations thread, except you substituted Dutch for English.

Too many of your posts carry over you style of argumentation. I thought you were banned?

This is your third account with Skyscraper by my count.

[1ajs]

yea but greco this dude joined in September no? mayor quimby did not get band in sept

aww yes the great white north how i miss the

[Greco Roman]

yea but greco this dude joined in September no? mayor quimby did not get band in sept

aww yes the great white north how i miss the


Good Lord, it's his twin then. Just what we need :sly:

[Greco Roman]

The tactic of arguing moral equivalence is to focus attention away from the real problem.


Well put :tup:

[socialisthorde]

The tactic of arguing moral equivalence is to focus attention away from the real problem.

I wasn't making an argument any more than Greco was. I was simply making an observation which, like his, insinuated that this was somehow a racial issue. Read it how you like.

[socialisthorde]

I'm calling you out now, Mayor Quimby. You used essentially this same line in the First Nations thread, except you substituted Dutch for English.

Too many of your posts carry over you style of argumentation. I thought you were banned?

This is your third account with Skyscraper by my count.

Anyone who disagrees with you is argumentative and/or Quimby?

[socialisthorde]

Well put :tup:

You might want to look up moral equivalence before you embrace the use of the term so enthusiastically. I fail to see how what I said utilizes moral equivalence.

[Greco Roman]

Anyone who disagrees with you is argumentative and/or Quimby?


Well, as YOU have stated before, please read my post again, as there is a difference between disagreeing and disagreeing IN THE EXACT SAME WAY AS A BANNED EXFORUMER. Your arguments are 99% similar in written description as the former Mayor Quimby, which makes myself suspicious of your identity. However, if you did register in September, then you probably are just similar to Quimby, which would make you less popular on the Regina forums :D

[Greco Roman]

You might want to look up moral equivalence before you embrace the use of the term so enthusiastically. I fail to see how what I said utilizes moral equivalence.


Then figure it out yourself, as I found it very clear in the post.

[socialisthorde]

Then figure it out yourself, as I found it very clear in the post.

I can't figure it out if it is incorrect. Moral equivalence is an argument asserting that there is no moral hierarchy, as in comparing shoplifting with murder. I simply made a satirical analogy. What in my implied analogy even speaks to morality? If you can point out how what I said is any more ridiculous or less connected to the point of the story than what you said, please do so rather than calling me names.

[JayM]

Lets face the fact here living in northern remote communities is not no ray of sunshine. You don't need to be that far north to see other similar situations. Here in Prince Albert no matter what anyone caters to say differently.. it is one big reserve, I recently found out that you can actually take you ID or anything else of value as collateral and apply it to buying alcohol.

P.S. I've been to Leaf Rapids and Lynn Lake post 2002 and it really wasn't all that better then as it is now.

[ScrappyPeg]

For those of you who like stats:

Ethnicity of Residents
The proportion of residents in the community by ethnicity provides further description on who makes up the community. Furthermore, the ethnicity of residents may also have an influence on future planning events. The community, according to the population census survey, the predominant ethnicities reported were Status Aboriginal (40%), English (25.5%), and Canadian (18.4%).
Community Ethnicities, 2005

Information from: Leaf Rapids Community Assessment 2005

Doesn't sound like the majority are English, however there may be an English pub or two!

[molasses]

hmmm, doesn't sound like the majority is Aboriginal either, however there may be a reserve near by.

it really is amazing how quickly some people like to try to dismiss issues as those of race. c'mon it's a mining town that shut down, it's going to have serious problem...and really if you want to generalize so much, you should likely stick with asking if the majority of the residents are unemployed people lacking higher education. if you've ever been to a mining town chances are you've seen a lot of drug or alcohol problems.....check the stats on addiction for Fort Mac....and that is most certainly not solely people of one ethnic background and those people are gainfully employed.

and in regards to the complaints about someone calling out someone's ethnic bias...why is it such a problem if someone disagrees with your assumption greco?

[Greco Roman]

and in regards to the complaints about someone calling out someone's ethnic bias...why is it such a problem if someone disagrees with your assumption greco?

The issue wasn't with disagreeing with me as anyone can do so; the issue was with the person him/herself and how we've had the exact same argument in the exact same manner before, but I think this is all resolved now.

[molasses]

The issue wasn't with disagreeing with me as anyone can do so; the issue was with the person him/herself and how we've had the exact same argument in the exact same manner before, but I think this is all resolved now.

well, i suppose that is what happens when you seem to love to try and blame things on race and immediately tend to assume that any problems must be because of aboriginals.....and i don't want to keep this debate up, because it has happened on here enough times and some people, yourself included, like to keep making the same statements as if theu are fact....but really your original comment was pretty inflamatory and quite prejudiced......especially considering northern resource towns have always had issues with substance abuse and crime...that's what happens when people leave there families behind and work long hours in isolated areas...then when the industry shuts down, it gets worse.....though, i think your statement could make more sense reversed....some reserves have become like northern resource towns.

[socialisthorde]

The issue wasn't with disagreeing with me as anyone can do so; the issue was with the person him/herself and how we've had the exact same argument in the exact same manner before, but I think this is all resolved now.

Rest assured I am not MQ and I have no interest in arguing for argument sake. I had strong feelings about what you said, saw a logical flaw (predjudice) in it and I am strongly offended by predjudice, so I responded in what I thought was a fairly lighthearted manner. Note: I did not and am not now calling you predjudiced or racist or any other such term. I was and am speaking to the content of your post. I really did not intend to offend you or anyone else, but feel compelled to speak up on this issue. I do not believe my own arguments are without flaws and I know I have my own predjudices and I would be happy to hear people point them out. I am however offended by personal attacks and innuendo.

[Jonitecture]

I agree with socialisthorde actually, I think the comments made by Greco Roman sounded a little racist... that is your point right?

[Greco Roman]

I agree with socialisthorde actually, I think the comments made by Greco Roman sounded a little racist... that is your point right?


Whatever dude. Don't really give a rat's ass what you think since you don't know me therefore you really can't judge me :)

Anyways, this subject is now closed to me.

[1ajs]

the north is alot difrent then in the cities

[Jonitecture]

AHA. i wasnt asking you to care about what i was saying, although a word of advice for you is, don't say stupid things, because it just makes people think you are stupid!

P.S. Racism isn't cool people. Prejudgice agianst aboriginal people especially bothers me because what ever negative stereotypes we can think of, white people are the root of almost all Aboriginal peoples problems.

[Greco Roman]

AHA. i wasnt asking you to care about what i was saying, although a word of advice for you is, don't say stupid things, because it just makes people think you are stupid!

P.S. Racism isn't cool people. Prejudgice agianst aboriginal people especially bothers me because what ever negative stereotypes we can think of, white people are the root of almost all Aboriginal peoples problems.

Dude, I'm willing to bet that if you would find stats about northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, you would find that there is a disproportional amount of crime and substance abuse caused by more Aborigionals than other "races" of populations up there. Yes, of course there are reasons for this. But go ahead and kid yourself by calling me "racist" for saying this. Whatever. If the facts back it up, then that is what it is. So you tell yourself whatever you need to in order to make yourself sleep better at night.

Goodnight, and peace out! :notacrook:

[socialisthorde]

Thanks for tryin Jonitecture. I think this is one of those cases where it is best to quietly back out the door...unfortunately.