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

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

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

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!

Sounds like there's nothing to do but drink.

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

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.

:D

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

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.

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:

Well put :tup:

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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!