Police Presence a Gift

On the week-end, our family was at Birds Hill, enjoying the outdoors and the companionship of friends--even got to sing around the campfire.  We returned to Winnipeg just as it was getting dark, all tired and happy.  As we approached our street, a police cruiser, which had been blocking entrance moved, so we were relieved to be able to turn in.  What we saw after was unlike anything we’d ever seen.  For blocks around, cars with flashing lights blocked off every street and back alley, and an officer, hand on holster, stood at every corner.  We were unable to go home, as a police dog was still tracking in our back alley.  A manhunt like no other was underway.

At first we thought we’d just wait around until we got the signal, but it was too disconcerting to be parked in the middle of whirling lights and police at-the-ready.  So we drove north past at least eight cars.  It was incredible.  Finally, we drove far enough out of the action and ended up buying frozen treats for the kids at Safeway to lift their spirits and distract them a little.

What do you say to your kids when their home seems to be in the middle of a danger zone and the police have come out in full force to catch a “bad guy” who’s somewhere in your neighbourhood?  We tried to focus on the positive:  how thankful we are that so many police officers came to help, and how wonderful that all those officers want to protect us and our community.  It worked—somewhat.

Our alley was still blocked off when we returned.  We decided to park out front and asked if we could use our front door.  After an officer shone his flashlight in our yard and the neighbour’s, he motioned for us to enter.  I accompanied the kids upstairs to get their pajamas on and my husband stayed to talk to the officer.  After learning more, he encouraged us to have our ice cream treats upstairs.  The kids watched as two officers and the police dog searched our yard and the neighbours’.  A ghost car was still out front when we went to bed.

In the morning, everything was bright and sunny, and we hurried off to Birds Hill for a church service at the beach.  We stayed there until afternoon and got sunburns.  I still haven’t heard if the police “got their man”, who apparently was involved in a car theft with another person who was arrested earlier that night.  Other than a conversation with a neighbour to hear her experience that night, life is back to normal and until writing this, I’ve hardly even thought about it.

It was quite a sight to see those red-and-blue lights blanketing our community block after block.  Even though the need for such a police presence was anxiety-producing, I was proud of our city’s police force and comforted by the effort they made to keep our neighbourhood safe.

Crisis in the North End

This week, I learned from my husband that there has been a major flare-up of gang activity here in the North End.  Probably everyone in Winnipeg knew it before I did.  I don’t follow the news much.  I just live here, doing the day-to-day.  I had a bit more trouble going to sleep the night he told me.  Seems I was hyper-sensitive to every sound I heard.  Last night I kept a fan running.  I don’t know if it was the white noise, or just a few days of realizing that life is much the same, but I wasn’t as paranoid.

I’ve been much more preoccupied with a different crisis going on this week.  I’m sure the kind of crisis I describe goes on all over my community in numerous ways all the time.  It’s the kind of thing that happens when money is tight.  All it takes is one event to set off a chain of events that jeopardize everything.

My neighbours experienced this kind of crisis.  The loss of a job left them with the possibility of losing their home.  Their lives were in the balance.  And a cheque was slow in coming.  Would we lose them as neighbours?  Would they lose their chance to be together as a family?  How would they rebuild?  Who would the landlord get to replace them?

Their story just reached a happy ending this week.  The cheque came at the last possible minute and it was more than they expected.  We celebrated with a collaborative BBQ complete with fancy summer drinks and ice cream.  I’m thankful for this crisis.  Not that I wish this kind of stress on anyone, but I’m grateful for how it taught us not to take our good neighbours for granted and how it brought us closer together.  

The story I just shared is one of many.  I share it because I think it’s important for people to know that there’s more to the North End than what typically gets reported: senseless destruction, loss of life, and crime.  The North End is full of people who are living their lives day-to-day, working hard, struggling with loss, helping each other out, and celebrating small and big victories.  

Life in the North End is fragile.  The environment we live in can be hostile.  When we enter into each other’s difficulties, our lives become rich and we become stronger for it.  That reminds me of a popular song:

“Lean on me, when you’re not strong. And I’ll be your friend.  I’ll help you carry on. For it won’t be long, ‘til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on”.

Family: Hope and Love

I've just returned from a family reunion in Saskatchewan on my husband's side.  It was one of those reunions where the family is so large that much time is spent meeting new people or getting to know people beyond names and faces for the first time.  Still, there was rich reward in making those connections.

As I was reflecting on the importance of family--people to belong to and people who are behind you--I began to think of all those in my community that lack a strong foundation when it comes to family.  I thought of how much more difficult the past year would have been for me without a secure relationship with my husband and kids and with our parents and siblings.  I have a long heritage of stable relationships (not perfect, but stable) that I often take for granted.

 In my community, many are not as fortunate.  Many, particularly our First Nations peoples find themselves deeply entrenched in a life of relationship-destroying behaviours and self-destructive coping mechanisms largely due to generations of pain and scarring that were inevitable after having children taken away or growing up without the love and nurturing of parents in a supportive community.

I agree with my friend who spends much of his time caring for these very people and listening to their stories, that poverty is not so much a lack of finances as it is the lack of hope in one's ability to change one’s circumstances.  Without the strength of a family that takes care of a child's basic needs early on in life and helps a young adult launch out on his own, any human being will be much more vulnerable to despair and powerlessness, false sources of power and belonging, and methods of escaping rather than moving through pain and sadness.  It happens among rich and poor alike.

We can't imagine the full effects that weakening family structure has on society as a whole.  It may seem easier to point fingers at the resulting problems of violence, drug trafficking/addiction, prostitution, gang activity, and crime and just try to rid our communities of all such things.  While I hope our justice system will improve so that stronger deterrents will be in place and our streets will be safer, I also hope we'll remember there are hurting people involved.  All of us have the same needs for love and hope.  Some of us have been blessed with families who fostered that in us and some are still looking.

I hope one day that the First Nations people all over Canada will actually teach us what it means to be family, for long before immigrants settled and changed their way of life, the First Nations had a culture of family togetherness that we could all learn from.  Until then, I will be grateful for the strong family foundation I have inherited and continue building on it into the future, so that my children will carry love and hope with them wherever they go.