Pleasant Hill holds emergency meeting following crime spree

A string of violence, crime and bloodshed in Pleasant Hill spurred the neighbourhood’s community association to hold an emergency meeting on Friday, as issues of safety well-being have become paramount.

Residents, including those from surrounding neighbouhoods, gathered at Station 20 West to voice their concerns, learn from one another and see what can be done about the state of the area.

“I’m really grateful that there’s a space for our community to gather and talk about issues that affect us,” said Erica Lee as she walked into the meeting.

Her mother Michelle wasn’t so hopeful about what she was about to hear.

“I’m going to try and keep an open mind, and I’m prepared to just get up and walk out if it’s too much for me to handle.”

That was a sample of the sentiment heading into the event, as many people fell into one of three camps: hopeful, fed up, or curious.

For many, curiosity is what brought them to the over-filled room.

Dakota Bear recently returned to Saskatoon from Vancouver to bring awareness to his new grassroots organization highlighting human trafficking in Canada called Protect Our People. More than anything, he just wanted to be part of the discussion.

“I’m going in there with an open heart and open mind, hoping for a positive outcome,” he said.

Police chief in attendance

Media were not allowed inside the building that brought a large amount of officials that included Mayor Charlie Clark, Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper, Saskatoon Fire Department assistant chief Wayne Rodgers and other indigenous and non-indigenous leaders at local, provincial and federal levels.

Cooper was the one with all eyes on him, as many members of the community wonder what police can do about a spike in crime.

“What we found is that people were interested in some policing issues, but they were also interested in some of the deeper issues like access to programming for youth… so it was a really broad conversation about community safety, not just policing issues,” Cooper said after the meeting.

“The actual discussion was about bigger issues, and not just focused on the short-term.”

Cooper said everything from the meeting was recorded and collected. That data will be used to alter current strategies and plans, and possibly create new ones.

One instantly deliverable item that Cooper spoke of was youth communication.

“There was an expression from some of the younger community members here that they didn’t feel they had a voice in policing,” Cooper said before voicing his support for a youth advisory committee.

“That’s something we’re going to try and work on very soon.”

A view of the crowd gathered for the Pleasant Hill emergency meeting on March 29, 2019. (Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)

Bear is a member of that youth contingency that Cooper is looking to. Following the meeting, he was optimistic for the future.

“It’s unfortunate that there had to be such a rise in violence and crime in a neighbourhood to get these people together to have this meeting, but it was essential, so it was a start,” Bear said.

Sometimes a conversation is all it takes, but longtime community member Brian Graham isn’t so easily convinced.

“I’m glad that these guys did it as a core neighbourhood thing, ” Graham, who organized a similar discussion years ago, said.

“It started, but it started in 2006 and we’re still talking about the same stuff. All the politicians pledged themselves to Pleasant Hill — nothing’s changed.”

Casey Desjarlais co-founded Protect Our People with Bear and was pleased with Friday’s outcome.

“It was a good dialogue. We planted a seed and we’re going to watch it grow into a tree. I think this is just step one,” she said.

Whatever the path is moving forward, Cooper said it will be taken together.

“The drugs, the gangs, and the addictions that we see, the root cause of those are bigger than one organization can deal with, so we have to partner with other people in the community and make sure we’re all tapped into those long-term strategies.”