Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[Acajack]

One's perspective on safety across the city and metro area also changes once you have kids. Teens in particular don't exactly go exactly where they tell you they were going to go.

Our kids once told us on a summer afternoon they were going to the local mall here in Gatineau, only 3 km away.

They actually went to Bayshore mall all the way in the western suburbs of Ottawa, taking two different bus systems, and travelling around 30 km.

We only found out about that little trip about two years later.

[Luisito]

I personally never said Winnipeg sucks. I still think it's a great place and has a lot of potential. A working class man can still carve out a nice life for himself here. The economy is stable, the cost of living is still relatively low compared to other cities. If you can't make a good life for yourself here you probably can't make it anywhere else.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by drew

But again, this isn't some sort of winnipeg specific phenomena.

It occurs everywhere.

News flash, neighbour x in city y is considered to be undesirable for the middle class.

Again, there are demographic challenges that Winnipeg faces that other cities don't face. That's a reality. Typing "Winnipeg crime sucks" over and over and over on a message board and adding that you fully support the police isn't adding anything more constructive to the conversation.

So if I had said that the misguided woke lefty crowd here would be all over me!

The demographic challenges Winnipeg faces also present in Regina, Saskatoon and Thunder Bay, of course its the elephant in the room no one wants to acknowledge!

[drew]

The demographic challenge Winnipeg faces is ultimately poverty. Especially in comparison to the othe other cities of a similar size to Winnipeg.

[Luisito]

Would be interesting to see what the poverty rate and unemployment rates are in Winnipeg compared to other Canadian cities.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by drew

The demographic challenge Winnipeg faces is ultimately poverty. Especially in comparison to the othe other cities of a similar size to Winnipeg.

I hate to say this, but this is not correct.

Toronto has the highest rate of poverty in Canada, and the crime rate is well below average. Winnipeg's poverty rate is below that of Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

source: https://betterdwelling.com/stat-can-...rty-in-canada/

[drew]

Stats are stats, but those numbers certainly don't pass the "eye" test. Especially to anyone who visits these cities.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by drew

The demographic challenge Winnipeg faces is ultimately poverty. Especially in comparison to the othe other cities of a similar size to Winnipeg.

Seems to me it’s mostly of a certain ethnicity falling through the cracks while their leadership touts self govt., urban reserves and yet completely ignores their bottom 10%!

Many of the reserves are bounded together in councils with budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars yet never mention building homes for homeless populations or building shelters or providing much of anything to those who need it the most!

Take my post as you want

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

I hate to say this, but this is not correct.

Toronto has the highest rate of poverty in Canada, and the crime rate is well below average. Winnipeg's poverty rate is below that of Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

source: https://betterdwelling.com/stat-can-...rty-in-canada/

No surprise there. I have lived in Toronto. Like I said before, Winnipeg is a great city with a stable economy and a low cost of living. If you can't make it here you can't make it anywhere. The American/Canadian dream is still very much alive here. Try buying a home in toronto making an average yearly income. That can still be done here.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Seems to me it’s mostly of a certain ethnicity falling through the cracks while their leadership touts self govt., urban reserves and yet completely ignores their bottom 10%!

Many of the reserves are bounded together in councils with budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars yet never mention building homes for homeless populations or building shelters or providing much of anything to those who need it the most!

Take my post as you want

the system is running in a way that incureges the problems as its easer thhen actualy doing someting about it

fronteer school devision is a prime example of atitudes that add to these issues

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

fronteer school devision is a prime example of atitudes that add to these issues

What do you mean by fronteer school division adds to the issues?

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

I hate to say this, but this is not correct.

Toronto has the highest rate of poverty in Canada, and the crime rate is well below average. Winnipeg's poverty rate is below that of Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

source: https://betterdwelling.com/stat-can-...rty-in-canada/

Poverty does not equal crime. There is a higher correlation between substance use and crime vs. poverty and crime. Manitoba has one of the lower unemployment rates in Canada, however, that doesn't necessarily translate to lower poverty rates. All of this to say that substance use and gang activity will likely lead to higher crime rates than that of poverty itself even though they go hand in hand. I've said it one million times- once this province deals with the substance issues, only then will you see a positive impact on crime rates.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Jammon

Poverty does not equal crime. There is a higher correlation between substance use and crime vs. poverty and crime. Manitoba has one of the lower unemployment rates in Canada, however, that doesn't necessarily translate to lower poverty rates. All of this to say that substance use and gang activity will likely lead to higher crime rates than that of poverty itself even though they go hand in hand. I've said it one million times- once this province deals with the substance issues, only then will you see a positive impact on crime rates.

I just argued that poverty does not necessarily equal crime, from the figures I presented. Alberta has the highest substance abuse rate in Canada. Yet they do not have the highest crime rate. Substance abuse, crime, and gangs are symptoms of larger socioeconomic issues. No idea why you are attempting to argue with me, when we are in agreement.

We can't eliminate crime, drugs, prostitution, and gangs unless we provide better resources and opportunities in the inner city.

Guess what happened in the 90s when Winnipeg decided to close down Libraries, community and rec centre's, and build the two big casinos? Crime increased. Give young people that are from poor and working class backgrounds more educational opportunities and more resources, and there will be a reduction of vulnerable youth that gravitate to criminal activity.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

Alberta has the highest substance abuse rate in Canada. Yet they do not have the highest crime rate. Substance abuse, crime, and gangs are symptoms of larger socioeconomic issues.

We can't eliminate crime, drugs, prostitution, and gangs unless we provide better resources and opportunities in the inner city.

Guess what happened in the 90s when Winnipeg decided to close down Libraries, community and rec centre's, and build the two big casinos? Crime increased. Give young people that are from poor and working class backgrounds more educational opportunities and more resources, and there will be a reduction of vulnerable youth that gravitate to criminal activity.

I've worked in the inner city for many years with these populations and socioeconomic status is a symptom of other issues. Opportunities are there, but you need to address issues like trauma, mental health issues and family dynamics (for example, nearly half of the kids I worked with had parents with substance use issues). These kids grow up in dysfunctional homes and you can provide all the opportunities you want, but until you address the root causes like mental health issues and substance use issues, poverty remains an outcome of other related issues that need to be addressed.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Seems to me it’s mostly of a certain ethnicity falling through the cracks while their leadership touts self govt., urban reserves and yet completely ignores their bottom 10%!

Many of the reserves are bounded together in councils with budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars yet never mention building homes for homeless populations or building shelters or providing much of anything to those who need it the most!

Take my post as you want

Oh jesus come on man. This is just blatantly false. No council in MB has a budget in the hundreds of millions, I'd ask to see where you got those numbers but I know you pulled them out of your ass and I don't particularly want to see that.

I'm not sure why these racist old myths persist when you can go look at any First Nation's audited financial statements yourself. https://fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/FN....aspx?lang=eng. And if you bothered to do that, or look at any of the tribal council sites, you would see that funding housing for their members is in fact one of the major things they spend that money on. But they only have enough for band-aid solutions.

I don't know why some people like yourself can't seem to grasp that First Nations need to actually pay for things with the money they have. Most of their money typically goes to healthcare costs (no surprise there, same as the rest of Canada). That includes a lot of flights to the city and hotel stays for parents or caregivers. Were you not aware they had to pay for that? Well now you are. The rest is spoken for providing all manner of other services, from education to policing to child & family services and so on.

I can't count how many times I've seen this attitude of "Oh I saw this reserve just got millions of dollars from the Feds, where did it all go??" Umm, it went to pay for services. Just like cities and towns. And we owe them that money fair and square. That was what we agreed to in exchange for basically taking the whole country from them, and it was a GREAT deal for the rest of us. You make a contract, you keep it, it's the law.

[Luisito]

Funny, Natives themselves complain about the corruption in their own leadership and here comes virtue signalling heroes throwing the racist word around.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Jammon

I've worked in the inner city for many years with these populations and socioeconomic status is a symptom of other issues. Opportunities are there, but you need to address issues like trauma, mental health issues and family dynamics (for example, nearly half of the kids I worked with had parents with substance use issues). These kids grow up in dysfunctional homes and you can provide all the opportunities you want, but until you address the root causes like mental health issues and substance use issues, poverty remains an outcome of other related issues that need to be addressed.

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Now the question is how to deal with everything you mentioned? How to deal with all this withouth being soft on crime and treating people like babies? Telling people " it's not your fault" " you've been wronged" is not helpful and often leads to attitudes of entitlment. Attitudess tha can hold people back just as much as anything else.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by Luisito

Funny, Natives themselves complain about the corruption in their own leadership and here comes virtue signalling heroes throwing the racist word around.

Would you expect anything less from the no nothing leftists in here, I’ll stand by what I posted and I have a few First Nations friends in the know who will say the same thing!

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Jammon

I've worked in the inner city for many years with these populations and socioeconomic status is a symptom of other issues. Opportunities are there, but you need to address issues like trauma, mental health issues and family dynamics (for example, nearly half of the kids I worked with had parents with substance use issues). These kids grow up in dysfunctional homes and you can provide all the opportunities you want, but until you address the root causes like mental health issues and substance use issues, poverty remains an outcome of other related issues that need to be addressed.

Considering that nobody is arguing against what you are saying, as this has been discussed for 3 pages before, I fail to see what your point is.

Anyway stats Canada just came out with the immigration figures from 2022. Approximately 420,000 people immigrated to Canada, which shatters the previous record. This should bode well for

[thebasketballgeek]

Everyone has their own opinion on the matter how to deal with substance abuse, social issues etc… but I think what’s important is that there remains constant discussions about these issues that plague Winnipeg. It means the people in the city haven’t given up hope just yet and we want to work towards a solution through any means possible.

Personally, I think a underlooked aspect is simply how the neighborhoods where the substance abuse occurs function today. What I mean is that the predominantly Indigenous children are not only exposed to substance abuse from relatives and family, but they are also exposed to run down schools, derelict buildings, hostile infrastructure to pedestrians, and most importantly being face to face with the people themselves who are meth’d out of their mind. It’s such a tragic upbringing that we continue to normalize in the North and West Ends of the city.

As someone who grew up predominantly in the South End one thing people don’t realize in Winnipeg is that A LOT of Indigenous people live in all parts of the city not just the known areas. If you go to Valley Gardens, Tyndall Park, St. Boniface, Waverley Heights, St. Norbert, and even segments of St. Vital have significant Indigenous populations (primarily Métis). Yet we never really discuss crime in those areas because it’s not nearly as prevalent in those regions despite their demographic makeup. That begs the question what are these areas with significant Indigenous populations doing successfully that is not being done in our most vulnerable neighborhoods?

This is why it’s so important to discuss this on a page where most people have an acute understanding of urban affairs because truth be told urban design matters greatly not only in reducing crime but actively preventing crime from occurring in the first place. One look at the proposed pedestrian and cycling strategies proposed active transportation lanes shows that NOT A SINGLE FUCKING BIKE LANE IS PLANNED BETWEEN MAIN STREET AND MCPHILLIPS FROM LEILA AVENUE TO BANNATYNE.

The lack of alternative modes of transportation to an automobile in what should be some of Winnipeg’s most walkable neighborhoods is utterly unacceptable and a truly heinous act. Especially when they would rather build seasonal bike lanes on our suburban arterials. Making inner city neighborhoods also rely on car-dependency means working class Indigenous who are trying their hardest to live need to deal with all the costs of owning an automobile further straining their disposable income and trapping them in a cycle of poverty. If they could even put bike lanes on McGregor, Salter, and Arlington it would do sooo much too improve the mobility and safety of the people in these areas and put more “eyes on the street” which is a proven solution for crime prevention. This line of thinking also showcases why lack of investment into other necessary endeavours such as revamping community centres, schools, parks, road repairs etc…

Simply put, we should not be categorizing and stigmatizing Indigenous people because in other neighborhoods it is proven that they don’t commit nearly as much crime and are for the most part integrated into their respective communities.

The root cause of the issue is quite frankly the North End has been by all intents and purposes a community that has been redlined not only by the City but by all three levels of government. A discriminatory policy that has effected many black neighborhoods in the US has reared its ugly head unofficially in Winnipeg. I don’t think it will ever get solved until we move the CN rail yards out of the city.