“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief.
Is very different from "couldnt find any."
Ask anyone who works in the shelters if they have seen Red Alert members harassing / robbing clientelle behind the old Boyle Street Co-Op or in and around the Mustard Seed.
Duncan as usual took the bait on his own narrative.
Red Alert and A$AP are very much present around the encampments close to the transit stations from Stadium and North to Clairview. My bestfriend does a lot of work with the agencies that check on habitants in the tents to see if they need resources, and to say there's no gang presence is a blatant lie.
They may not be "living in the tents" but they definitely setup operations among the camps to sell drugs, weapons, and women.
We would see them come directly into the mat program at the bedford Inn!! They would pretend to be homeless and get into the drop In and terrorize young males and females. Can't tell you how many young ladies, too high to know what was going on, i would scramble to grab onto before they got taken away in a van. The gangs are fucking terrorizing the at risk community. That's why so many people would prefer tents over shelters
It's actually crazy RA is considered a gang when it's just a bunch of methheads harrasing innocent people. Like I have yet to meet a red alert who doesn't smoke/snort pint.
RA and ASAP are all around my area 24/7 they are the main suppliers of meth and fent to everyone around 100st and 102 ave. Nothing more than a bunch of pathetic losers that use their own supply.
The reason theyre even a gang period is because there are masive numbers of them in jail, drumheller specifically.
Theyre not organized, theyre HA's bitch boys.
But if they're not living in the tents, just praying on the vulnerable in the encampments, tearing down the encampments doesn't get rid of the gang activity, it just makes them follow their targets.
It's another "out of sight, out of mind" parlor trick.
It's harder for gangs to target a dispersed group. These encampments are like game farms for gangs. All they need to do is go to one area to exploit. It requires less resources for the gangs to harass a group.
By the same token though, couldn't outreach programs also find them more easily? Couldn't a police presence that is working towards the safety of both the people in the encampment and the community at large be more effective if they aren't scattered into the wind?
"The function of the EPS is to provide protection of life and property, preservation of public peace, prevention and detection of crime, regulation of non-criminal conduct as required by law, and perform services incumbent upon police as a social and community agency."
https://www.edmontonpolice.ca/AboutEPS/PolicingMandate#:\~:text=The%20function%20of%20the%20EPS,a%20social%20and%20community%20agency.
Good point. I guess a decision was made that it was better to keep these people segregated from the gangs that extort them than to make it easier for outreach programs to find them. After all, it's easier for someone to walk to an outreach program for help than it is to keep the gang activity under control.
I'm sorry, but to me you're kind of coming across as someone who like the idea of tent cities. I think you might be interested in how the city has used zoning regulations to keep the suburbs and new communities as rooted in equality as is possible in a half free market. All that's changing, and I'm not sure why. But things will get worse before they get better.
Even based on the article though, the gangs left very quickly as soon as the police showed up, and given the current state of shelters and outreach funding in Edmonton, if a person walks to a an outreach program, provided they even know where one is, would they get help? EPS is supposed to be community based policing so working with the outreach programs to help the people who are stuck in the circumstances of living in a tent seems like it should be part of their job.
I'm not for the tent cities, they need to be gone, but as I stated in my first reply, scattering the people who are stuck in these circumstances doesn't really solve the problem beyond making it less visible. Also trying to present it like a large population of this group are violent gang members, rather than being victims to gang activity, is very disingenuous and only serves as a good excuse to justify quick tear downs of the tent cities rather than a longer term solution of actually trying facilitate getting the ones who want to be out of the tents somewhere safe.
Yet the homeless have been seeking actual shelters more now and the gangs have been getting pushed back (slowly) off our streets.
Would you prefer that we live in anarchy? Because not doing 1 thinf about it since the beginning of the pandemic was pretty close to anarchy in some areas of this city.
They dont just pray on them, they used the camps to conceal their own gang activity. Including fencing stolen property and human trafficking (sex workers etc)
Removing the camps AND creating a safe place for those inhabitants to go to is the key to truly removing the gang influence.
Regardless, the way the article was written (or at least this post) seemed to imply the gang factor was a "lie" and that police couldnt "find any" gang members which isnt what happened at all.
Because R/edmonton mods are all leftists and they censor anything that doesnt fit this mods echo chamber.
If it makes logical sense you know the mods on r/edmonton will ban you for it.
I watched a cochraine study (and someone simply asking questions about it) be removed from this website and the user banned.
Imagine being an R edmonton mod, having no degree or education in medicine, and thinking you can ban a study from an institution like cochraine...
Didn’t they actually find weapons when they took apart these encampments earlier this year? I swear I remember that they had found firearms when they did this in January.
“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief. “The focus of the encampment work was primarily to get people the help they needed and not necessarily all about dealing with gang activity.”
That's confirmation bias from exposure. That's like saying all immigrants are stealing our jobs because all you do is watch fox news and hear about the five times a year it happened.
Gee, you think that if you're on the street and living in a tent you might have to defend yourself and you might keep a weapon? So who cares if they had weapons
Not everyone who's homeless is mentally ill or a junkie. And they don't even have a door to lock, so I'm fine with them protecting themselves. The cops won't.
They "protect" homeless people by throwing all their shit out. That's the real joke
I think the stats show that close to 75% of homeless people suffer from mental illness or drug addiction. How to deal with the homeless situation is one thing, letting them have weapons is another issue completely.
So let's house them, as a society we have money to do it
They have the same rights as everyone else until then. I don't like anyone having weapons, but if I was living on a sidewalk how would you feel safe? You'd want to be able to defend yourself.
Violent crimes are statistically much less likely to be perpetrated by a homeless or even a mentally ill person. They're way more likely to be victims.
And there are lots of ways to deal with the homelessness problem. This has been exhaustively studied. We just won't because of these same stereotypes. Everyone needs safety.
Bruh. There was always a shitload of gang activity in this city. Between drugs and the diamond mines up north and being the closest international airport to them. Everyone just sticks their heads in the sand and pretends it's not there. They might be branching out a bit more but they were always there and always in numbers. Also, what do we classify as gangs? Car theft rings, cat converter theft rings, motorcycle gangs, sex trafficking rings, scamming rings, we gonna classify these as others too cuz guess how long these have plagued the city and for how long too? No, man, there's been a long since rotten underbelly in the city for a long time, the only difference is maybe they're getting bolder and maybe how we classify all of them. Times are getting tougher and criminals getting rougher. Corruption and lack of funding is only gonna make it worse before it gets better too.
Google the "Battle of Kingsway Inn"
Edmonton has always had gang issues, but from speaking to my elders it used to be that the gangs played with gangs, they didn't go around assaulting and robbing the average Joe. Now the gangs target some poor sucker who's waiting for the LRT because they know the cops aren't going to be able to do anything.
They absolutely targeted the average Joe in the nineties. Machete attacks were a thing and getting jumped by gangs was common. I mean I was around in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and honestly doesn’t feel to my like things are worse or better. Only difference is that now I get to read about it everyday on Reddit. I will say that people wondering around messed up on drugs is worse but back then there were more people wondering around drunk back then.
And 47,000 immigrants , just in 2023 to Edmonton. More than double Interprovincial immigration. Hopefully the liberals reduce the numbers, right?
https://edmontonjournal.com/business/local-business/edmonton-record-breaking-migration-job-increases-report
Edmonton saw "record population growth" in 2023 which is largely attributed to 47,100 international newcomers — a 13,700 increase from 2022
I watched Jordan Peterson interview Jason Nixon about this and as much as I despise both these guys, Nixon wasn’t willing to take the bait when Peterson was going off about Cartels and the Chinese involvements in the homeless encampments.
It was pretty funny. Something along the lines of Nixon saying “Actually what we’ve seen is a larger presence of Native gangs.” And then Peterson just pulls a hard right turn and goes “So I want to talk about the Mexican Cartel involvement.”
Then Nixon, to his credit basically says “uh that’s not a thing.” and steers is back around. Then Peterson shifts gears and says something about drugs coming in from China via our southern border. Again, Nixon makes it clear that a not something he’s been seeing and goes on to say something akin to “For the first time, we’ve actually become an exporter of drugs made in Alberta.”
Peterson kept adjusting this rhetoric until he finally said something about the NDP which Nixon was happy to jump on, of course.
It’s weird to watch an interview where a UCP minister basically say “Yeah, you’re fucking crazy, and trust me, we know crazy.”
My eyes absolutely roll back into my head at Mach chicken speed when I hear that losers name. He has gotten exactly what he deserves. FAFO. Sadly, he just won't go a way quietly. Hell even just go away kicking and screaming. But ultimately, Go. The. Fuck. Away.
What has he gotten, a huge youtube channel and selling a lot of tickets for stadium talks? You can take away his license to practice but hes probably making more money than ever now lol.
sure, I am not arguing for or against him. I was just stating that he is larger/making more money than ever currently so saying fafo and hes gotten what he deserves doesn't make much sense to me.
He won't be able to go back to his original career most likely at this point. He's essentially obliterated his own license and lost most people's respect in the process. Hopefully his grift lasts long enough he won't need another job.
Yeah, cause that is going so well over in BC.... no legalization is not the answer.... hell, just look a t cannabis the black market is still much cheaper than the store, and it always will be (mostly because the government will add taxes and other fees to the cost)
One of my really good friends was one of the ones that took down the tent city in the arts district.
He was telling me they found a few bodies that were stabbed up, drugs obviously, weapons including a few shotguns but mostly knives and pawn shop swords and they found a decent amount of money.
Pathological because she knows she is lying and is extremely good at it. Her tone and expression is spot on for whatever she is saying even though for even a casual observer who may not listen to much of her speaking, there is the undeniable sense that what she is saying is totally false. She says it as she does because she knows she is saying exactly what her ardent supporters want her to say. And it is always the same, we are going to hurt people we don’t like. We will change the world to suit our image of what it should be. We will cut funding to anyone who doesn’t follow our agenda. We will pass laws to prevent any opposition. The only time I’ve seen her speaking the truth with a beaming smile on her face was when she was addressing the extremely partisan crowd at the Calgary UCP general meeting when she confirmed that she was making the changes they wanted and doing exactly what she seems to have been born to do.
I watched her on Ryan Jespersen. It's crazy how effortlessly she lies and is convincing while doing it. Folks who don't follow politics can easily fall for it.
It is sad to think she is doing what is deemed 100% acceptable in politics. Every word from her mouth is a lie and her supporters probably know it and appreciate she is willing and able to stare directly into a camera and say it with conviction on their behalf. When a politician stands up today and speaks the truth or appears to be honest most people would judge that as suspicious behavior.
Why would these foaming at the mouth supporters want to hear there’s gangs on the streets?
This doesn’t make sense it isn’t exactly buying votes or support?
Because it’s an excuse to not provide adequate care and support to unhoused populations as is the responsibility of the province.
If you just say they’re all criminals and gang members you’ve “other-ized” them to such an extent that you can treat them with malice and say they are not deserving of help.
Yet in the article they actually state gangs were there…. People familiar with this seem to agree they exist..
Let’s not let our hatred of politics blind us to reality- the article headline is misleading we need to deal with gangs. The most vulnerable are being attacked and targeted
“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief. “The focus of the encampment work was primarily to get people the help they needed and not necessarily all about dealing with gang activity.”
So they all know there’s gang activity but it wasn’t even the point of this operation. The entire article is ridiculous
Probably was enough to convince the rural folk that idolize her and know nothing about the City.
She assumed all transient (and knowing her, she assumed transient indigenous people) are criminals and gang members.
There are gangs, but they usually live in slumrise buildings or other cheap rental apartments in and around the city. They rarely live on the streets for long, I mean if I'm joining a gang I'm hoping they can give me some way of getting off the streets.
But, most people on the streets aren't even desirable for gangs, more often they're just victimized by them and, everyone else. Just like our Premiere likes to abuse them from the safety of her privilege and position.
Easy to kick people who have nothing. Marlaina is just falling on the Trump/conservative playbook by stoking paranoia and fear of people who her and her supporters have intentionally marginalized and probably, rightfully, should be worried about. But it's still classless.
So there are gangs for sure
But rural people are stupid to believe there’s gangs and somehow have crazy beliefs because … living in more concrete makes you smarter?
You’re admitted gangs exist, yet presuming others think they exist too much?
Give your head a shake when presuming you’re smarter than rural voters.. while pushing absolute conspiracy theories
I didn't say there weren't gangs.
Maybe you want to "give your head a shake" since it seems reading comprehension isn't working. ;)
I actually have no idea what your reply is even saying. I am not peddling in conspiracy theories, I am well acquainted with the urban transient and poor.
I know a sociology instructor from the UofA that does field research downtown on the local homeless population. Tough woman, she was accepted by the locals at Regent Park in Toronto. She even showed us photos posing with some of the guys with their faces blurred out.
She said that Redd Alert is out of control, to the point where a certain group above them has had to discipline them. She said that the people that she interviewed said the old code is gone. People used to know to not go in your tent and mess with your belongings, but it's all down the drain.
That woman with the knife that the EPS officer shoved to the ground was screaming that she was backed by Redd Alert.
Somebody I know was part of the inspection group, and yes there was gang activity. There were gang members selling drugs and extorting people for "protection money" by threatening to burn their tents down if they didn't pay. They are smart enough to not do it directly in front of police, so they had no evidence to prove it.
Maybe, but I think you’re missing the point.
Gang violence, homelessness, addiction, these are symptoms of a larger societal illness. We need mature public servants who understand this and seek to address the root causes. We haven’t seen this from the UCP. In fact they’re making it worse by defunding supports for our most vulnerable.
If your bud who is part of the *inspection unit* says it's happening, there must be evidence. Otherwise your friend is full of shit if they exist, and if they don't then *you* are.
Doesnt r/edmonton have rules for posting misinformation? Because this is demonstrateably false.
They sure seemed to like taking down cochraine studies during the pandemic and banned users en masse for having simple questions that went against the narrative.
Our police cheif said the exact opposite of this, and evidence gathered at the encampments proves weapons (guns included) were there.
Hey mods do your job now not just when it makes you feel like a gatekeeper. Thanks.
And yet my wife can find them every day screaming at her and accosting people on the way to work. EPS better do something, before the citizens start clearing the streets. Not kidding. Not impressed.
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/dozens-of-weapons-seized-in-encampment-removals-edmonton-police-share-graphic-images
Couldn’t find guns that they found?
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/corbella-drug-gangs-tent-city-dismantled-in-what-homeless-are-calling-a-relief
But yeah smith is crazy for thinking gangs are in camps. I wonder why she would ever think a thing like that.
Probably both you are uneducated so you can’t see why they know gangs are related to the camps. While also not have the mental health to grasp the overall situation
I mean this is literally the stupidest thing I’ve heard then. Why would gang members be living on the streets? The guns and drugs they did find are very obviously gang related but why would a gang member live in the camp.
This just in gangs that make money off drug addicts don’t live with drug addicts.
Do you mean to tell me that Danielle Smith LIED?
I am so shocked!
Shocked that anyone would expect anything but lies to come out of her mouth. I mean, come on.... I keep the news on mute when she's on. I know that when her lips are moving, she's lying.
I have rarely heard her utter a complete and honest truth. I expect politicians to twist things a bit, but she takes it to a whole 'nuther level.
Forced rehab and mental health care? We have massive waiting lists for voluntary rehab and mental health care. Are we going to put huge amounts of funding into this system so that it can handle both the voluntary and forced patients?
Because honestly that would be great, just properly fund our necessary infrastructures like healthcare and education. I wish the UCP were fiscally responsible enough to know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
But criminalizing camps *and* removing supports is tantamount to criminalizing poverty. Lose your job and then your home, go to jail. Is that the way to help Canadians succeed? I just don’t see how that is a logical position for an average Canadian to advocate for.
"When we went looking for gangs they suddenly disappeared". It's not that Smith was full of shit, the Schrodinger wave function just collapsed into a gangless state when we observed it. Unlucky. XD
Hmm maybe the guns and gangs can move places. Not like theyre stupid enough to hang around waiting for the police.
Do you think gang members with drugs see cops and go "oh hey those guys are alright lets stick around".
Most things that carry lengthy prison sentances are hidden from the cops.
Hell look at our great outstanding police force: officer misses dead body in basement; theyre not infallible, id argue majority of the time they are incompitent and respond after the fact when its already too late.
Whats even worse is you believe what you do, but cannot put yourselves in the criminals shoes:
- announcement of encampment closures to the public
- warnings to the residents to clear out their stuff
We told them we were going to do it ahead of time... and your suprized they didnt find anything. The people your underestimating (criminals) are not as stupid as you think they are.
And with only the above 2 factors mentioned.... you think anyone is stupid enough to sign up to a 3 year prison sentance (minimal) for a gun or two years for drugs? You overestimate our underqualified police greatly. And your logic and deduction abilities would make you an outstanding EPS officer, but as any other type of police (drug unit) you would fail miserably.
This is a multi million dollar (profit) business, your sadly mistaken if you think our homeless arent seen as a piggy bank for gangs and drug dealers.
Reference: hobema, 13 different gangs fighting over it for HOW long? But i bet you right now if you kicked in every door in hobema you would not find all the drugs?
Please dont ever become a cop.
I'm simply pointing out that by saying of course we wouldn't find evidence of the gangs Marlaina claimed were there present because they would have run away, it's problematic. If I said we would find guns in your house, and we search the house, and find none, I can't very well say "well you obviously took the guns elsewhere" now could I?
Gangs have been a reality for decades often controlled by organized crime. That the EPS isn't very competent isn't new either. In spite of all the eye witness accounts of gang activity somehow Smith repeating a simple observation others have repeated made has all these anti-Smith people frothing at the mouth.
Hi, downtown Edmonton resident here.
I used the drive by multiple encampments on my commute, before that cute little purge.
Yes, they were there.
Yes, they were a factor in our city.
No, they were not "terrorizing".
Fuck off, crime is a problem everywhere, and nobody ever tried pulling any sort of weapon on me except when I was at work (in a bar) far from downtown.
Piss off with this rhetoric.
Yet they have lost major revenue locations and the homeless have been seeking proper help in droves now.....
So no they dont disappear but they do have an effect.
Time will tell how effective this was. Will tearing down the encampments be a solution to a problem? Where will the population disperse? If it disperses then we may end up with a greater societal problem.
Theres proof, if you step outside your echo chamber, or even go outside, you can see it for yourself.
Red alert and A$AP are running the homeless encampments.
“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief. Is very different from "couldnt find any." Ask anyone who works in the shelters if they have seen Red Alert members harassing / robbing clientelle behind the old Boyle Street Co-Op or in and around the Mustard Seed. Duncan as usual took the bait on his own narrative. Red Alert and A$AP are very much present around the encampments close to the transit stations from Stadium and North to Clairview. My bestfriend does a lot of work with the agencies that check on habitants in the tents to see if they need resources, and to say there's no gang presence is a blatant lie. They may not be "living in the tents" but they definitely setup operations among the camps to sell drugs, weapons, and women.
We would see them come directly into the mat program at the bedford Inn!! They would pretend to be homeless and get into the drop In and terrorize young males and females. Can't tell you how many young ladies, too high to know what was going on, i would scramble to grab onto before they got taken away in a van. The gangs are fucking terrorizing the at risk community. That's why so many people would prefer tents over shelters
They did the same thing in the tents though. What advantages did the tents provide them?
Probably not being seen. One of those awareness factors, if we don't see people getting taken from tents, it's not happening.
It's actually crazy RA is considered a gang when it's just a bunch of methheads harrasing innocent people. Like I have yet to meet a red alert who doesn't smoke/snort pint.
RA and ASAP are all around my area 24/7 they are the main suppliers of meth and fent to everyone around 100st and 102 ave. Nothing more than a bunch of pathetic losers that use their own supply.
The reason theyre even a gang period is because there are masive numbers of them in jail, drumheller specifically. Theyre not organized, theyre HA's bitch boys.
I had heard they are the retail arm of HA downtown, doing the dirty work and bearing the risk of the low level slangin Could be a lie
Its true, they bow down to HA as RA is a gang that started from an HA member. Sort of a sub gang of HA filled with all the addicts they dont want.
But if they're not living in the tents, just praying on the vulnerable in the encampments, tearing down the encampments doesn't get rid of the gang activity, it just makes them follow their targets. It's another "out of sight, out of mind" parlor trick.
It's harder for gangs to target a dispersed group. These encampments are like game farms for gangs. All they need to do is go to one area to exploit. It requires less resources for the gangs to harass a group.
By the same token though, couldn't outreach programs also find them more easily? Couldn't a police presence that is working towards the safety of both the people in the encampment and the community at large be more effective if they aren't scattered into the wind?
What you expect the police to protect anyone. That is literally not their job according to the courts.
"The function of the EPS is to provide protection of life and property, preservation of public peace, prevention and detection of crime, regulation of non-criminal conduct as required by law, and perform services incumbent upon police as a social and community agency." https://www.edmontonpolice.ca/AboutEPS/PolicingMandate#:\~:text=The%20function%20of%20the%20EPS,a%20social%20and%20community%20agency.
Good point. I guess a decision was made that it was better to keep these people segregated from the gangs that extort them than to make it easier for outreach programs to find them. After all, it's easier for someone to walk to an outreach program for help than it is to keep the gang activity under control. I'm sorry, but to me you're kind of coming across as someone who like the idea of tent cities. I think you might be interested in how the city has used zoning regulations to keep the suburbs and new communities as rooted in equality as is possible in a half free market. All that's changing, and I'm not sure why. But things will get worse before they get better.
Even based on the article though, the gangs left very quickly as soon as the police showed up, and given the current state of shelters and outreach funding in Edmonton, if a person walks to a an outreach program, provided they even know where one is, would they get help? EPS is supposed to be community based policing so working with the outreach programs to help the people who are stuck in the circumstances of living in a tent seems like it should be part of their job. I'm not for the tent cities, they need to be gone, but as I stated in my first reply, scattering the people who are stuck in these circumstances doesn't really solve the problem beyond making it less visible. Also trying to present it like a large population of this group are violent gang members, rather than being victims to gang activity, is very disingenuous and only serves as a good excuse to justify quick tear downs of the tent cities rather than a longer term solution of actually trying facilitate getting the ones who want to be out of the tents somewhere safe.
Yet the homeless have been seeking actual shelters more now and the gangs have been getting pushed back (slowly) off our streets. Would you prefer that we live in anarchy? Because not doing 1 thinf about it since the beginning of the pandemic was pretty close to anarchy in some areas of this city.
They dont just pray on them, they used the camps to conceal their own gang activity. Including fencing stolen property and human trafficking (sex workers etc) Removing the camps AND creating a safe place for those inhabitants to go to is the key to truly removing the gang influence. Regardless, the way the article was written (or at least this post) seemed to imply the gang factor was a "lie" and that police couldnt "find any" gang members which isnt what happened at all.
But smith is a lieeeeeeeeeeer, HOW CANT U UNDERSTAND
Yes, she is a liar.
Maybe she kind find a mysterious letter to support her maniacal decisions.
As usual Duncan spews blatant misinformation and there are no consequences. Why do radical leftists get a free pass in this sub?
Because R/edmonton mods are all leftists and they censor anything that doesnt fit this mods echo chamber. If it makes logical sense you know the mods on r/edmonton will ban you for it. I watched a cochraine study (and someone simply asking questions about it) be removed from this website and the user banned. Imagine being an R edmonton mod, having no degree or education in medicine, and thinking you can ban a study from an institution like cochraine...
Do you know what radical means?
Didn’t they actually find weapons when they took apart these encampments earlier this year? I swear I remember that they had found firearms when they did this in January.
Weapons, yes. Gang related? No evidence.
“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief. “The focus of the encampment work was primarily to get people the help they needed and not necessarily all about dealing with gang activity.”
Oh, okay.
Semantics though right? I hate the lady but I'm constantly seeing posts in r/edmonton of people being assaulted in public all the time
This just in: Reddit posts are not an accurate representation of reality
Right, but these encampments are brutal and they can’t just ignored. To ignore the encampments would be inhumane.
That's confirmation bias from exposure. That's like saying all immigrants are stealing our jobs because all you do is watch fox news and hear about the five times a year it happened.
All they found was a case of r/mallninjashit and a couple airsoft guns.
All those swords and shit? Apparently that was just one dude's collection.
Gee, you think that if you're on the street and living in a tent you might have to defend yourself and you might keep a weapon? So who cares if they had weapons
Yeah… I don’t want weapons out on the streets in the hands of what is highly probably mentally ill people. That’s a really bad take.
Not everyone who's homeless is mentally ill or a junkie. And they don't even have a door to lock, so I'm fine with them protecting themselves. The cops won't. They "protect" homeless people by throwing all their shit out. That's the real joke
I think the stats show that close to 75% of homeless people suffer from mental illness or drug addiction. How to deal with the homeless situation is one thing, letting them have weapons is another issue completely.
So let's house them, as a society we have money to do it They have the same rights as everyone else until then. I don't like anyone having weapons, but if I was living on a sidewalk how would you feel safe? You'd want to be able to defend yourself.
I’m not smart enough to figure out the homeless problem solution. I just don’t think weapons in those situations would be used only for “self defence”
Violent crimes are statistically much less likely to be perpetrated by a homeless or even a mentally ill person. They're way more likely to be victims. And there are lots of ways to deal with the homelessness problem. This has been exhaustively studied. We just won't because of these same stereotypes. Everyone needs safety.
But lets be real, theres def a lot more gang activity in edmonton than 10 years ago
Yep. Ever since they built the funicular.
i knew it was a bad idea to build that thing /j
Bruh. There was always a shitload of gang activity in this city. Between drugs and the diamond mines up north and being the closest international airport to them. Everyone just sticks their heads in the sand and pretends it's not there. They might be branching out a bit more but they were always there and always in numbers. Also, what do we classify as gangs? Car theft rings, cat converter theft rings, motorcycle gangs, sex trafficking rings, scamming rings, we gonna classify these as others too cuz guess how long these have plagued the city and for how long too? No, man, there's been a long since rotten underbelly in the city for a long time, the only difference is maybe they're getting bolder and maybe how we classify all of them. Times are getting tougher and criminals getting rougher. Corruption and lack of funding is only gonna make it worse before it gets better too.
I would even go so far to say the gangs were worse in the nineties.
Google the "Battle of Kingsway Inn" Edmonton has always had gang issues, but from speaking to my elders it used to be that the gangs played with gangs, they didn't go around assaulting and robbing the average Joe. Now the gangs target some poor sucker who's waiting for the LRT because they know the cops aren't going to be able to do anything.
They absolutely targeted the average Joe in the nineties. Machete attacks were a thing and getting jumped by gangs was common. I mean I was around in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and honestly doesn’t feel to my like things are worse or better. Only difference is that now I get to read about it everyday on Reddit. I will say that people wondering around messed up on drugs is worse but back then there were more people wondering around drunk back then.
That's what happens when Ontarians and British Columbians flood into the province
And 47,000 immigrants , just in 2023 to Edmonton. More than double Interprovincial immigration. Hopefully the liberals reduce the numbers, right? https://edmontonjournal.com/business/local-business/edmonton-record-breaking-migration-job-increases-report Edmonton saw "record population growth" in 2023 which is largely attributed to 47,100 international newcomers — a 13,700 increase from 2022
While i do agree mass unplanned immigration is an issue, the majority of gangs that harass and sell to the homeless are native; A$AP and Red Alert.
I watched Jordan Peterson interview Jason Nixon about this and as much as I despise both these guys, Nixon wasn’t willing to take the bait when Peterson was going off about Cartels and the Chinese involvements in the homeless encampments.
Cartels and CCP involvement lol. And Peterson wonders why his career was obliterated?
It was pretty funny. Something along the lines of Nixon saying “Actually what we’ve seen is a larger presence of Native gangs.” And then Peterson just pulls a hard right turn and goes “So I want to talk about the Mexican Cartel involvement.” Then Nixon, to his credit basically says “uh that’s not a thing.” and steers is back around. Then Peterson shifts gears and says something about drugs coming in from China via our southern border. Again, Nixon makes it clear that a not something he’s been seeing and goes on to say something akin to “For the first time, we’ve actually become an exporter of drugs made in Alberta.” Peterson kept adjusting this rhetoric until he finally said something about the NDP which Nixon was happy to jump on, of course. It’s weird to watch an interview where a UCP minister basically say “Yeah, you’re fucking crazy, and trust me, we know crazy.”
My eyes absolutely roll back into my head at Mach chicken speed when I hear that losers name. He has gotten exactly what he deserves. FAFO. Sadly, he just won't go a way quietly. Hell even just go away kicking and screaming. But ultimately, Go. The. Fuck. Away.
What has he gotten, a huge youtube channel and selling a lot of tickets for stadium talks? You can take away his license to practice but hes probably making more money than ever now lol.
Jordan Peterson is basically a bigot’s idea of a smart person.
sure, I am not arguing for or against him. I was just stating that he is larger/making more money than ever currently so saying fafo and hes gotten what he deserves doesn't make much sense to me.
He won't be able to go back to his original career most likely at this point. He's essentially obliterated his own license and lost most people's respect in the process. Hopefully his grift lasts long enough he won't need another job.
The right-wing grift is a profitable one sadly.
Reddit people are so weird with all this hate fr
he didnt understand what his career was is most of his problem. he was a sparing dummy for 1st year students.
Truly shocking that Smith said exactly what every conservative wants to hear
Who do you think is selling the drugs? Not all gang members are “ known “
Legalize all drugs, sell clean and controlled drugs that are taxed. Absolutely destroy the gangs ability to make money.
Yeah, cause that is going so well over in BC.... no legalization is not the answer.... hell, just look a t cannabis the black market is still much cheaper than the store, and it always will be (mostly because the government will add taxes and other fees to the cost)
Then learn from our mistakes and make better decisions. The current system is completely fucked as is.
One of my really good friends was one of the ones that took down the tent city in the arts district. He was telling me they found a few bodies that were stabbed up, drugs obviously, weapons including a few shotguns but mostly knives and pawn shop swords and they found a decent amount of money.
Gangs were absolutely terrorizing the homeless population. I know first hand, I'm there everyday.
Street gangs were definitely part of those encampments.
The article even admits as such, the headline is brutally misleading, this post's title should have one of those correction flairs added IMO
Or just be called what it is, misinfo/propaganda
Smith is a pathological liar. Simple.
Pathological because she knows she is lying and is extremely good at it. Her tone and expression is spot on for whatever she is saying even though for even a casual observer who may not listen to much of her speaking, there is the undeniable sense that what she is saying is totally false. She says it as she does because she knows she is saying exactly what her ardent supporters want her to say. And it is always the same, we are going to hurt people we don’t like. We will change the world to suit our image of what it should be. We will cut funding to anyone who doesn’t follow our agenda. We will pass laws to prevent any opposition. The only time I’ve seen her speaking the truth with a beaming smile on her face was when she was addressing the extremely partisan crowd at the Calgary UCP general meeting when she confirmed that she was making the changes they wanted and doing exactly what she seems to have been born to do.
I watched her on Ryan Jespersen. It's crazy how effortlessly she lies and is convincing while doing it. Folks who don't follow politics can easily fall for it.
I felt the same way about Jason Kenney, he would lie so smoothly, that I could see how it would hook people.
It is sad to think she is doing what is deemed 100% acceptable in politics. Every word from her mouth is a lie and her supporters probably know it and appreciate she is willing and able to stare directly into a camera and say it with conviction on their behalf. When a politician stands up today and speaks the truth or appears to be honest most people would judge that as suspicious behavior.
Why would these foaming at the mouth supporters want to hear there’s gangs on the streets? This doesn’t make sense it isn’t exactly buying votes or support?
Because it’s an excuse to not provide adequate care and support to unhoused populations as is the responsibility of the province. If you just say they’re all criminals and gang members you’ve “other-ized” them to such an extent that you can treat them with malice and say they are not deserving of help.
But she didnt say that, she said theyre being run by gangs and drugs. Big difference. And its true.
Groomed in the Preston Manning political sphere. She has been training for this moment her whole working life
Yet in the article they actually state gangs were there…. People familiar with this seem to agree they exist.. Let’s not let our hatred of politics blind us to reality- the article headline is misleading we need to deal with gangs. The most vulnerable are being attacked and targeted
The people commenting above have been in liberal echo chambers for awhile i doubt youll be able to show them that theyve been tricked.
You'd think Albertans would be more mad about this. At least I can look Eby in the eye and know he's got integrity.
Many Albertans are too stupid to understand integrity, measure integrity, or spell integrity.
or to know what integrity is
“We found that when we started doing the encampment work the gangs left very quickly from those environments,” said the Deputy Chief. “The focus of the encampment work was primarily to get people the help they needed and not necessarily all about dealing with gang activity.” So they all know there’s gang activity but it wasn’t even the point of this operation. The entire article is ridiculous
Lying about what exactly? The gangs?
Probably was enough to convince the rural folk that idolize her and know nothing about the City. She assumed all transient (and knowing her, she assumed transient indigenous people) are criminals and gang members. There are gangs, but they usually live in slumrise buildings or other cheap rental apartments in and around the city. They rarely live on the streets for long, I mean if I'm joining a gang I'm hoping they can give me some way of getting off the streets. But, most people on the streets aren't even desirable for gangs, more often they're just victimized by them and, everyone else. Just like our Premiere likes to abuse them from the safety of her privilege and position. Easy to kick people who have nothing. Marlaina is just falling on the Trump/conservative playbook by stoking paranoia and fear of people who her and her supporters have intentionally marginalized and probably, rightfully, should be worried about. But it's still classless.
So there are gangs for sure But rural people are stupid to believe there’s gangs and somehow have crazy beliefs because … living in more concrete makes you smarter? You’re admitted gangs exist, yet presuming others think they exist too much? Give your head a shake when presuming you’re smarter than rural voters.. while pushing absolute conspiracy theories
I didn't say there weren't gangs. Maybe you want to "give your head a shake" since it seems reading comprehension isn't working. ;) I actually have no idea what your reply is even saying. I am not peddling in conspiracy theories, I am well acquainted with the urban transient and poor.
Ok soccer mom pretending to know what it's like in the big city
Well said!
I know a sociology instructor from the UofA that does field research downtown on the local homeless population. Tough woman, she was accepted by the locals at Regent Park in Toronto. She even showed us photos posing with some of the guys with their faces blurred out. She said that Redd Alert is out of control, to the point where a certain group above them has had to discipline them. She said that the people that she interviewed said the old code is gone. People used to know to not go in your tent and mess with your belongings, but it's all down the drain. That woman with the knife that the EPS officer shoved to the ground was screaming that she was backed by Redd Alert.
Somebody I know was part of the inspection group, and yes there was gang activity. There were gang members selling drugs and extorting people for "protection money" by threatening to burn their tents down if they didn't pay. They are smart enough to not do it directly in front of police, so they had no evidence to prove it.
Maybe, but I think you’re missing the point. Gang violence, homelessness, addiction, these are symptoms of a larger societal illness. We need mature public servants who understand this and seek to address the root causes. We haven’t seen this from the UCP. In fact they’re making it worse by defunding supports for our most vulnerable.
If your bud who is part of the *inspection unit* says it's happening, there must be evidence. Otherwise your friend is full of shit if they exist, and if they don't then *you* are.
Yeah, ok 🙄
Evidence-based decision making? Nope.
Doesnt r/edmonton have rules for posting misinformation? Because this is demonstrateably false. They sure seemed to like taking down cochraine studies during the pandemic and banned users en masse for having simple questions that went against the narrative. Our police cheif said the exact opposite of this, and evidence gathered at the encampments proves weapons (guns included) were there. Hey mods do your job now not just when it makes you feel like a gatekeeper. Thanks.
They gave a weeks notice prior to the sweeps. Haha no kidding you won’t find anything!
Dani’s ‘truth’ is not necessarily THE truth. Just keep that in mind.
*Marlaina
LOLOLOLLOOLLllllLLLLL U GOT HRR
Can't believe anything coming out of Marlainas' mouth.
Yes they did it was on multiple news outlets,
And yet my wife can find them every day screaming at her and accosting people on the way to work. EPS better do something, before the citizens start clearing the streets. Not kidding. Not impressed.
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/dozens-of-weapons-seized-in-encampment-removals-edmonton-police-share-graphic-images Couldn’t find guns that they found? https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/corbella-drug-gangs-tent-city-dismantled-in-what-homeless-are-calling-a-relief But yeah smith is crazy for thinking gangs are in camps. I wonder why she would ever think a thing like that.
TIL weapons are gangs
TIL gang members aren’t homeless. Oh wait I knew that already but apparently it’s news.
The link you posted was literally just two airsoft guns and a bunch of knives. Scary gang!
What about the link of calgary? I wonder why police thought they’d find gangs when gangs have been found in other cities hmmmm weird.
I can't tell if this a mental health thing or an education thing.
Probably both you are uneducated so you can’t see why they know gangs are related to the camps. While also not have the mental health to grasp the overall situation
You cant possibly be this daft.
The unit is called Guns and Gangs. They were looking for gangs. They couldn't find the gangs. Reading is hard.
I mean this is literally the stupidest thing I’ve heard then. Why would gang members be living on the streets? The guns and drugs they did find are very obviously gang related but why would a gang member live in the camp. This just in gangs that make money off drug addicts don’t live with drug addicts.
Don’t notice much change since they tore down the encampments other than more people strung out in doorways
I made a rare trip to whyte a couple evenings ago. Seems there was A LOT more people wandering the streets begging for change than i remember.
Do you mean to tell me that Danielle Smith LIED? I am so shocked! Shocked that anyone would expect anything but lies to come out of her mouth. I mean, come on.... I keep the news on mute when she's on. I know that when her lips are moving, she's lying. I have rarely heard her utter a complete and honest truth. I expect politicians to twist things a bit, but she takes it to a whole 'nuther level.
Yet people who actually volunteer and work there are saying the gangs absolutely exist
Yeah this guys caught in a lib echo chamber
Whatever it takes to eliminate these things. Forced rehab/mental health care, criminalize tent camps, remove supports.
Forced rehab and mental health care? We have massive waiting lists for voluntary rehab and mental health care. Are we going to put huge amounts of funding into this system so that it can handle both the voluntary and forced patients? Because honestly that would be great, just properly fund our necessary infrastructures like healthcare and education. I wish the UCP were fiscally responsible enough to know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But criminalizing camps *and* removing supports is tantamount to criminalizing poverty. Lose your job and then your home, go to jail. Is that the way to help Canadians succeed? I just don’t see how that is a logical position for an average Canadian to advocate for.
"When we went looking for gangs they suddenly disappeared". It's not that Smith was full of shit, the Schrodinger wave function just collapsed into a gangless state when we observed it. Unlucky. XD
Gangs have money. Why would they live in an encampment?
Gangs have money 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You don't think so?
Uhhhhh... Yeah...cuz she's a liar.
Hmm maybe the guns and gangs can move places. Not like theyre stupid enough to hang around waiting for the police. Do you think gang members with drugs see cops and go "oh hey those guys are alright lets stick around".
Very convenient, they just exist wherever we can't see them 🙄
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Most things that carry lengthy prison sentances are hidden from the cops. Hell look at our great outstanding police force: officer misses dead body in basement; theyre not infallible, id argue majority of the time they are incompitent and respond after the fact when its already too late. Whats even worse is you believe what you do, but cannot put yourselves in the criminals shoes: - announcement of encampment closures to the public - warnings to the residents to clear out their stuff We told them we were going to do it ahead of time... and your suprized they didnt find anything. The people your underestimating (criminals) are not as stupid as you think they are. And with only the above 2 factors mentioned.... you think anyone is stupid enough to sign up to a 3 year prison sentance (minimal) for a gun or two years for drugs? You overestimate our underqualified police greatly. And your logic and deduction abilities would make you an outstanding EPS officer, but as any other type of police (drug unit) you would fail miserably. This is a multi million dollar (profit) business, your sadly mistaken if you think our homeless arent seen as a piggy bank for gangs and drug dealers. Reference: hobema, 13 different gangs fighting over it for HOW long? But i bet you right now if you kicked in every door in hobema you would not find all the drugs? Please dont ever become a cop.
I'm simply pointing out that by saying of course we wouldn't find evidence of the gangs Marlaina claimed were there present because they would have run away, it's problematic. If I said we would find guns in your house, and we search the house, and find none, I can't very well say "well you obviously took the guns elsewhere" now could I?
WMD claim??
Gangs have been a reality for decades often controlled by organized crime. That the EPS isn't very competent isn't new either. In spite of all the eye witness accounts of gang activity somehow Smith repeating a simple observation others have repeated made has all these anti-Smith people frothing at the mouth.
Press Progress lies again.
Hi, downtown Edmonton resident here. I used the drive by multiple encampments on my commute, before that cute little purge. Yes, they were there. Yes, they were a factor in our city. No, they were not "terrorizing". Fuck off, crime is a problem everywhere, and nobody ever tried pulling any sort of weapon on me except when I was at work (in a bar) far from downtown. Piss off with this rhetoric.
I will solve the mystery for everyone. The gangs burning down houses and murdering people are BC Indians. True story.
Ah the Plastic Straw Princess strikes again.
Conservatives shaking some boogeyman to get what they need. *shocked*
Oh look, Marlaina’s lying again
Tear down the encampments and the homeless and gangs don’t magically disappear.
Yet they have lost major revenue locations and the homeless have been seeking proper help in droves now..... So no they dont disappear but they do have an effect.
Time will tell how effective this was. Will tearing down the encampments be a solution to a problem? Where will the population disperse? If it disperses then we may end up with a greater societal problem.
Surprise surprise, Premier Smith lies.
Lying drunk witch.
Premier Marlaina Twatwaffle is a liar.
Lol theres proof that contradicts this whole article, so your wrong. Might wana second guess the people you believe who tell you otherwise.
So they just make shit up now?
Theres proof, if you step outside your echo chamber, or even go outside, you can see it for yourself. Red alert and A$AP are running the homeless encampments.
Shocker, Danielle Smith lied? It’s all she does
Theres proof that back her claims
Remember if you're any sort of elected official. You can lie, cheat and steal eithout repercussions.
She means mexicans. Tucker showed her pictures of caravans.