Year in Review: March- Prov. crime index, health donation

Aalbers joins call to halt crime index

Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers is one of several elected officials in Western Canada claiming the release of annual Crime Severity Index (CSI) rankings is harmful.

He and leaders from 11 cities in the four western provinces held a press conference in Saskatoon to formally request Statistics Canada immediately halt publishing CSI rankings until they consult with smaller communities and Indigenous leaders. 

The bone of contention is the belief CSI rankings are misleading, scare away business investment and recruitment, promote racial bias and create the misconception of high crime rates by the public and media.

In a joint news statement, delegates said by driving away investment and recruitment and creating fear and division, this CSI statistic perpetuates the very trends it reports on.

“Theses reports published by Statistics Canada are detrimental to communities, First Nations communities—many communities throughout Western Canada represented here today as well as many others,” said Aalbers, who addressed the media on behalf of delegates.

“The Crime Severity Index challenges us on many fronts.”

The delegates, however; consented to the release of weighted CSI data only to its initially-intended recipients – police services of jurisdiction, which will use and properly interpret the data for police matters and resource deployment. 

“We learned what the CSI was intended for and the unintended consequences today,” said Aalbers.

Under Statistics Canada’s current reporting system, North Battleford has the highest CSI in Canada, but delegates argue if the 10,000 population threshold is removed, that city would be ranked as number 16 on a list of RCMP detachment areas in Saskatchewan only.

This does not include other smaller communities across Canada in other provinces.


RM donates $100,000 to health fund

Lloydminster Region Health Foundation CEO, Stephanie Munro, was bowled over by a whopping $100,000 charitable donation from the Rural Municipality of Britannia  council.

RM Reeve, John Light, presented the cheque to Munro on behalf of the RM’s council on Monday to be utilized by the foundation “as they see fit” as council put it.

“The Lloydminster Region Health Foundation is overwhelmed by the continued support of the RM of Britannia,” said Munro at the RM office on 47 St.

“We are sincerely thankful to the council for acknowledging the value and hard work our organization does to enhance health care for all residents within the region.”

In turn, Light says the RM council appreciates the work the foundation does and continues to do for the people within the RM and surrounding areas.

“Thank you for all the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation’s work in providing excellence and innovation for health care service in Lloydminster,” said Light.

Munro calls the cheque an ‘extremely generous donation’ to be utilized by their greatest needs fund to purchase enhanced equipment and resources for the community and region in a timely and efficient manner.

“We are extremely grateful for the community collaboration that we have with them,” said Munro.


Anti-carbon tax rally to begin

End the carbon tax now.

That’s the battle cry of Lloydminster’s Miranda Courts, who heads up a local Nationwide Protest Against the Carbon Tax, with another federal carbon tax hike of 23 per cent set for April 1.

Courts estimates up to 2,000 supporters could join the Lloydminster rally starting at 8 a.m. on Monday.

The plan is to slow the right lanes in both directions on Hwy. 16 near the old Alberta Tourism stop on April 1 to send the message to Ottawa, voters can’t afford the tax.

“It’s a huge hit. This is the over-taxation of Canadians. This stand is, enough is enough, we’re not going to take it anymore,” said Courts, who notes there will be an alternate detour on 40 Ave. to the Upgrader road during the local protest.

The tax increase will add about 3 cents per litre to the cost of gasoline in addition to a 4 cents a litre increase at the pumps in Alberta as the province ends its fuel subsidy of 13 cents the same day.

Courts says the protests will be happening at provincial borders right across Canada and other locations with affordability the unifying issue.

Read more: Charities share Christmas cheer

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Meridian Source Staff
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