Seeking Safer Streets

A giant map set up at the Museum of Northern B. C. on Thursday night marked street after street of areas that women feel unsafe in. Showing an undercurrent of concern about safety in this city and highlighting a perception that there needs to be something done to make our street safer for all.

The map was set up by the Take Back the Nigh campaign and participants in Thursday nights gathering at the museum were asked to place a sticker on the map in areas where they felt particularly vulnerable or unsafe.

The East side of town was tagged as unsafe along Drydock Road and George Hills Way, with Hays Cove Circle and Seal Cove areas also neighbourhoods of concern.

But for the most part the most troublesome areas indicated by dots on the map were found in the Western half of the city, westward from McBride Street. Particular concern was expressed about the pathways around PRSS and for many blocks in the downtown core.

Participants were also asked to provide details or comments about areas of concern and the majority of the respondents expressed concerns about drunks, drug users in the downtown area and poor lighting and suspicious people walking the streets at night. There was also a perception provided that there were far too infrequent patrols of those areas of concern.

Full details on the evenings program and the scope of the dangers that women feel exist in the city can be found in Friday's Daily News.

Violence fear stalks many women across city
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, September 28, 2007

Page one

Last night's meeting for Take Back the Night highlighted the fear of violence some women feel in certain parts of town.

The event, put on the Prince Rupert Transition Society, saw a solid turnout of concerned residents from both genders who want to see an end to the violence against women in the community.

The large map of Prince Rupert that was covered with stickers gave a good indication of those areas in which women felt safe, and the places where there was a perception of moderately or even extreme danger.

The east side of town was given a clean slate for the most part, with only a few green stickers indicating extremely unsafe areas in spots like George Hills Way, Dry Dock Road, Hays Cove Circle, and the general area of Seal Cove.

The West side was another story, with green stickers popping up all over the map, and being heavily concentrated in numerous areas.

The trail by Prince Rupert Secondary School was felt by many to be unsafe, as was the area around the skateboard park and civic centre.

However, there was barely a block anywhere on the west side of McBride Street that didn't have at least one green sticker, and the downtown core was marked as an overwhelmingly problematic area in many women's eyes.

There were many forms posted at the event in the Museum of Northern B.C.'s Ceremonial Room that women had filled out anonymously expressing why they felt safe and unsafe.

The most frequent answers given for feeling unsafe in certain areas were because of drug users and drunks, previous violent or sexual crimes known to have been committed, little or no lighting, unknown or suspicious people hanging out at night, and infrequent police patrolling of trouble areas. Perhaps more telling was that many women stated the only place they felt safe was in their own neighborhood or even within the four walls of their own home.

Murray Smith had some moving and heartfelt words to share with everyone about his past and how he was able to make a change for the better in his life and that of his family.

"It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how mean I was, and the terror I brought to my wife and kids back then," said Smith speaking about what he described as his former abusive lifestyle.

"When I was asked to do this the memories all came back to me, and I stand here before you in honor of you women. I take responsibility for my actions, so I'm proud to be here and proud I was able to stop the abuse all those years ago," said Smith.

Local Tsimshian dancers performed several songs, including a song of peace, a blanket dance, the Spirit of the Lord, and ended by offering their support and gratitude for being able to contribute to the Take Back the Night event.

"In our culture and media, being strong and in control is identified as what it is to be a man," said Take Back the Night organizer Leigh Murphy. "We need to change that, so to be a man can mean to be caring and compassionate and all those things that are important."

Many people present engaged in a discussion about what can be done to make Prince Rupert a safer place for women. The issue of children being out on the streets until late into the evening was also brought up, as was the societal problem of people being unwilling to come forward and report crimes and the anonymity faced by residents, even in a city as small as Prince Rupert.

Unsafe areas of Prince Rupert to be "mapped" by Transition Society

There's a change to the annual Take Back the Night program this year, as the North Coast Transition Society will gather city residents to a function at the Musuem of Northern B. C. on Thursday night.

Instead of the regular march through the city, participants in this years event will be asked to mark on a map of the city those ares which women say that they don't fee safe in, or areas where they feel the most secure while out in the city.

The Daily News had details on their plans and some background on the project in Tuesday's paper.

Mapping project will shed light on safety
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Pages one and three

The North Coast Transition Society is hoping to get as many members of the public as possible out on Thursday evening for this year's Take Back the Night event.

"Last year Take Back the Night was held in conjunction with Take Back the Highway, but it's always been held to recognize women haven't been totally safe at night, not just in the streets but in the home as well," said Leigh Murphy, a practicum student with the Transition Society who's helping organize the event in Prince Rupert.

This year Take Back the Night is being held on its own, and instead of the traditional walk to create awareness, there will be a meeting in the Ceremonial Room (downstairs overlooking the waterfront) at the Museum of Northern B.C. Thursday at 7 p.m.

This year's event will be a gathering of the public to discuss what are the areas of Prince Rupert where women do not feel safe. Hopefully it will result in some draft some recommendations that can be sent on to the City.

Stopping the Violence Program counselor Grainne Barthe has been working with Leigh Murphy to organize this year's event by visiting local organizations and having women place stickers on a large map of Prince Rupert to indicate places they feel safe or think are dangerous after dark.
"We call it the good, the bad and the ugly," said Barthe.

"We're getting women to put star stickers where it's good, the red dots equal places they feel somewhat unsafe, and the green stickers represent places women do not feel safe at all."
It's hoped that at Thursday night's meeting, when the giant poster is put up for everyone to see, the City will be able to react to what the public see as the problem areas in Prince Rupert.

"For example on certain parts of the waterfront there aren't any lights at all, or in the downtown core there are certain spots where we could get more police presence," said Barthe.

"So we're hoping this can be a pro-active ongoing project for Prince Rupert with everybody involved."

The Transition Society isn't just trying to have women involved at Thursday night's meeting, but everyone in the community who cares about the safety of women.

"Violence affects everybody, and we need everybody to participate to eliminate that," said Barthe. "Men have a role to play in it as well, because it's also about changing attitudes in terms of how we view violence towards women."

"This is just the first step in a larger project to make the community safer," noted Murphy. "Other cities have put together a project where they join with the RCMP and City Council and come together as a group to work on community safety."

Those who attend Take Back the Night will also have a chance to put stickers on the map and participate in the project, as well as fill out a small form to explain why they don't feel safe in certain areas, and make suggestions for further improvements to women's safety.

Last year's Take Back the Night was a big success, with around 150 people going out to participate, and Barthe and Murphy are hopeful that this year's evening will exceed that.

The North Coast Transition Society has many programs and services to assist women in the community, the most obvious being the Transition House which shelters women in abusive and detrimental circumstances. They also have an outreach program which does advocacy for women with legal and financial assistance, a B.C. Housing component, counselling for women and children, and a supporting recovery program for women who want to modify alcohol and drug lifestyles.

"Rupert is great in supporting us with everything, whether it's Zellers or Friendship House, or any one of the local private businesses who support the Transition Society," said Barthe. "We hope we can get the same kind of support from everyone else in the community for Take Back the Night on Thursday."