Reasonable safety measure or unfair blanket approach?
Those are the conflicting labels being applied to Flin Flon’s new curfew for youth under the age of 16.
The curfew became law July 4 after city council passed final reading of the requisite bylaw. There was no opposition among council and Mayor Cal Huntley said he had not heard any negative feedback from the public.
“Just a lot of positive comments that people are looking forward to [it],” he said. “They understand it’s going to be a challenge to implement, but they’re just happy to see some activity going on in that time.”
Councillors Bill Hanson and Colleen McKee also said they had not heard negative feedback regarding the curfew, which
had carried first reading two weeks earlier.
Huntley previously said the rationale for the curfew lies in a “perception out there that there’s some hazard in walking around Flin Flon at certain periods in the evening.”
He said this perception is not necessarily accurate but added, “If enough people believe it, then you do something to try and [alleviate] that. There’s no reason for large groups of kids, younger kids, to be out wandering around at that time of night, and this just gives the RCMP the ability to disperse appropriately and send them home.”
In an interview with CBC, Huntley expanded on council’s reasoning, saying some residents believe crime is on the rise and that young people are behind the increase.
“We believe there is some reality behind some of the concerns in the community, but we also believe that some of it is perceptual, so we don’t want to overdo our reaction to it,” he told the network.
Huntley downplayed the notion that the
curfew is unfair.
“I’m not going to get into what the personal rights are for children that are under the age of 16,” he told CBC. “We believe 16 and under, there needs to be some proper guidance with regards to behaviour in public places.”
The curfew bars youth under the age of 16 from public places after 10:30 pm Sunday to Thursday, and after 11:59 pm Friday and Saturday. The curfew extends to 5:59 am every morning.
The curfew defines public places as “any highway, street, lane, thoroughfare, road or road allowance, bridge, pier, trail or any public place.”
Scott Cole, an uptown resident, believes the curfew will be ineffectual as well as unfair to law-abiding young people.
“It will not solve the problem because the troublemakers, you can pass whatever law you want – they don’t care,” he said. “They have no use for the law or anybody but themselves. There’s a lot of damn good kids out there that are [15] and under, and why should they be restricted? They haven’t done anything.”
Cole said that in the decade he has lived in his current home, not once has he been bothered by a young person under 16. The worst incident he could think of involved children knocking over a mailbox.
He said some younger youth do not have responsible parents and want to get away from home at night.
“A lot of them go out and they don’t do any harm. They go sit down at the duck pond,” Cole said.
He agreed there is some public apprehension about walking in certain locations at night, but he added the individuals of concern are older than 15.
Another uptown resident, Dennis Hydamaka, supports the curfew in part because he and other family members have been victims of youth vandalism.
“The RCMP’s hands
are tied because they’re underage, and [a curfew] is one way of maybe taking some control on it,” he said.
Hydamaka is unsure how effective the curfew will be, but he believes it’s worth trying and that
perhaps it should apply
to everyone under the age of 18.
He said he hopes Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP) can assist the RCMP in enforcing the curfew given how busy the police are.
Flin Flon resident Michael Ward, 15, had mixed feelings on the curfew.
“Sometimes you go over to your friend’s house and come back at night. I can see that being a problem,” he told CBC.
“But I definitely see that could probably help with the crime, because [most] of the crime happens after midnight.”
