news // no. 4

Homicides in Vancouver often
pose no threat to the public

» BC citizens believe in rising crime regardless of contradictory data

  

Janis McMath
Editor-in-Chief

 

ancouver has seen multiple culpable

homicides in the past few months.
(Culpable homicide is defined by the
Government of Canada’s website as wilful
actions that result in someone’s death.)
September saw three and October saw one.
The VPD reports that October’s most recent
murder was the 15th this year. Comparing
this data to previous years’ shows that the
homicide rate is steady. For comparison,
2015 had 16 murders; 2016 had 12; 2017 had
19; 2018 had 15; and 2019 had 10.

Large Halloween gatherings
defended by the public opinion

» Citizens offer perspectives on Granville Street partiers during COVID

CJ Sommerfeld
Staff Writer

 

undreds of partygoers swarmed the

Granville Street strip on Halloween
evening. These actions went against
suggestions from Dr. Bonnie Henry, who
urged Canadians to avoid large crowds
on this night. While media outposts
following this night labeled these
Halloween-celebrators as irresponsible and
selfish, the public instead defends fellow-
Vancouverites by saying that perspectives
regarding virus transmission are changing.

In an online chat with the Other
Press, Bijan—a long-time Vancouver
resident—offers a reason for the seemingly
incautious partiers. He tells us that what
occurred on October 31 “is indicative
of the changing opinion around the
disease.” He explains by saying that people
are intensely weighing the prospect of
getting sick against the negative side
effects associated with loneliness and
depression. He concludes that gathering
to party during a pandemic can be labelled
irresponsible when regarding it solely from
a COVID-transmission stance, however,

Near Kitsilano Beach, a recycling
bin was found with humans remains on
October 18. They were later identified as
Douglas Wanke, a 57-year-old resident
of the city. At this point, not much else is
known but it has been ruled a homicide
and is being investigated as such.
Vancouver police ask property managers
and residents to call 604-717-2500 to
report any missing big, blue, and wheeled
recycling bins.

In September, the three homicides
that occurred all did so in one night.
Two of the homicides that evening
were related; officers found two people
unresponsive in a room of the Astoria

the argument for celebrating is sound when
considered through a mental health lens.

Mary Menthol (whose name was
changed at their request), a teacher at
Douglas College, has a similar stance.
However, she worries for those within
these partier’s bubbles. When speaking
with the Other Press, she agrees that
“people are feeling cooped up and
frustrated, and this is the result.” And
while she offers justification for the
Granville Street Halloween celebrators,
she expresses her concern about the
consequences which these actions may
cause. “[The partiers] will now be bringing
whatever exposure they had in that crowd
back into their bubbles.”

When comparing the restrictions
that have taken place in the Vancouver
area with those in other parts of the
world, Lower Mainlanders have been
granted more freedoms than others. It
was only last week that certain Ontario
hotspots reopened gyms and theatres;
however, the social distancing guidelines
within these places has increased to three
meters. Ireland’s wet bars only opened
on September 21, after being closed since

Photo by Arnaldo Fragozo

hotel on East Hastings Street—one was
pronounced dead at the scene and the
other was pronounced at the hospital
they were taken to. Within half-an-hour
of the first homicide-related call came
another; 23-year-old Iqubal Grewal was
found dead in front of a house on East
64th Avenue and Knight Street in South
Vancouver. The emergency centre received
multiple calls in regard to the shots fired
in the neighbourhood—one caller from
the neighbourhood who spoke to Global
News claims to have heard up to eight
gunshots. Richmond RCMP later found a
burned-up vehicle in a field near Kartner
Road and Westminster Highway that

has been confirmed to be connected to
the shotting of Grewal. For all three of
these homicides, the police have released
a statement stating they do not believe
there is a risk to the public.

A lack of risk to the public is a
common trend for the homicides seen in
Vancouver—many of the recent incidents
have been planned and targeted killings
that pose no risk to the population at a
whole. As mentioned before, Vancouver
has seen 15 culpable homicides in 2020.
Of those 15, police have made statements
on u1 of them as cases that are of no risk to
the public. The remaining four cases have
been two cases of manslaughter—which is
defined as homicides committed without
intent of causing death but may have had
intent of causing great bodily harm—
and one case of second-degree murder,
which is defined as an intentional killing

March. The Spanish province
of Catalonia was in complete
lockdown twice. They recently
introduced new restrictions
that prohibit travel in or out of
the province; cafés, bars, and
restaurants are closed for dine-
in, and all cultural activities are
completely suspended. And

in Mexico, face masks (cubre
bocas) were mandated in March
to be worn in all public and
semi-public places—including
one’s own car. This mandate

is still enforced in twenty-

four of the country’s states.
Currently, Vancouverites are
not experiencing any of these
restrictions, however new
lockdown orders have recently
been put into place asking
residents to stay at home and isolated

for the next two weeks until Nov 23. On
October 21, the European Union removed
Canadians from their list of approved
travellers allowed to enter due to the rise in
cases within our country.

theotherpress.ca

without any premeditated actions. The
15th homicide case is yet to be determined,
but still, the majority of homicide cases in
Vancouver have been deemed targeted and
of no risk to the public.

Seemingly, targeted killings are a
common trend—and they can be observed
in a similar context: the United States. The
US Department of Justice released a report
in 2012 stating that between the years of
1993 to 2008, 21 to 27 percent of homicides
were committed by strangers—the majority
of homicides, 73 to 79 percent, were
committed “by offenders known to the
victims.” An older report by the Canadian
Centre for Justice Statistics mentions
that in 1996, “only 14 percent of homicide
victims were killed by a stranger.”

Vancouver also has one of the
lower rates of homicides in the world;
for example, Tijuana, Mexico had 1,305
murders in 2020 as of the end of August,
which is about 5.5 per day. Regardless of
this fact, and the fact that many of the
murders in Vancouver were not random
and that homicide rates (and crime rates
in general) are steady, polls show that our
population believes that crime is going up.
An Angus Reid poll from 2020 found that
about half of all Canadians believe that
crime is on the rise—and this idea was
“considerably” higher in western provinces
of Canada like BC. This is not new news
either; a 1997 Angus Reid poll found that
59 percent of Canadians thought that crime
was going up—and, again, these ideas were
more common in western provinces.

 

Photo by Billy Bui

“I suspect this sort of behaviour will
continue through the winter, regardless of
stay-home and social distancing orders [...]
people are fed up.’ Bijan concludes. COVID
fatigue has set in; people are tired of being
locked-up, tired of being cautious, and
tired of being scared.