Kenora needs to get tougher on crime, says embattled city councillor

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KENORA — After stopping an armed robbery dead in its tracks, Coun. Bob Bernie says he’s had enough of criminals being given carte blanche to be morally bankrupt.

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Sunday morning — and while he was on his way back home from church, no less — Bernie says he stopped with his wife to fill up his truck at the Shell gas station in Kenora, only to discover someone inside was holding the store hostage with a stick.

Despite Bernie’s presence, the alleged thief started using the weapon to strike at the cashier — a lone young woman, and also the store manager’s wife — before digging through the till and running off with $440 in cash.

As a former police officer, Bernie told Klein Media he felt compelled to intervene, so he sprung into action and chased the suspect down the street, where he eventually grabbed a hold and placed them under citizen’s arrest until the police arrived.

“The cashier, the look on that poor girl’s face, she was shaking, and I thought, you know what? It’s not right that somebody can do that,” Bernie recalled at the scene of the crime.

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“She had a good start on me and I had my flip flops on, but I thought I’ll catch her, so I started running… I did a full on sprint, and there was this guy from Winnipeg that helped me… she ended up turning around and swinging the stick at us in the middle of the road, so I kind of just grabbed her and grounded her.”

Policy prohibits the Ontario Provincial Police from sharing what charges the suspect is facing.

Bernie, meanwhile — who said he has intervened in no less than five similar incidents since retiring — was not shaken by incident, but said something needs to be done about crime in Kenora.

In the lead up to the last municipal election, Bernie ran on the platform “deeds, not words,” along with a pledge that he would dive headfirst into Kenora’s social issues in order to bring back and revitalize community safety.

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“I want the best for this community, I want it to be safe, I want it to be prosperous, and I want to be proud of it — I just have a really deep-rooted and intrinsic desire to move the community in a positive direction,” Bernie told his future constituents back in August of 2022.

However, the still somewhat-newly-minted councillor is now of the belief that progress hasn’t just stalled in Kenora, it’s begun moving backwards — and with seriously unfair consequences.

“Our community, we’re being held ransom, and a large vocal faction of the community seems to think that’s OK,” Bernie said.

“We can’t avoid the reality that crime and disorder in our community has an impact, we need to uphold the rule of law, and we need to take our community back.”

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From who, you might ask? According to Bernie, it’s criminals, who he suggested are all too often thought of, and even sometimes purposefully made out to be victims instead of wrongdoers.

“I don’t (care) about the accused, if you didn’t get enough attention from your dad when you were little, or whatever,” Bernie continued.

“I hear the refrain too often, ‘They’re a victim of childhood trauma or adverse childhood experiences,’ and quite frankly, I’m at the point now where I don’t care anymore.

“I care about the real victims, and it’s almost gotten to the point of victim shaming, where people and business owners have to just take it, or it’s assumed that they’re just collateral damage.

“If someone says to you, ‘I went downtown today and my two-year-old had to witness a man fornicating on Main Street,’ they’re the one who will be made to feel guilty.

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“Logic,” he said, standing tall in the heart of downtown Kenora, “has been tipped on its head here.”

When it comes to who’s to blame, Bernie is quick to point several fingers: the federal Liberals and their lackadaisical approach to crime are his obvious number one, but then there are also Kenora’s own social service agencies — many of which he works with closely as part of the municipality’s crime prevention and community well-being advisory committee.

“I hear it over again, that we’re service rich, service rich, service rich,” Bernie said, “but are these services fulfilling their mandates? I would say often times, no.”

Openly taking a page from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s playbook, Bernie says that if he could have it his way, then every social service organization in town would be subject to some kind of government audit.

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“These sorts of agencies or initiatives, are they fulfilling their mandate, are they creating anything positive, or are they just sort of pushing papers from one side of the room to the other?” the city councillor asked.

“I think largely no, agencies aren’t fulfilling their mandates. I’ve been at these delegations where we (council) advocate for more funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association and things like that, but none of these services are open 24/7, and often times, you can’t get an answer if you call somebody past 5 p.m.”

As far as Bernie is concerned, this kind of inadequacy results in the OPP being left to handle the brunt of mental health calls, crises and other atypical duties on the streets, even though “they’re the most ill equipped to deal with that stuff.”

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“I think agencies in Kenora need to increase their game and be responsive around the clock, especially with the most complex, high-needs individuals,” Bernie said.

Speaking of the police, Bernie added that going back to his days in the now-disbanded Kenora Police Service, officers in town used to have their own code — 10-80 — for arresting someone for public intoxication and bringing them back to the holding cells.

Nowadays, though, Bernie says the police can only merely offer to take intoxicated individuals to the detox, and that even if they agree, “they just go in through one door and then walk right out the other.”

“The police know that we can’t arrest our way out of this, but by the same token, law and order is the bedrock of our community, and if you get away from that… that’s what I’m trying to advocate against,” Bernie said.

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“People want law and order in this community, and I’m not saying to throw everyone in jail, but there are people who are dangerous offenders that should not be on the streets in our community.”

To this end, Bernie explained that “when I used to work for the KPS, we had these conversations often, about systemic issues and what was really holding up any progress.

“When they closed the emergency shelter here years ago and we had a scathing report from the human rights commission, there were a lot of blanket statements like ‘everyone is welcome in our community’ and ‘Kenora is an inclusive community’ — but we’d talk on night shift, and we would always say, if you’re a drug dealer, a habitual offender, a sex trafficker, or here to victimize young girls, we don’t want you in Kenora!”

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While he says he knows statements such as these are a bitter pill for some to swallow, Bernie also believes that however fearful of speaking up anyone might be, the majority of the community agrees with him, whether people like it or not.

“I’ve got so many friends that say, you know what? 95 per cent of the population feels the same way you do, and when those people reach out to me, it makes me feel like I’m on the right track,” Bernie said.

And because of this, Bernie says he is proudly unfazed by those who say otherwise, and that he will continue fighting his fight regardless of how censored — or censured — anyone else in town might try to make him feel.

“The attempts to silence me are through the roof, but I feel an obligation to speak up,” Bernie said.

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“People are often muzzled because they work for an organization and can’t speak out without punitive consequences for their families, but I’m past that now.”

Where this comment might leave some to wonder about his current wheelhouse — municipal government — Bernie revealed that he has occasionally struggled with the City of Kenora’s new communication strategy, which he admitted is “meant to control the narrative.”

“Within the confines of council, you’re limited to what you can say, when you can say it,” Bernie said.

“It seems like we’re always trying to put a fire out, and I thought I don’t want to add fuel to any fires, but at this point, I’ve got nothing to lose,” he continued.

“We need to get back to not being ashamed to say we’re a community of law and order. Wouldn’t that be a great motto for the City of Kenora?”

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