(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Countdown to curfew

Proposed back alley bylaw on pause for consultations

Apr 28, 2020 | 7:23 AM

The passage of a bylaw that would create a curfew in Prince Albert’s alleys is on hold, likely until May, after city council stopped short of giving the measure final approval at Monday night’s meeting.

Responding to a letter from Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC), the city now plans to consult with them before giving the bylaw third and final reading.

While the city’s politicians agreed to hold off on passing the bylaw for the time being, the six councillors, plus the mayor who have supported it since it was proposed last year remain staunchly behind it.

Over the course of 50 minutes on Monday night, councillors reiterated why they believed the curfew was necessary to increase residents’ safety and combat crime. Meanwhile, Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp who has been council’s lone vocal opponent of the bylaw, repeated concerns that it would contribute to racism without reducing crime.

“Property crime in our community is rampant,” Coun. Don Cody told the meeting. “And we have to give our professional policemen the opportunity to do whatever they can to help us be more safe.”

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Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp told the meeting although the bylaw didn’t mention race, its effects would play out along racial lines because of existing biases around who is deemed suspicious.

“It is a well documented and established fact that carding practices do contribute to a disproportionate amount of black and Indigenous people being arrested and incarcerated in Canada,” she said.

“Carding being when police officers approach people who are not performing any crimes… and start questioning them, which is a key component of this bylaw.”

Ultimately the bylaw passed two readings by a 7-2 margin, with only councillors Lennox-Zepp and Charlene Miller voting against it.

Mayor Greg Dionne said it could be back for final approval at the next city council meeting on May 19, provided the city is able to meet with PAGC representatives before then.

“We’ll go through what their concerns are, what their issues are and then if we can come to a satisfactory agreement, we’ll come to council and say we’re ready for third reading,” he told paNOW, speaking after the meeting.

Dionne said while the city didn’t formally consult with PAGC on the bylaw, he got the impression from their earlier statement and through casual conversations that the organization was in favour of the curfew.

“We thought the conversations were going in the right direction and we shouldn’t have assumed that,” he said. “So now we put a little pause on it and we’ve got the next two weeks to talk to them.”

Dionne explained the only thing that could slow the process down is the pandemic, and if he and Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte can”t find time to sit down together in the next two weeks. In that case he said, third-reading will be pushed to a later date.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom