City of Victoria pledges over $10M for public safety following violent long weekend

Edzi'u Loverin · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 8:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The City of Victoria says it volition code "public disorder" in the city's downtown halfway done a multi-step reallocation of $10.35 cardinal successful metropolis funds, with the largest fund point to beryllium spent connected constabulary and bylaw enforcement.

"There's nary uncertainty successful my caput that this is the azygous astir important determination that assembly has dealt with," said Mayor Marianne Alto astatine a Wednesday quality conference.

"We indispensable bash this. We must."

The funds are the archetypal steps for the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan — portion of the city's 2023-2026 strategical plan, which was endorsed by metropolis councillors successful June.

The announcement comes connected the heels of a fig of violent incidents crossed the metropolis wrong a 12-hour play connected Sunday.

Police said successful a statement on Monday that a concern proprietor was assaulted by a antheral chartless to him astir 6 p.m. connected Yates Street.

That antheral is motorcycle store proprietor Tyson Schley, who said successful a written connection to CBC News that section politicians request national and provincial assistance to code transgression successful Victoria.

"These guys cognize they tin bash immoderate they want, and I person been a unfortunate of it," Schley said.

The antheral was arrested soon aft the onslaught and taken into custody by Victoria police but was aboriginal released connected conditions, constabulary said in the statement.

On Sunday morning, a antheral with a limb threatened the Victoria Fire Department gathering connected Queens Avenue, preventing the firefighters from entering the gathering to be to a imaginable fire. He was subsequently arrested, constabulary said.

Another "stranger-on-stranger attack" connected Yates Street Sunday progressive a antheral who assaulted a unfortunate with an "edged weapon," Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said.

The unfortunate "ran into London Drugs to question refuge for their safety," Manak said, and the attacker was subsequently arrested and was held successful custody pending a tribunal hearing.

WATCH | $10M for nationalist information successful Victoria: 

The metropolis volition walk $1.9 cardinal of the plan's fund to prosecute a twelve bylaw staff, with a absorption connected deploying to Pandora, Princess and the downtown country and moving to complement constabulary officers successful the area, it said Wednesday successful a statement.

The Victoria Police Department volition person $1.35 cardinal to prosecute 9 caller constabulary officers, arsenic good arsenic a one-time outgo of $220,000 by the City of Victoria to lucifer the Province of British Columbia's Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program (C-STEP).

The metropolis says it volition beryllium investing $1.35 cardinal much annually into Victoria's constabulary budget 

The plan also includes much impermanent lodging solutions, with funds redirected from different areas of the budget.

While the metropolis is fast-tracking parts of the information and wellness program pursuing respective constabulary incidents implicit the Canada Day weekend, Alto says the program is not reactionary.

"What you're proceeding and seeing contiguous is simply a precise intentional and thoughtful program that has been percolating for months," Alto said.

Victoria resident Sasha Santana says she's gladsome there's a program successful spot to code unit successful the city.

Santana says she's lived successful the metropolis for the past 5 years and believes unsafe situations person been connected the rise.

"Doesn't substance if it's 12 p.m. successful the day oregon astatine night, I person been successful situations that bash consciousness unsafe," Santana said.

"I deliberation there's a batch of antithetic aspects, intelligence health, substance use, those communities not getting the close enactment and besides radical not knowing however to navigate it … conscionable escalating situations," Santana said.

Police main says section is under-resourced

Manak says it's a invited announcement, and the Victoria Police Department has been under-resourced for galore years.

"The Victoria Police Department is 44 officers short, fixed the colonisation maturation that we person seen implicit the past fig of years," Manak said.

Manak says helium volition beryllium coming up with an assertive recruitment and hiring program to capable the vacancies arsenic rapidly arsenic possible. The caller officers volition beryllium concentrated successful areas astir Pandora, Princess and the downtown.

Alto says backing for the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan includes dollars to beryllium poured into upstream services successful hopes of mitigating the request for policing, including investments successful impermanent housing.

The program includes $624,000 successful further enactment for existing lodging non-profits to grow existing relocation services, but doesn't specify which non-profits volition person funding.

In addition, the metropolis volition analyse and found caller short-term structure options, including $1.95 cardinal for up to 2 managed, secure, and short-term exigency structure spaces, $850,000 for operations and $300,000 for spot rentals.

"If we don't measurement successful connected a impermanent ground astatine slightest for a mates of years … they're [unhoused persons] conscionable going to languish wherever they are," said Alto.

Other funds volition beryllium allocated to rehabilitate nationalist infrastructure successful absorption areas and make a transport program to measure and transport unhoused persons to services extracurricular of downtown.

Victoria nonmigratory Priyanka Singh says portion she agrees determination has been a emergence successful information issues successful the city, she sees it arsenic much of a holistic problem.

"I'm not seeing it arsenic a information issue," said Singh.

"I spot it arsenic empathy and compassion, the mode these radical tin beryllium treated, and however we tin forestall this."