THE BATTLEFORDS - Linda Mackniak, the chief operating officer for the Battlefords and District Chamber of Commerce, sits across from me during a mid-August interview with the News-Optimist in 2023 and talks about the wealth of good in the community.
Those include, The Saskatchewan Hospital, the Dekker Centre, the InnovationPLEX, Immigration Resource Centre, Boys and Girl Club of the Battlefords, Big Brother's, Big Sisters, Concern for Youth, North Battleford's Golf & Country Club and much, much more.
The chamber has served, in one way or another, as the voice of business in the community for over 100 years, Mackniak told me. Though the business community has and does face struggles like labour shortages, government bureaucracy, supply chain struggles, and a recent pandemic, crime in North Battleford is just another issue among them she said.
"So now it's turned into this monster, right? It's like a monster every year we're dreading having the CSI come out,” she said.
“And we're dreading hearing about all these different things, the challenges,” she said, adding that she appreciated the city’s efforts to explain why the CSI is allegedly inflated.
Mackniak references concerns the city and the RCMP have noted ranging from the number of offences being inflated due to repeat offenders missing court dates or other minor charges, or the community being compared to larger centres like Toronto or Vancouver.
But the community itself, Mackniak felt, isn’t accurately represented by the ‘Crimetown’ reputation frequently pushed online.
"The sad part is that unless people take the chance or the opportunity to come to the Battlefords, they don't see the really great things. Somebody says, 'Oh, you're from Battleford, oh no.' But I mean, for those of us that have been here for years or that have moved here, I don't know very many people that say they don't love the Battlefords," she said.
"Have we had historical issues that have caused us more angst? [Colten] Boushie or different situations? Absolutely. You know ... and even go back in history? You know when there were the hangings in Battleford," Mackniak said, referencing the last mass hanging in Canada, where in the 1800s Indigenous men were hung on the grounds of Fort Battleford
"Are we perfect? Absolutely not, but are we the worst place in the world? Not a chance."
She goes on to tell me about a recent kindergarten program that had RBC Dominion Securities, Portabellas’, the local CO-OP or other local businesses partnering with local classrooms to teach over 100 students about the community-minded businesses that help the community thrive, all with little media coverage.
"Some of those positive stories while we hear about them, and maybe the local community hears about them ... it's incumbent on all of us to tell the positive stories."
And it's positive stories like their new relocation guide, residents shopping locally or challenging negative remarks, and hardworking people in the business community that Mackniak thinks will save North Battleford from its own stigma.
Former-chair weighs in
Currently, Kayla Petersen, owner of Century 21 Prairie Elite, spends her days trying to convince nervous prospective buyers that life in North Battleford isn't what is portrayed. That’s despite their perusal of negative media coverage — like CBC's interview of a woman who was scared for her life and fled to Saskatoon or when Maclean's now-infamous article discussing North Battleford’s future drew criticism from city council for only focusing on the negative.
"Whenever I meet with them [buyers], I just explain, it's not like what you hear in the media. It's not ... this is not a dangerous place to live for the average person,” Petersen, who serves as the current past-chair of the local chamber, told the News-Optimist in 2023.
“You just have to remember what comes out in the media is always sensational,” she added, laying the blame at the feet of the national news organizations who don’t look at all the good present in the community.
"It's bad everywhere right now. It's a social problem, it's not an easy fix,” she said.
"I think we just need to publicly talk about how great our community is and just have better promotion of our city and our community and of the people who live and work here every day and love it.
“We're not going to solve these social issues and the drug and alcohol addictions overnight.”
Originally published in the April 4 edition of the Battlefords Regional News-Optimist.
