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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4011291_web1_250902-Library-security-0010.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Safety incidents at all Winnipeg public libraries dropped by 27.5 per cent in the last six months of 2025 compared to the first six months of the year.<\/p>\n
Overall, there were 640 safety incidents reported at libraries from July to December, down from 883 in the first six months of the year. The Millennium Library makes up 40.92 per cent of incidents, but the report does not break down incidents at other individual libraries.<\/p>\n
The incidents include assaults, sexual harassment, threats, alcohol and substance use, verbal abuse and inappropriate behaviour.<\/p>\n
The report says safety improved at the Millennium Library for a few reasons, including the addition of two safety workers, a ban on people responsible for problem behaviour and changes to the city\u2019s transit system that meant buses no longer travel on Graham Avenue, which is just outside the library.<\/p>\n
Mayor Scott Gillingham agrees the reduction in unsafe incidents is the result of several factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, we have put an emphasis on making libraries safer and making the Millennium Library safer,\u201d Gillingham said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The mayor referenced the drop in the number of incidents in the second half of 2025, calling it \u201ca strong indication the safety measures we\u2019ve put in place are having an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, whose members include library staff, said workers have told their union \u2014 in both conversation and in a survey \u2014 they still don\u2019t feel safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t feel there has been a reduction in violent crime and incidents,\u201d Delbridge said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to take my advice from my membership and not the mayor who is not there every day. When the people working there don\u2019t feel safe, because of the incidents, you have to give people reassurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Delbridge said staff tell him they don\u2019t report many of the incidents they witness because they don\u2019t believe managers take them seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are reluctant to report if they are not being heard,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not a political issue. It is a health and safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Millennium Library was closed from Dec. 11, 2022, to Jan. 23, 2023, after 28-year-old Tyree Cayer was stabbed to death on the main floor.<\/p>\n
Afterward, the city added metal detectors and security guards, hired nine community safety hosts and reopened the Community Connections space to help marginalized people who frequent the library.<\/p>\n
The city asked for quarterly reports to keep track of incidents at the library.<\/p>\n
The latest report recommends the city discontinue the tracking as of April.<\/p>\n
Mitch Bourbonniere, who works with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership\u2019s mental health navigators, said the team walks through the downtown skywalk near the library every day from 6 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. to provide trauma-informed support to vulnerable people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re walking with people, talking with people, and serving people and just bringing a sense of calmness and safety to the skywalks in and around the library. I think that has really helped,\u201d Bourbonniere said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSunday Passages<\/p>\n
Sundays<\/p>\n
Kevin Rollason\u2019s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for Sunday Passages<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cOur navigators are folks with lived experiences\u2026 I have to believe we are having an impact. I\u2019m not saying it is all us (for the incident reductions), but we are probably part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Coun. Vivian Santos, chair of the community service committee, said she is pleased to see library staff, security, and community safety hosts working together to reduce safety incidents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing the trend of inappropriate behaviours going down, which is good,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n \u201cThose incidents have dropped consistently so that\u2019s what we\u2019d like to see because you want residents to be able to use the library safely and not have some inappropriate behaviour happening to them or to library staff.\u201d<\/p>\n kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Kevin Rollason Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until\u00a01988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press\u2019s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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