Yukon RCMP commanding officer reflects on recent increase in gun violence

Yukon RCMP Chief Supt. Lindsay Ellis says there's been a real jump recently in gun-related incidents and crime across the territory. 

So far this year, police responded to several reports of gunshots, some of which involved 3D-printed guns. 

Several youths with firearms were arrested this winter, in unrelated incidents that took place in broad daylight in public spaces. 

In the past few days alone, an individual walked into a restaurant on Main Street, Whitehorse, brandishing a firearm. On a different day, a shooting took place in the city's Riverdale neighbourhood that sent one person to hospital, while another incident involving a replica firearm forced the evacuation of a building as well as homes and businesses within a two-block radius around downtown Whitehorse. 

Meanwhile, the federal government gave $4 million last November to help address gun crime and gang violence in the Yukon.

So how is the local police handling the rise in gun violence?

Ellis spoke to Yukon Morning's Elyn Jones Thursday about why this has become a growing issue and what the RCMP's response to it all is. 

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Yukoners have expressed concerns over what appears to be a rise in gun violence. How real is the issue?

Over the last recent months, including over the last week or two, the RCMP have reported on investigations that we've undertaken or reports that we've received ... about firearms being displayed, brandished, or us coming upon firearms through the course of investigations. 

So it's not just a perception — it's real.

We're getting some firearms out of traffic stops. That's highly concerning for officer safety and the public. When I'm seeing that my members every day are interacting with individuals that may have on their person operable or even replica firearms, that's a concern.

The overarching concern is the fear that the public feels going anywhere in the Yukon and thinking, you know, "Does this person have a firearm? Is something going to take place in front of me that I have no control over? And I'm an innocent bystander, too."

What explains this increase? 

Some of these incidents are perhaps not related. Some are through different demographics. So it could be that there are adult people who are involved in organized crime or gang-type activity.

The territory changed in the last 10 to 15 years, but I think that we're just catching up with the rest of the country.

Gun violence has been noted by Stats Canada to have increased over the last 10 years across Canada. There's many different reasons for that.

I'd like to think that some of the reason that, in the Yukon, we're reporting on this and that we're responding and that we are coming upon perhaps some of these firearms in our duties, is that we are out there and we're focused on identifying and defusing but also preventing crime. 

We need to have some hard conversations as a community and as Yukoners about what we feel is acceptable and also what we're willing to do about the root causes. 

Where are the firearms coming from? 

There's many sources of illegal firearms in the country.

Some are purchased legally through reputable dealers and then made their way into hands that they shouldn't be in. Some guns are smuggled in through other countries and some are ordered ... through the Internet and the dark web in separate parts. 

Some of these firearms are operable; some of them are replicas.

The file that we had in Dawson City at the start of April, that was what we would call a ghost gun. So an untraceable firearm. It's a 3D-print ... so a 3D printer can print that gun and can render it operable.

I don't want to opine about why some people would be carrying real or replica firearms. There could be many different reasons ... personal protection, actual wish to commit a crime.

 But there's no good reason in the Yukon for somebody to be carrying a real or replica firearm. 

How is the RCMP currently responding to the issue? 

Our response in those situations is the same. It's a professional, modern application of policing to defuse that public safety threat, and do so in the safest manner possible.

Some of the incidents that have occurred in public during daytime hours on Main Street, even last night, are highly concerning with a high risk to public safety. And I can understand why Yukoners are concerned about this uptick. 

I want to be very clear, though, that the police are well positioned to respond. And we encourage people to, if they see something suspicious, call us. Please give us good details.

What more can be done? 

It comes down to prevention and awareness, and also just conflict resolution. When people are feeling like perhaps it's acceptable to carry these firearms and to escalate, for lack of a better term, their beefs or their conflict with each other, I think that we can do maybe better as a community to try and resolve some of these conflicts. 

So our presence is important — visibility and approachability of the police.