Duane Hicks
Whether it’s curbing crime with watchful eyes or aiding people with helpful hands, the Fort Frances Bear Clan Patrol is here to make the community safer.
A small group of volunteers conducted their first patrols of Fort Frances on Friday and Saturday nights.
Local organizer Sandra Allan said the group, which is affiliated with the original Winnipeg Bear Clan Patrol, is here to help.
“Basically what we’re doing is patrolling the area, making sure everyone’s safe,” she noted.
Wearing reflective vets, I.D. tags, and “Bear Clan” crests, the volunteers patrol the streets and report any crime they see to the police (the Bear Clan does not arrest people).
They also are willing to lend a hand to those in need, whether that means safely escorting someone home, helping someone who is lost or in trouble, or cleaning up safety hazards like syringes.
Bear Clan Patrol member Jim Engelman, who also runs the Fort Frances Crime Report group on Facebook, said the time is right for the group to start up “with everything that’s been going on around town lately.”
“The comments I read off my page all of the time show me people have had enough,” Engelman remarked.
“They want to go to sleep at night knowing someone is watching out for them; to not wake up in the morning and wonder if their car has been broken into or their gas has been siphoned or their garage has been broken into or a window’s been broken,” he added.
“People have worked hard for what they’ve got—they don’t want it damaged,” echoed Allan.
“They shouldn’t have to worry or be scared in our community.”
Having a presence on the street “will help out a lot,” reasoned Engelman.
“These kids—our kids or whoever is going around town doing this—who knows, one of us might walk around the corner one night and look ’em in the eye,” he said.
“They don’t want that and their parents don’t want that, either.”
Local member James Eastman, who was part of the original Bear Clan Patrol in Winnipeg during the 1990s, attested the mere presence of the Bear Clan Patrol deters crime.
“It lets those criminals know that somebody is watching them,” he stressed.
At the same, youths causing the problems sometimes just need someone to listen to them—and the Bear Clan Patrol can do that, too, said Allan.
“It’s like an outreach,” agreed Engelman.
Eastman stressed the Bear Clan is not a vigilante group.
“A lot of people had that misconception even when we started back then [in Winnipeg],” he admitted.
“I know back in the original days, the crime was quite high back then in the north-end area [of Winnipeg],” Eastman noted.
“But with us out there Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, it made a difference.
“We didn’t catch everything—you’re not going to catch everything,” he conceded. “But at the same time, it calmed a lot of issues.”
Not only was the Bear Clan Patrol effective at curbing crime, but once people understood who they were, they became very popular with community members—and still are.
“People feel safer,” said Allan, noting that when she and some of the other volunteers went to Winnipeg to patrol with the Bear Clan there July 14-15, people would wave, honk, and say “thank you” to them.
“It made you feel really good that you were part of something,” she added.
“When we were in Winnipeg, the Bear Clan was sitting on a ledge and there was about 10 other kids sitting right beside them,” Allan recalled.
“They loved the Bear Clan—they gave them candy all the time and they talked to them, and would play in the playground with them.
“They were so good with them—the kids love to see that kind of role model,” she reasoned.
“It’s reassuring. They know somebody’s out there that cares,” echoed Eastman, adding the Bear Clan Patrol are people youths can depend on.
Eastman added the Winnipeg Bear Clan Patrol has done a wide variety of duties, including security for pow-wows to promoting drug awareness.
Sometimes standing with a lone individual waiting at a bus stop at night makes all the difference.
“There would be times where an older couple is unloading groceries, and we’d take the time to help them carry their stuff in,” Eastman noted.
“Sometimes, two or three of us would stay behind and help an elderly couple doing yardwork or shovelling snow in the winter.”
The original Bear Clan Patrol first formed in 1992 in Winnipeg. At that time, about 200 volunteers banded together to make the city streets safe, especially for aboriginal women and children.
The name and concept was based on First Nations’ teachings, where the bear represents peace and protection.
The group faded away after several years. But when Tina Fontaine’s body was found in the Red River in August, 2014, some Winnipeggers decided to bring back the Bear Clan.
They have been back at it ever since, including being involved in high-profile searches for missing persons, such as Kenora teen Delaine Copenace, which caught Allan’s attention.
Over the past few months, Allan created a Facebook group, which drew a positive response and indicated to her that a Bear Clan branch should be started here.
“Now it’s all about getting the police on board with us, the Town of Fort Frances, and all of the community members,” said Allan, adding the Bear Clan Patrol wants to work with partners, including Couchiching.
Allan even would like to get an elder on board to provide them with wisdom.
And Fort Frances isn’t the only place where the Bear Clan idea is taking hold.
As recently as June, new branches of Bear Clan Patrol started in Kenora and Regina, with inquiries coming from B.C. and as far away as Australia about starting patrols in those locations.
The local group, meanwhile, is welcoming more volunteers aged 18 and older.
Visit the “Fort Frances Bear Clan Patrol” Facebook page to find out more about the group and how to get involved.
The group also has a GoFundMe page to raise funds for equipment to get going, including safety vests, a laptop, patches, walkie-talkies, back packs, and office supplies.
The fundraising goal is $3,500.
The page can be found at www.gofundme.com/2ex77c4
Alternately, if anyone would like to donate any of these items, the group would very much appreciate it.
Call Allan at 1-807-861-0629 or contact the group through its Facebook page.
