Drop in unsafe incidents at city libraries

While the number of unsafe incidents at Winnipeg public libraries dropped dramatically last year, librarians have reported they don’t feel safer.

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. At the downtown Millennium Library, there was a drop of more than 55 per cent in the same period.

The figures are contained in a report to be considered by the civic community services committee next week.

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.

The incidents include assaults, sexual harassment, threats, alcohol and substance use, verbal abuse and inappropriate behaviour.

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’s transit system that meant buses no longer travel on Graham Avenue, which is just outside the library.

Mayor Scott Gillingham agrees the reduction in unsafe incidents is the result of several factors.

“First and foremost, we have put an emphasis on making libraries safer and making the Millennium Library safer,” Gillingham said Wednesday.

The mayor referenced the drop in the number of incidents in the second half of 2025, calling it “a strong indication the safety measures we’ve put in place are having an impact.”

However, Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, whose members include library staff, said workers have told their union — in both conversation and in a survey — they still don’t feel safe.

“They don’t feel there has been a reduction in violent crime and incidents,” Delbridge said.

“I’m going to take my advice from my membership and not the mayor who is not there every day. When the people working there don’t feel safe, because of the incidents, you have to give people reassurance.”

Delbridge said staff tell him they don’t report many of the incidents they witness because they don’t believe managers take them seriously.

“They are reluctant to report if they are not being heard,” he said. “This is not a political issue. It is a health and safety issue.”

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.

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.

The city asked for quarterly reports to keep track of incidents at the library.

The latest report recommends the city discontinue the tracking as of April.

Mitch Bourbonniere, who works with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership’s 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.

“We’re 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,” Bourbonniere said.

“Our navigators are folks with lived experiences… I have to believe we are having an impact. I’m not saying it is all us (for the incident reductions), but we are probably part of the solution.”

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.

“We’ve been seeing the trend of inappropriate behaviours going down, which is good,” Santos said.

“Those incidents have dropped consistently so that’s what we’d 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.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca