It was once known as the Whalley of Burnaby, but the Kingsway-Imperial area has made a remarkable turnaround in recent decades. The neighbourhood has gone from a crime-ridden area to a well-connected community where residents and businesses keep an eye out for each other. Much of that is due to the work of Diane Gillis, a nurse who has lived in the neighbourhood for more than three decades.
Gillis started the Kingsway-Imperial Neighbourhood Association in 2005, and the group’s membership has grown to nearly 30 residents and businesses. The association hosts regular events to pick up garbage, paint over graffiti and share information with residents and businesses.
KINA has played a major role in improving the neighbourhood, and the secret, according to Gillis, is for everyday people to get involved instead of just relying on the city and police to improve things.
Diane Gillis’ Top 5 things resident can do to improve their neighbourhoods.
- Get to know your neighbours
- Do what you can to reduce risk to your person or property, e.g. walk in well-lit areas and be aware of your surroundings, don’t leave your back door open if you are gardening in the front yard
- Report suspicious and criminal activity to police
- Take the opportunities available in Burnaby to be involved in programs such as Block Watch or to sit on one of the several City of Burnaby committees through which community members are actively engaged in diverse ways that make the City of Burnaby the great place it is in which to live.
- Always keep in mind that you can turn a challenge into an opportunity as we have in the KINA Community….Our efforts to address obvious criminal activity has not only led to our being a safer community, it has led to ours being a more connected, supportive community where we know and care for each other. Our community is now more like a small village within a big city. Participate in community initiatives, such as the annual KINA community cleanup, the second Saturday of September.
Q&A:
How did the Kingsway-Imperial Neighbourhood Association start?
An incident beside our home resulted in police responding with guns drawn, a real wake-up that led me to realize this and other incidents in our neighbourhood were signs that we had problems that needed to be addressed. This was confirmed through conversations I had with other residents and area businesses. I requested to speak at a meeting of our mayor, council and staff and also phoned our then Burnaby RCMP superintendent to request a meeting. At both meetings I explained what I and others were observing and experiencing in our neighbourhood and asked what we as community members could do in cooperation with the city and RCMP to address these problems. KINA was formed at that time, 10 years ago, to strengthen our neighbourhood to make it a better place to live, work and attend school.
What was the neighbourhood like before KINA?
There were 10 corners between Marlborough and Colbourn, where it was the norm for a sex-trade worker to be seen. Theirs was a community within our community and included men who were involved in other criminal activity. One of the places these people frequented was a motel next to our neighbourhood elementary school with only a chain link fence between. Customers of some area businesses were sometimes approached by these people, and area business washrooms and residents’ garden hoses were used to wash up. Many of us experienced repeat property theft. Walking in our neighbourhood was dicey, as sex-trade workers and others in their community would let us know (we weren’t welcome). For example, they did not want us to wait for the light to change to cross the street as the corner was theirs. Neighbourhood residents were sometimes mistakenly approached by men thinking a woman out for a walk was a sex-trade worker, and sex-trade workers thinking men living and working in the neighbourhood (were) customers. Our neighbourhood was referred to by some as “the Whalley of Burnaby.”
What’s it like now?
Remarkably improved. There is a refreshing optimism and sense of enjoyment in our community. Community members can walk in our community without the fear they will encounter or be challenged by someone involved in a criminal lifestyle. Businesses are not experiencing the interruptions they used to. Students in our schools are not growing up and learning in an environment with obvious criminal activity. Sex-trade workers and others we know as surviving through criminal activity are rarely seen. There is a connectedness amongst folks in our community.
Your approach seems to be about getting people involved in fixing their own communities instead of just complaining about things. How does that work?
The analogy I often use when speaking about the role and responsibility each of us has in our own community safety is that it is much like the role and responsibility we have in our own and others health. For example, eating well, exercising, staying home when we have a contagious illness, such as the flu, contributes to the wellness of ourselves and others. Similarly, we have a role and responsibility in our personal and community safety. For example, securing a bike when leaving it outside a store, ensuring your back door is closed and locked when gardening in the front yard and not driving while impaired or using a cell phone. When a person has symptoms of illness or when they are significantly ill they should see a physician. When a person sees something suspicious or experiences a crime, it is important that they report such activity or incidents to police. If a person has not followed good health practices or seen a physician regarding symptoms or illness significant enough to indicate they should see a physician one cannot hold the physician solely responsible for their poor health. If a person does not follow good safety and crime prevention practices and does not report suspicious and criminal activity, they cannot hold the police solely responsible for crime they and others in their community might experience.
For more information, call Gillis at 604-786-2452 or visit kinaburnaby.ca.
