Woman punched near downtown Edmonton sparks calls for integrated safety plan

A woman employed at Synchro Architecture was randomly punched to the ground near her workplace on Sept. 11, sustaining injuries serious enough to keep her on leave. The incident occurred near 105 Street and Jasper Avenue, moments after she stepped off a bus. She fell hard enough that her glasses broke and her lips swelled and bled.

Dinesh Burad, co-founder of Synchro Architecture, said the incident marked the first time one of his employees had been attacked in more than a decade operating downtown. "All levels of government are doing the best in their own capacities and in their own silos, right?" Burad said. "But is there an integrated plan which is working for the streets? And if it is working for the streets, I'm asking, why did my employee get hit?"

Burad is calling on federal, provincial, and municipal governments to jointly develop a safety plan for downtown Edmonton. The Downtown Revitalization Coalition's chair, Cheryll Watson, agreed that more investment is needed — specifically citing downtown-dedicated police officers in the upcoming four-year budget. "What this incident does is it really reinforce why safety needs to remain a priority," Watson said.

Mayor Andrew Knack said the city has been working on downtown safety over the past year and has invited provincial and federal representatives to Chinatown to see conditions firsthand. He acknowledged stats are encouraging but stressed the disconnect between numbers and how residents feel. "Whether it's the municipal, provincial, federal government. Whether it's the police. Whether it's the community groups and organizations that are supporting folks, I don't think any one of those groups would say we're at where we need to be yet for safety," Knack said. "There's still more work to do. The stats are encouraging, but people need to feel that."