Winnipeg is a city divided. Split by the Canadian Pacific Railway there is literally a wrong side of the tracks.

Manitoba’s biggest city boasts the country’s biggest rates of robberies, rates that are nearly double most other major cities in Canada.

Over the years the rates have declined, but that still leaves Winnipeg with a major robbery problem. The question becomes what are the statistics leaving out.

Robbery is primarily a poverty crime according to Kate Kehler. Kehler is the executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and deals with the effects and solutions of poverty everyday in her work. She adds that the majority of crime that happens within the city is poverty based and occurs in the North end of the city, which has the highest rates of homelessness. The city is “dramatically separated” by the railway Kehler said.

Statistics show that Winnipeg has average rates of unemployment and median income. However the stats do not show the entire picture. Kehler explains that Winnipeg has a high transient population that moves in and out of the city in addition to a high newcomer population.

In particular families are coming from the surrounding reserves into the big city. Winnipeg has the highest population of Aboriginals within any city in Canada at 10 per cent according to a 2006 census by Statistics Canada. Additionally it was found that Winnipeg has the largest population of Aboriginal youth.

“There is inherent fear of the other,” Kehler said noting the tensions between Aboriginals and non Aboriginals. She notes that a big part of the transient population is Aboriginals who moved to Winnipeg from reserves. She adds that there is a high rate of failure when it comes to integration because of lack of resources. Resources include affordable housing, jobs and education.

Youth from these populations arrive from the reserves behind their classmates. The gap in learning and Province’s practice of passing kids regardless leaves many ill equipped for the working world. “Often times the gangs are there waiting for them,” Kehler said.

Rick Linden said that the per child funding in residential schools is significantly less than the funding for other schools. Linden a researcher on crime prevention at the University of Manitoba said that in his studies of auto theft a large portion were youth. Of these youth Linden noted that most of them had not finished school.

In Winnipeg the youth rates of robberies are the highest in the country from 2010-2013.

Linden has experience with combating youth crime. Linden is the co chair for the Manitoba Auto Theft Task force. Through research it was found that young offenders committed the majority of auto thefts. The task force works with other organizations reduce youth committed auto theft. Education is a large focus in this initiative.

The efforts of the Manitoba Auto Theft Task force reduced auto theft in Winnipeg by 80 percent. Before this the rates of auto theft in Winnipeg was double other Canadian cities.

Programs like these deal with the root cause of high crime rates: poverty. Kehler said that the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg is trying to get a better idea of how many homeless people the city has in order to develop an action plan. The Council also has a strong focus on providing housing for those in need.

With dropping crime rates it is possible that one day those tracks will be no more than just a mode of transportation and not a divide.