Richard J. Brennan National Affairs Writer The Toronto Star

Ruth Bonneville/The Canadian Press Winnipeg Police Chief Devon Clunis believes prayers will be a “significant piece” of his efforts to reduce crime and put Winnipeg back on the right track.

Winnipeg, Canada’s violent crime capital, could use some divine help, acting Police Chief Devon Clunis says.

Clunis, who is still chaplain for the Winnipeg Police Service, told ChristianWeek.org recently he truly believes prayers will be a “significant piece” of his efforts to reduce crime and put Winnipeg back on the right track.

“I’m a little tired of us . . . being ‘[the] murder capital of Canada,’” said the Jamaican-born Clunis, 48, who is Winnipeg’s first black police chief. He was appointed the city’s new chief earlier this month but has yet to be sworn in.

Earlier this year, Statistics Canada reported that the Manitoba capital once again had the highest homicide rate and violent crime rate in the country in 2011.

“What would happen if we all just truly — I’m talking about all religious stripes here — started praying for the peace of this city and then actually started putting some action behind that?” he said. “I believe something phenomenal is going to happen in our city. I truly believe it’s coming. I don’t think I’ve arrived at this position just by chance.”

While it is somewhat unusual for a police chief to publicly call upon a higher being for a little help, Rev. Bill Miller of Knox United Church in downtown Winnipeg, thinks Clunis may be on to something. Others are a little more skeptical but wish him well must the same.

“I think it is incredibly important and I would agree very much with the chief,” Miller told the Toronto Star Monday.

“I am a very strong believer in it (prayer). What is prayer at its essence? It’s a positive energy . . . it’s a collective intention for good. So whether it’s Muslim prayers or Christian prayers, Jewish prayers or aboriginal prayers, it all adds to a kind of positive energy,” he said.

Of course — just as Clunis alluded to — it is one more thing in the repertoire of deeds and actions to help rid Winnipeg of its infamous reputation, Miller said. He was quick to add the Central Park neighbourhood where the church is located was far worse 10 to 15 years ago.

“It was a bit like Jane and Finch (in Toronto), it was very rough neighbourhood and now . . . it is a low crime neighbourhood, it’s family friendly . . . we are a high density urban neighbourhood primarily of new Canadians,” he said.

Clunis, who could not be reached by the Toronto Star, told ChristianWeek.org his Christian faith is the basis for everything he does. He recalled asking God in 1998 “to put me in a place in the police service where I have the opportunity to stand up and tell people there is a God who truly cares about them.”

And just three weeks later, the police department started a chaplaincy program and asked him if he would consider joining.

NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) said he welcomes a “more enlightened spiritual approach to law enforcement, I find that refreshing” but added it will take more than prayers to heal Winnipeg’s social problems.

“Winnipeg’s crime rate is more a function of chronic long-term poverty than it is a matter of faith or even prayer,” Martin said.

“If he is going to be praying I hope that he prays that legislators get their heads out of their a– and stop dismantling the social safety net and building more prisons when the solutions lie in opportunity and social services,” he said.

Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North) said he would never do anything to discourage prayer.

“But having said that, if we want to deal with the issue of crime in Winnipeg, what we need in addition to that would be programs that would take kids out of gangs and into more productive activities. That’s the real issue,” he said.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1275461–pray-for-peace-in-winnipeg-new-police-chief-urges