What is a Canadian ghetto? Is it in the poverty stricken streets of Toronto? Maybe in the Saint-Henri borough of Montreal, Cotes-des-Neiges, maybe? Is it solely based on poverty and crime? A ‘ghetto’ can be defined by numerous definitions. But Canada does not, and is far from the city of Compton. When you reach the city limits of Brantford, Ontario, you’ll eventually hit a native reserve named Six Nations. Some parts of this reserve reflect a true Canadian ghetto, with bootlegs on every desolate road and zero tolerance drug signs near every drug dealer’s house.
This is only in Ontario, but the fact remains that very few out-of-towners visit these parts. Just West of Ontario, lies Manitoba, which has a very prevalent native population. Although it is far from Compton, California, if I had to name one Canadian city in which it most resembled, it would be the city of Winnipeg. With very present street gangs that base their image off of Compton street gangs, such as the Indian Posse, Native Syndicate or the Manitoba Warriors. It’s a whole other world out there. Winnipeg being surrounded by native reserves which are poverty stricken, tend to influence the streets of Winnipeg.
On February 25th, 2024, Winnipeg Police and emergency services received a called at around 11am and headed towards the St. Theresa Point First Nations reserved where at 11:20pm, they had found an injured man. The man which was injured was named Kevin Delaney Flett. The incident had taken place near the intersection of Maryland Street and Wellington Avenue.
Flett was the 26 year old man which suffered injuries after an altercation had taken place that night. We now know that suspect that had caused the injury which resulted in the altercation was a 30-year-old man by the name Tyron Custer Harper, a native man. Flett was rushed to emergency services in which he was pronounced dead once he arrived at the hospital.
It was only on April 16th, 2024, earlier this week, that the Winnipeg Police Service had pinned down the perpetrator and made the information public with hopes to find the suspect. He is wanted for second-degree murder. This all occurred in Winnipeg’s west end.
This isn’t the first time Harper has been on the authorities radar, but is the second time after Harper was suspect to another altercation which had taken place in 2016, when Harper was just 23 years old. These two incidents were most likely crimes of impulse rather than a gangland incident.
Clarence Ignace was just 25 when he met his death in 2016, which was the result of a violent stabbing. It occurred at the 400 block of Kennedy Street, near the intersection of Sargant and Cumberland Avenues. The stabbing took place on December 20th of 2016 at around 11pm. Once again, the victim was rushed to the hospital in which he was declared dead a day later.
Custer Harper had appeared during the night to the home on 400 Block, it didn’t take him long before he started an altercation and started threatening the residents at knife-point, rattling on about how a resident of the block had slept with his baby mama. Harper then stabbed the victim targeted in the chest. Harper was a drug dealer at the time and his defense argued how his baby’s mother had invited Harper to cop off him. Harper was charged with second-degree murder.
Police issued an arrest warrant after the 2016 altercation, his day in court came in June of 2018, which he was served with 7 years. His lawyer managed to get the charges down to manslaughter instead of second-degree murder. Unfortunately, Harper had not been rehabilitated and as the old proverb goes, history repeats itself. Eerily so.
