Chantal Lavergne is getting tired of the harassment.

People have told her to ignore it. Or accept it even — look upon it as the cost of living in an Ottawa neighbourhood that has much to offer, including reasonable rent on a decent apartment.

But Lavergne has found she can’t ignore it. Or accept it. She is angry and fed up with the harassment she gets on the streets of Vanier and she is speaking out about it.

“Women keep getting harassed,” says Lavergne. “We can’t walk the streets without being bugged to see if we want a ‘ride.’ It’s happening to every woman at every age.

“I can’t go to the local pharmacy without having 5-6 cars slow down and try to wave at me to get my attention. Yesterday, I contacted the police because I had a silver pick up truck follow me for over 20 minutes while I went for a walk.

“. . .The police sent an officer and what I was told was to either take a self-defence class or ignore the johns, so, I guess: ‘Welcome to Vanier.’” Lavergne has been living in Vanier since last September. She is taking a retraining course, to become a caterer, at the Centre Francophone de Vanier on Marier Ave. She is quick to say most of her problems happen on either Marier Ave. or Montreal Rd. She has not had problems on other streets.

Still, her story surprised me. Much has been written in the past few years about how safe and clean Vanier has become. Supposedly the community has got rid of street prostitution, crack houses and many other sundry and unsightly problems that have long plagued the neighbourhood.

Lavergne’s story also surprised the local councillor.

“The crime stats tell us things have improved considerably in Vanier, “ says Rideau-Vanier Councillor Mathieu Fleury. “There has been a dramatic improvement. What you are telling me, it is what I would have expected years ago.”

The stats do indeed paint a rosy picture. According to Crime Prevention Ottawa, between 2006-2011 the crime rate in Vanier dropped 20 per cent.

This dramatic reduction was better than the city average — which saw a 15% reduction in the crime rate — and one of the biggest improvements in Ottawa (only Pinecrest did better, with a 27% drop in the crime rate.) Still, as Mark Twain once famously said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Is it possible things in Vanier are not quite as rosy as is being claimed? Lavergne certainly thinks so.

“I lived in Vanier six years ago, and I honestly don’t see any change,” she says. “I know people say it’s better, but if you’re a single woman nothing has changed. You’re still getting propositioned all the time.”

So far this year Ottawa Police have done three “john” sweeps in Vanier (which certainly backs up Lavergne’s story.) According to Fleury, 46 men were arrested following those sweeps.

Now, maybe Vanier is used to this sort of thing (as Lavergne fears) and maybe the media is as well (the sweeps certainly didn’t get much attention) but stop and think about that for a moment.

In your neighbourhood, out on your street, can you imagine 46 men cruising around looking for prostitutes? Can you imagine your wife, your sister, or your daughter walking those streets?

As for the media — if this were happening in Barrhaven, or Rockcliffe Park — would we not have it on the front page? Would it not lead the newscast?

I feel sorry some days for Vanier (a neighbourhood I have long loved, going back to the days of the Claude Tavern.) It has always been Ottawa’s poor cousin. The runt of the litter.

Councillor Fleury says things are changing, and Vanier is on the cusp of a rebirth. Building permits are flying out the door at city hall and development will likely do more to clean up the streets than John sweeps ever will.

He’s probably right. The same thing happened in Mechanicsville.

Still, Lavergne wants to feel safe on the streets today, not years from now.

“I’m tired of people telling me to ignore the Johns, or telling me how much Vanier has improved,” she says. “I want to feel safe today. And I don’t.”