Demolition begins for 6 homes seized in Point Douglas pink crack cocaine ring

A longtime community activist in Point Douglas says the demolition of a group of six homes in the neighbourhood has started years after they were seized in connection to a crack cocaine trafficking ring.

"This is a really exciting day for north Point Douglas," Sel Burrows said Thursday. "We're celebrating the destruction of these horrible houses." 

The properties were part of a group of 10 that were taken under the province's Criminal Property Forfeiture Act after being seized in a 2021 operation dubbed "Project Matriarch."

Last year, the province issued a request for proposals to buy homes on Lisgar Avenue and Austin Street for $1 each, with the goal of developing affordable housing for low and moderate-income families by Indigenous or non-profit organizations.

Burrows said the houses are being torn down after a not-for-profit organization won the request for proposal.

"They're going to be building modern housing … we're going to have at least six new houses."

Burrows said the homes are needed not only to increase the housing stock in the neighbourhood but also "make the community healthier." 

The demolition comes more than three years after Project Matriarch — a crackdown by Winnipeg police on a drug production and trafficking ring, headquartered at Point Douglas, that turned powder cocaine into highly pure crack rocks dyed pink. 

The operation led to the arrest of 26 people, including the head of the organization, Sandra Guiboche. She pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic cocaine, and was sentenced this past June to 10 years.

"I first reported them as drug dealers 16 years ago … and while we're excited that this is happening, why did it take 16 years to get this drug dealer off of our community?" Burrows said. 

A spokesperson for the province told CBC News that details related to the project are still being determined and more information on the plans for the properties will become available later.