A serial killer targeted vulnerable women in Winnipeg. What's changed at shelters since then?
Statement from some shelter providers says they're unable to disclose specific security measures
Three years after convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki targeted four vulnerable First Nations women, it's unclear what impact the case has had on safety protocols at some of Winnipeg's biggest shelters.
Skibicki was found guilty last July of four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unknown victim who has since been identified as Ashlee Shingoose.
During the trial, court heard Skibicki targeted vulnerable women who frequented homeless shelters.
During his hours-long police interrogation, Skibicki told police he met Contois on the bus, he first met Harris years earlier at Siloam Mission, he met Shingoose outside the Salvation Army and he met Myran in a back lane between Siloam and the Salvation Army.
Skibicki said he used some shelters for meals.
In court, a shelter worker testified Skibicki once told him "he had his own place. He was just there to stalk his victims."
CBC reached out to Siloam Mission, Salvation Army, Main Street Project and N'Dinawemak — Our Relatives' Place to ask if this case led to any changes in shelter operations and safety protocols.
Only N'Dinawemak executive director Frank Parkes agreed to an interview.
"That's a really difficult subject, and I think it will be a difficult subject for a long time for our community to speak about, because we still, you know, are dealing every day with the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls," Parkes said.
Video evidence from inside N'Dinawemak at 190 Disraeli Freeway released during the trial shows Harris with Skibicki. That's where the staff member said he had heard Skibicki make that chilling comment.
Several agencies initially partnered to run the shelter as an emergency response to the cold weather in 2021, but Parkes said now N'Dinawemak is operated as one organization.
"It was really just a way of making sure that one organization had responsibility for all of the aspects of the shelter," said Parkes, who took on his role less than two years ago, after the women were murdered.
He thinks the way it runs now helps to streamline communication if a potentially dangerous issue emerges.
"We can communicate from somebody who sees a problem, you know … out in the common space, and then get that information up into, you know, leadership and people that can actually act on that information and investigate it and report it, so that has changed for sure," Parkes said.
The Indigenous-led shelter works to hire people who are Indigenous and who have lived experience, Parkes said. That plays a role in how the shelter thinks about the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and how they make decisions at the shelter, he said.
"When you focus on hiring within the Indigenous community and you look at things through an Indigenous lens, then the whole story of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls becomes a part of how we make our decisions going forward, and so we kind of internalize it here because of our beliefs and our backgrounds and our shared experiences," Parkes said.
"We're well aware that, you know, there are predators out there, and there are people that are exploiting women and girls."
In response to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, Parkes would like to establish a response team at N'Dinawemak to connect with those who are vulnerable. Over the last year, they've looked at ways they could do that, he said.
Right now, the shelter is focused on transitional housing and how they can work to move people using shelters into housing, he said.
While the other three shelters contacted by CBC declined an interview, a joint statement from those shelters as well as 1JustCity was provided through End Homelessness Winnipeg.
WATCH | Melissa Robinson talks about the need for more safe spaces for vulnerable women:
The statement said, in part, the organizations "regularly review, update and strengthen protocols," but they couldn't disclose specific security measures because of privacy, safety and the sensitive nature of shelter operations.
It also said the memory of the four women "continues to compel our sector toward greater action and accountability."
"Our collective priority remains the safety, dignity and well-being" of people who use their services, the statement said. It also said many organizations have "enhanced gender-specific accommodations" and "introduced more responsive intake practices" and improved co-ordination among shelters.
More safe options
Morgan Harris's cousin Melissa Robinson says there still aren't enough safe spaces for vulnerable women and Winnipeg needs emergency shelters exclusively for women.
"I feel like my cousin may still be around, you know, right now, if that option was there," Robinson said. "She was preyed upon. Those other women were preyed upon, you know. How many more men out there are thinking that same thing?"
Robinson co-founded Morgan's Warriors, named for her cousin and aimed at helping other vulnerable people.
The team Robinson works with has taken women to Velma's House, which is a safe space for women, but space there can be limited, she said.
Willow Place and Ikwe Widdjiitiwin offer women-only shelters, but their focus is on people fleeing violence, an End Homelessness Winnipeg spokesperson said. N'Dinawemak, Siloam Mission, Main Street Project and the Salvation Army operate areas within their facilities reserved for women, the spokesperson said.
Robinson would like to see emergency shelters for women in several areas of the city.
"Put one in the core area, put one here in the North End, put one, you know, maybe in the West Broadway area, so you kind of have them spaced out," she said.
A provincial spokesperson said the province increased funding rates for shelters, transitional housing services and homeless outreach mentors in October 2022. That increase included a 15 per cent top-up for safety and security measures, the spokesperson said.
Manitoba Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said her office is focused on getting people into housing with wraparound support.
There are housing units earmarked for women, Smith said.
"We know that homelessness is a real, you know, challenge for a lot of folks in this province, and it puts them at a disadvantage, as we've, you know, discovered with a lot of folks who are in shelter. They are unsafe at times," she said.
At a news conference earlier this month, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine announced a new specialized team will work with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership to help meet the needs of Indigenous women and girls.
Fontaine said it's part of a four-year MMIWG2S+ provincial strategy named Mino'Ayaawag Ikwewag.
When Fontaine was asked at the news conference about calls for women's shelters and how that could relate to the new specialized teams, she hinted that part of the province's strategy includes looking at the shelter system.
"There hasn't been a substantial increase in ensuring that that infrastructure is up to date and modernized and meeting the needs of community," Fontaine said.
"That's a fundamental part of the work that we're doing in Mino'Ayaawag Ikwewag, and it will be married perfectly with the work that these folks, these amazing women are doing on the streets."
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