Advocate eyes warming centres after mother of 4 found frozen outside

After the death of a Winnipeg woman — found frozen outside during a recent cold snap — front-line workers at local shelters are trying to find fixes they can get in place this winter to make sure no one else is left out in the cold. 

Windy Sinclair, a 29-year-old mother of four, was found frozen outside a West Broadway apartment on Dec. 28, days after she left Seven Oaks Hospital, where she was getting help for her meth addiction. Sinclair wasn't homeless but news of her death has agencies who work with people living on the streets on high alert.

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"What that did for us was put a very harsh reminder in front of all of us that the temperatures that we've seen throughout the city of Winnipeg over the last number of weeks and that we're going to continue to see for the rest of the winter are putting people's lives at danger," said Lorie English, the executive director of the West Central Women's Resource Centre.

English and Althea Guiboche, the manager of the cold weather strategy at End Homelessness Winnipeg, organized a meeting that took place Tuesday with front-line workers to see what can be done to get Winnipeg's homeless through the rest of the winter alive.

The one concrete step English would like to see taken in the near future: having existing agencies turn into warming centres outside of regular operating hours so no one is out in the cold.

"We're looking to not reinvent the wheel. We're hoping to be able to add capacities to some agencies that are already doing this work," English said after the meeting with representatives from other non-profits Tuesday.

Al Wiebe used to be homeless and heard about Tuesday's meeting at End Homelessness Winnipeg so he dropped in.

'I hope this generates something'

"I hope that this meeting generates something," Wiebe said outside the meeting, adding often there's talk and no real action.

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He jumped off a bridge in a failed attempt to end his life while he was one of the city's "hidden homeless" and credits a nurse at St. Boniface Hospital who showed him empathy with helping him to get off the streets.

"I was totally right at the end of my rope and I didn't know what I was going to do."

Having sympathy is something Kelvin Johnston, who is currently homeless, thinks could lead to a solution to the city's homeless problem.

His wish: for people to "stop looking at me like a bum and actually treat me like a person."

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He thinks if more had compassion toward Winnipeg's homeless and gave them a fighting chance, more people would come off the streets.

"As soon as someone looks at you, they think the wrong thing. They don't take enough time to actually get to know you," he said, explaining how difficult it can be trying to find a place to rent.