Woman fears for life after friends found dead

The recent deaths of two young aboriginal women near Winnipeg may be connected, according to a close friend who is now scared for her own life.

The woman, who CBC News is not identifying because of her concerns, said she was best friends with Cherisse Houle, 17, and Hillary Angel Wilson, 18, when they got involved a few years ago with a group of men who used them for sex in exchange for food, clothes and crack cocaine.

On July 1, Houle's dead body was uncovered by a construction crew working near the shore of Sturgeon Creek in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, northwest of Winnipeg. Police have not deemed her death a homicide and are still investigating.

Wilson's body was found Aug. 20 on a dirt path in a sparsely populated area in East St. Paul. RCMP are treating her death as a homicide.

"They bought us things. They took us shopping, out to eat. They gave us everything we wanted," the young woman said about the men who supplied the drugs. "Sometimes we were so f--ked up and we didn't even know what was going on."

She and her current group of friends were horrified to hear about the deaths of Houle and Wilson. Now they are worried for their own safety.

"Something's gonna happen. I have this feeling — all of my friends have this strong feeling," she said. "We're scared for our life right now."

The RCMP is investigating the Houle and Wilson's deaths. Spokesperson Sgt. Line Karpish won't confirm or deny there are connections between them.

"This is an ongoing homicide investigation and to discuss the specifics of the work we're doing could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation," she said.

Vigil held at legislature

A vigil in Wilson's honour was held Tuesday night at the provincial legislature. Friends remembered Wilson and called on the government to do more about the growing number of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Manitoba.

When it was over, some women became concerned that a group of men were following them.

A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed members of the organized crime unit are investigating some suspicious circumstances related to the vigil's aftermath.

Over the last two decades, 75 aboriginal women have gone missing in Manitoba, according to aboriginal groups.

"We need more programs for the girls, more safe-houses, places where these girls can go when they're stranded or stuck or lost," said a friend of Wilson and Houle, Natasha Lavallee, who spoke at the vigil. "We need more things to be done, more cops on the street, something, just something to help us."

Special integrated police unit

The RCMP announced last month that it intends to perform a comprehensive review of its unsolved cases involving murdered women — a tally of at least 30 cases. Technology has evolved so much since many of the deaths occurred that police anticipate they might now be able to solve some of them, spokesperson Karpish said.

Following suit, on Tuesday the Winnipeg Police Service announced that it also intends to undertake an extensive review of all unsolved murder cases in the city involving women. Chief Keith McCaskill said the process will help investigators determine whether there are any common traits among the unsolved files.

Aboriginal groups and politicians from the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba have been calling this week for the province to establish a task force to look at cases of missing or murdered women.

It appears the calls are being heeded. The Manitoba government is set to announce a special integrated unit Wednesday afternoon, involving RCMP and Winnipeg police.

"A task force would co-ordinate the response with the RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service here in Manitoba," said Nahanni Fontaine, director of justice for the Southern Chiefs Organization, an advocacy group representing First Nations in southern Manitoba.

"We're asking that they would co-ordinate all files from missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls and those that have been found murdered.

"It's imperative that they do their investigations collaboratively and not divorced from one another."