MMIW advocate a victim in Whitehorse homicide investigation, family, friends say

A Whitehorse advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, whose own daughter was murdered in 2007, is now herself a homicide victim, friends and family tell CBC News.

RCMP say 51-year-old Wendy Margaret Carlick, is one of two women found dead in a Whitehorse home April 19. The other is Sarah Macintosh, 53, a member of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation. Police believe both women were killed.

Community members in Kwanlin Dün say Carlick was the mother of Angel Carlick, a 19-year-old Kaska woman found murdered in a wooded area outside Whitehorse a decade ago. Her killing has never been solved.

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Since Angel's death, Wendy Carlick advocated for more support for the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women. She spoke publicly about her frustrations with the investigation into her daughter's death.

"I want to know what happened and why," Carlick said in a 2016 CBC interview.

"I keep looking into that cop station and walk by, wondering 'What are they doing in that building?'" she said.  

Carlick said she'd been receiving updates each April since Angel's death, but felt officers rarely had new information for her.

• MISSING AND MURDERED | The unsolved cases of Indigenous women and girls

RCMP have not released any additional information about Wendy Carlick, other than her name and age.

Cpl. Geoffrey Peters said in an email he could not confirm a photo of Carlick provided by CBC News matched the woman killed this past week.

"We can't confirm or deny that the persons in the picture are the deceased — they may or may not be — we aren't able to say either way," he said, adding RCMP would not make any other statements before a media conference early this week.

But community members say they are certain of the connection between Angel and Wendy Carlick.

Tributes to Carlick and Macintosh have already sprung up. A sacred fire burned at the ball field and friends signed condolence cards at the Whitehorse Salvation Army on Friday.

Outreach counsellors with the Kwanlin Dün First Nation are available at 867-336-0854. A spokesperson said the First Nation would address the homicides later this week.