Albert Shingoose, father of Ashlee Shingoose, who was murdered by Jeremy Skibicki, is comforted outside the Manitoba Law Courts before they entered to present victim impact statements to the court in Winnipeg on Friday.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
The voice of Ashlee Shingoose, discussing her determination to start a new life, echoed in a Manitoba Superior Court Friday, as her family addressed a judge for the first time to express the devastation caused by her murder at the hands of a serial killer.
Ms. Shingoose, then 30, had sent the voice clip to her mother, Theresa, shortly before she went missing in March of 2022. She moved to Winnipeg from her Northern Manitoba home in St. Theresa Point First Nation, hoping for better work, but began to struggle with homelessness and was seeking help for addiction issues.
“I’m sober,” she said proudly in the clip played by her father, Albert Shingoose, as supporters in the courtroom’s packed gallery cried in response. “Mom, I’m really trying my best, and I will never stop trying.”
Ms. Shingoose was the first of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki. But authorities were not able to identify her until this past March, months after the murderer had been sentenced to life in prison last August.
In court and outside, Ms. Shingoose was referred to as Buffalo Woman, the English translation of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, a spirit name in Anishinaabemowin that Indigenous elders had given to her to provide the dignity of an identity.
On Friday, King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal gave her family and community the rare postconviction opportunity to deliver victim impact statements.
At the special hearing, Mr. Shingoose recalled how he and his wife pleaded with authorities repeatedly that their daughter was connected to the killings: “Ashlee remained unidentified while we were out here, screaming into silence.”
He said the couple flew hundreds of kilometres away to Winnipeg from St. Theresa, “with whatever little financial resources” they had, roaming city streets to look for their daughter, sometimes desperately into the early-morning hours.
“It’s so painful,” Ms. Shingoose’s mother said softly, trembling as her husband put his hand on her back to hold her. “She meant so much to us.”
Speaking tearfully, Mr. Shingoose added that he wishes he could have directly addressed Mr. Skibicki, who was not required to attend the proceeding.
“He took my Ashlee away,” the father said, holding an eagle feather, a holy symbol of strength among Indigenous cultures.
“If he were here, Your Honour, I would have said to him, ‘I want an eye for an eye.’”
Ashlee Shingoose, victim of Winnipeg serial killer, remembered as quiet and caring daughter
Peter Kingsley, executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba, who attended court on Mr. Skibicki’s behalf, said his client’s absence was not a sign of disrespect. Rather, the defence lawyer said, the killer’s presence would have brought “further harm” to the victims’ families.
Ms. Shingoose’s sisters, Dawn and Bonnie, tried to read their prepared statements but were overcome by emotion. “When I close my eyes, I can see her smiling at me,” Bonnie said, helping her sister to read their statements in full.
St. Theresa Point Chief Raymond Flett said Ms. Shingoose’s murder has shaken their entire community.
“This tragedy has left our women and girls living with fear, and it has opened old wounds from the many losses our people have endured,” Mr. Flett told the court. “The harm is not only to one family, not only to one nation, but to all other nations.”
Justice Joyal agreed in his remarks, calling it “one of the inherent challenges” at the heart of a continuing crisis.
“So many Indigenous women and girls are both murdered and missing, that they simply disappear, leaving behind broken families and devastated communities. This reality beseeches us – where circumstances allow – to make special efforts, to use the tools available to the courts, to honour and commemorate identity, to acknowledge personhood.”
After a months-long trial last year, Mr. Skibicki was also convicted for the first-degree murders of Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and Rebecca Contois, 24.
Families of the other victims were in court Friday to support Ms. Shingoose, wearing ribbon dresses and hoodies adorned with photos of the murdered women.
A painting and red dress were displayed at the front of the courtroom, symbolizing Indigenous women and girls.
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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has committed to search for Ms. Shingoose’s remains in a Winnipeg landfill after separate searches successfully located the bodies of the other victims. A pilot phase of the search for Ms. Shingoose started this week, Mr. Kinew told The Globe and Mail.
Justice Joyal said the murders are emblematic of the Canada-wide crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“The word ‘unprecedented’ tends to be overused,” he told the court, referring to the rarity of a postconviction proceeding. “The fact that there is no or little precedent for a hearing such as this one should not, in my view, pre-empt a judicial response to a situation which is otherwise unique and exceptional.”
He described the special proceeding as a matter of healing: “a tangible, albeit modest step in pursuit of judicial reconciliation.”