A photographer captured a Windsor, Ont., woman in the 'roughest time.' The family can't get the pics deleted
CBC
Loved ones of a Windsor woman want photos taken of her on the city’s streets, during an active drug addiction, removed from social media.
The woman in the photos is Alicia Newman and she died several years ago. Her family says the images are triggering for them and they “don’t want her remembered for the roughest time in her life.”
Though they’ve reached out to the photographer to have the images removed, the family says their messages have been ignored and they’ve been blocked.
Some experts say this situation highlights gaps in Canada’s privacy policies, which haven’t kept pace with the digital age.
Devin Newman, Alicia’s twin brother, says he always looked up to his sister.
“At the end of the day, my sister would give you the shirt off her back. She was the nicest person,” he said.
While she was living in Paris, Ont., and working at a café, Devin says his sister’s life took a turn: she was involved in a serious car accident that left her off work.
He says people she knew introduced her to drugs, which led her down a slippery slope.
When she moved to Windsor in her late 20s, Devin says she was in and out of drug addiction, homelessness and struggled with her mental health.
In 2018, Alicia died from drug-related health complications. She was 37 years old.
A year later, her family first saw images of her being posted online by photographer Donnie Johnston.
Johnston has more than 7,000 followers between his Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The photos show a short blonde-haired Alicia standing in a parking lot in a striped shirt, with a bra poking out. In one of the pictures, you can see her feet are bare and she’s standing beside a bicycle that has a plastic bag and other belongings attached to it.
One of the photos of Alicia, which the family shared a screenshot of with CBC News, had a caption that claimed she was a sex worker soliciting a client.
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