Rising deaths of people without fixed addresses leave families, community workers mourning

Nicholas (Sam) Jackson says he and his twin sister went down different paths as they grew into adults, but the one she took ultimately ended her life over a year ago.

Sam's sister, Nicole, was homeless when her body was found near train tracks in the southwestern Manitoba city of Brandon, just a week after their 25th birthday in March 2023, he said. She had suffered a drug overdose and was pronounced dead soon after.

The two are members of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation who were born in Brandon and spent the majority of their upbringing in foster care, exiting the system when they turned 18 years old in 2016, he said.

"We kind of took two ways to heal ourselves," said Sam. "I became a powwow dancer, and she started to express it in a different way."

Nicole is among hundreds of people who didn't have a fixed address when they died in Manitoba over the last five years.

Preliminary data from the chief medical examiner's office in Manitoba says 350 people without a fixed address died between 2019 to 2023, though it's not the full picture since the office isn't always notified of every such death.

Accidents account for the most deaths, killing 150 people, the data says. That number also includes 106 confirmed drug overdoses, representing nearly 30 per cent of all deaths. Another 51 deaths were from natural causes, 31 were deemed homicides and 23 were attributed to suicide.

Still, the cause of 95 other deaths are classified as undetermined.

However, those numbers are also considered estimates since a medical examiner has not yet finalized the cause behind about 40 per cent of all 350 deaths, and final figures are expected to change. The numbers, which were initially released to CBC in April, would not have changed significantly as of July 16, the office said.

The preliminary data shows that the number of people who died without a fixed address rose over fivefold during the five-year period, from 23 people recorded in 2019 to 134 in 2023.

Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, CEO of Siloam Mission, believes that number grew because homelessness increased in Winnipeg after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Kind of coming out of the pandemic, we start to see significant jumps [in deaths]," Blaikie Whitecloud said, referring to the data.

The numbers are important on a human level, so community members can mourn, but she says it also matters systemically.

"If we're not tracking this, then we have no way of knowing if the situation is improving or getting worse."