New Winnipeg community group being led by Indigenous women

A new community patrol group in Winnipeg is getting ready to walk the streets. The group is being spearheaded by Indigenous women and family members of Morgan Harris.

The group is called “Morgan’s Warriors” — named after Morgan Harris, who was one of the four women killed by admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

“What started all of this was just our desire to use some of that grief we were feeling to propel us forward into creating some community change,” said Kirstin Witwicki, Member of Morgan’s Warriors.

“Really it’s going to focus on women, empowering them, trying to have our women feel safer in the community.”

Witwicki is Harris’ cousin and is spearheading the new group, alongside her cousin Melissa Robinson. They plan to hit the streets as soon as possible, handing out food and doing wellness checks.

“Winnipeg is the epicentre for the MMIWG2S+ crisis, right? We knew that we always wanted to do something, even when we were patrolling with other organizations,” said Witwicki.

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There are many organizations dedicated to making a difference in the community, especially within the city’s most vulnerable areas. Mitch Bourbonniere says it’s extremely important to have a group that is Indigenous women-led.

“Winnipeg, I think is a little famous for having these community groups. I don’t know any other city in North America that has, per capita, such a strong frontline volunteer community group presence as does Winnipeg,” said Bourbonniere.

Bourbonniere says many of the volunteers are ones with lived experiences. 

“I do a Main Street walk every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and probably a good third of our volunteers are folks that used to be on the street and now have turned their lives around and they are giving back because of their lived experience,” said Bourbonniere.

Witwicki says, “This is to give us an avenue for some healing, to turn some grief into action and also to help community members, because that’s what’s really important, it’s all about community.”