‘She would light up the room’

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This article was published 29/08/2022 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Devastated relatives of an Indigenous Winnipeg woman found slain on an ATV trail are burning a sacred fire amid calls for justice, after a former classmate was charged with first-degree murder.

The family of Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin is planning a vigil to remember the kind and bubbly 20 year old, her aunt Amanda Mousseau said Tuesday.

“Every time she would come to family gatherings, she would light up the room,” said Mousseau. “She was our baby. We’re always going to love her and miss her.

“She took a part of us, too, when she left.”

Relatives and friends have been gathering at a North End home to grieve and share memories of Gerard-Roussin by a sacred fire that will burn for four days.

Family members have had custom sweatshirts made bearing her name and photo.

Mousseau has been touched by the support and condolences her family has received from the public, including two strangers who stopped by to play a drum and sing.

“It shows us other people love Mackaylah,” she said.

Mousseau said her family wants justice for her niece.

Gerard-Roussin’s parents told the Free Press they were not prepared to comment Tuesday. A family member said they plan to release a statement.

Her body was discovered on a remote trail near Woodridge, about 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, after a suspect was arrested Saturday.

Josh Benoit, 20, of Winnipeg, has been charged with first-degree murder. The charge is laid in cases where a killing was allegedly planned and deliberate

Benoit was also charged with indignity to a dead body, said RCMP spokesman Robert Cyrenne.

Gerard-Roussin and Benoit were friends and one-time classmates at Tec Voc High School, said a woman who attended the West End school with them.

The friend, who asked not to be named, was concerned when she saw Facebook posts by family and friends, starting last Thursday, stating Gerard-Roussin was missing.

On Monday, she was shocked when the RCMP announced the murder charge against Benoit.

“The Josh I knew from middle school and early high school… was a typical kid who would goof off sometimes and slack off his work, but otherwise he did not seem out of the ordinary,” said the friend, who also attended Cecil Rhodes School, now known as Keewatin Prairie Community School, with Benoit.

RCMP received a call at about 1:40 p.m. Saturday reporting a homicide at a home on Creekside Drive in Steinbach.

The suspect had already fled in his vehicle, which contained the woman’s body, police said.

As officers arrested the man during a traffic stop on Highway 52, west of La Broquerie, his car burst into flames.

RCMP believe the fire was deliberately set by the suspect, Cyrenne said.

Gerard-Roussin was not found when the local fire department extinguished the blaze.

Investigators later received information that directed them to the ATV trail south of Woodridge.

Gerard-Roussin had a bright future, and was recently hired as a teller at a TD Canada Trust branch in Winnipeg, said relatives.

“We were devastated to learn of this tragic loss, and we are supporting our colleagues by providing access to professional counselling resources to assist in this very difficult time,” Alexander Vizarro, TD’s district vice-president for Manitoba, said in a statement.

As other family members did, Gerard-Roussin grew up attending Rossbrook House, a neighbourhood drop-in centre at Ross Avenue and Sherbrook Street.

She graduated from its Rising Sun alternative high school last year, and was employed as a youth worker at the centre before starting her role with TD.

“Everybody is really devastated. She was very beloved,” said Rossbrook House spokeswoman Sherry Rasmussen. “She has really deep connections to Rossbrook House, going back generations. It’s really hard to believe we’ve lost such a wonderful, young, beautiful person.”

Mousseau and Rasmussen said Gerard-Roussin loved to sing and dance, and enjoyed mentoring children.

“She was an intelligent girl. She made an impact on everybody’s life,” said Mousseau. “She was always there for us.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to cover funeral costs, she said.

Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels offered condolences to Gerard-Roussin’s family.

“This tragic news continues the unending and disproportionate levels of violence against our women and girls,” he said in a statement. “We must continue to do everything we can to end this national tragedy.”

Daniels called on federal and provincial governments to act on the 231 calls for justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

He also wants Ottawa to release funds from the $724 million it pledged in 2020 toward the creation of safe shelter and transitional housing spaces for Indigenous women and girls.

The SCO is this week launching a healing supports program for MMIWG2S+ survivors and their families.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen, the MLA for Steinbach, would not comment on the specifics of the case, but said the incident was concerning.

“Any time anybody loses a loved one in a violent way, it does shake a community, whether that person was part of the community or whether it happened in the community, but certainly for the family,” he said at an unrelated press conference. “I know that those are lifetime implications.”

— with files from Erik Pindera

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching