No charges, no victim services: Manitoba Justice

Families of women declared murdered and missing in Manitoba are angry over the provincial government's refusal to pay for counselling or other advocacy programming for them unless their cases result in charges being laid.

Bernadette Smith's sister, Claudette Osborne, has been missing and her disappearance the subject of an ongoing police investigation since July 2008.

In that time, Smith said she's had no choice but to lean on family and friends for support.

'They should help [families] through from the beginning to the end, not just the end.' Jessica Houle

Manitoba Justice's Victims Services department has rebuffed her requests for help dealing with Claudette's disappearnce,she said on Wednesday.

Smith suggested that provincial justice officials admit Claudette has been the victim of a crime, but won't offer help.

"'There's been a crime committed, we know it,'" she said she was told, "'but we don't have someone charged so we can't offer you any services.'"

Smith said sometimes families need more than just relatives and friends to talk to, but can't afford professional help.

That can lead to other problems, Smith said.

"I see a lot of addictions happening within families because they don't have coping skills," she said.

Jessica Houle, the sister of Cherisse Houle, whose body was found dumped in a creek in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, northwest of Winnipeg on July 1, 2009, agrees.

"They should help [families] through from the beginning to the end, not just the end," she said.

Police have not publicly said Cherisse's death was a homicide, and no charges have been laid in connection to her death.

Officials with Manitoba Justice would not grant an interview for this story, but confirmed they won't pay for services for victims until a suspect has been charged.

Smith said she is hosting a retreat for 10 families of murdered and missing women in Manitoba this weekend. The event is being paid for with money from private donors, she said.

Last September, the provincial government announced the creation of a police task force to investigate unsolved and historical cases of murdered and missing women.

Police officials have said little about the task force's progress so far.