The Yukon government faces a pair of lawsuits related to deaths at the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter.
The family of Darla Skookum, a 52-year-old citizen of Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation who died at the shelter on April 16, 2023, is suing the Yukon government and Connective Support Society.
A second lawsuit filed against the Yukon government arose from the death of 34-year-old Myranda Aleisha Dawn Tizya-Charlie, a citizen of Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation who died at the shelter on Jan. 19, 2022.
The two statements of claim were filed in the Supreme Court of Yukon on Dec. 23, 2024.
Commonly known as Connective, the British Columbia-based organization runs the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter located at 405 Alexander St. in the Yukon’s capital. In October 2022, the Yukon government handed over control of the shelter to Connective as the lead organization in partnership with the Council of Yukon First Nations as a sub-contractor to Connective.
Connective is getting nearly $6 million in funding from the Yukon government through the Department of Health and Social Services this fiscal year.
Neither the territorial government nor Connective has formally responded to the lawsuits through the court process. Each sent statements to the News acknowledging receipt of the statements of claim.
In spring 2024, a six-person jury involved in a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of four Indigenous women at the shelter classified all four deaths as “accidental” and made recommendations to prevent similar deaths.
The deaths of Skookum and Tizya-Charlie were part of the inquest.
The claim brought forward by Veronica Marie Burgess notes Burgess is the administrator of Skookum’s estate. The claim comes on behalf of the deceased’s estate and for the benefit of her five children, according to the court document.
As noted in the document, Skookum was a former wildland firefighter, a former cook and a former receptionist. She is described in the court document as a guest of the shelter when she died.
The claim argues the territorial government retained an “overarching duty of care” to shelter guests to ensure the facility was safely operated.
As the operator, Connective failed to come up with or carry out policies and also failed to make sure its employees were properly trained to protect the safety of guests at the shelter, the claim alleges.
The government and Connective have relied on representing the shelter as being “low barrier” to assist vulnerable people including those with addictions, per the claim. The claim alleges the government and Connective knew or should’ve known that the “majority” of people using shelter services regularly abuse substances.
Skookum was known by shelter staff to be a heavy alcohol user, as alleged in the claim.
The court document claims the defendants owed a duty of care to people taking refuge at the shelter to make sure their stay was reasonably safe.
The claim indicates shelter staff didn’t check on Skookum while she appeared to be sleeping in the shelter lounge, from time to time, with a jacket over her head. She was in the lounge with several other clients around 7 p.m. Shortly after 9:30 p.m., a staff member tried to wake Skookum, to no avail, then left. A shelter guest tried to get her to stand, but she fell down, per the court document.
According to the claim, Skookum was eventually put in a wheelchair by two staffers and taken to the women’s overflow sleep area, where she was placed on her stomach on a mat with her head face-down in a pillow and left there. She stayed “motionless for over twelve hours until she was found dead the next morning.”
The claim indicates the shelter lacked policies and procedures around how to safely handle vulnerable people. The shelter lacked adequate or any training for staff on how to deal with people showing signs of alcohol intoxication or in a vulnerable state, per the claim.
The claim alleges a “pattern of systemic negligence" that effectively lead to her death. It mentions other prior deaths at the shelter that wouldn't have happened if the shelter had been run properly. It claims none of the inquest jury’s most substantial recommendations have been meaningfully implemented by the government or Connective. It notes the government announced last summer that it wouldn’t increase funding or resources to implement the jury’s recommendations.
The claim suggests the government chose an inadequate contractor to manage and operate the shelter.
The damages laid out in the lawsuit include loss of companionship, funeral costs and grief counselling expenses.
In a separate claim, Bella Tizya, who is identified as Tizya-Charlie's mother, is taking the Yukon government to task.
The statement of claim describes Tizya-Charlie as a former master corporal for the Junior Rangers and a top sharpshooter for the Canadian Rangers. She is a former youth worker and won medals at multiple Arctic Winter Games, according to the document.
According to the court filing, Tizya-Charlie overdosed on fentanyl alongside another shelter client, Cassandra Warville, in a shower room. No one checked on the women for four hours after they were let into the room around 11:15 p.m., per the claim. The claim alleges the shower room was a hot spot for shelter guests to use drugs and other intoxicants. The shelter knew or should’ve known about the high-risk nature of the shower room, the court document alleges.
While staff administered CPR, Tizya-Charlie didn’t get naloxone due to improper staff training and a guest’s inability to prepare the syringes, according to the court filing. Staff didn’t use an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, a medical device that delivers an electric shock to the heart, on Tizya-Charlie. By the time paramedics arrived, it was determined that she was showing "signs of life” but was “critically unwell,” per the statement of claim.
The claim notes Tizya-Charlie died after her heart stopped at around 3:15 a.m.
The court document alleges a lack of shelter policies and procedures regarding regular checks on showers, washrooms and other high-risk areas, as well as a lack of or no staff training on detecting signs of life and administering first aid including naloxone and where to locate critical gear.
The claim also alleges a "pattern of systemic negligence." The claim suggests no notable changes following the changes in management, as shelter clients kept dying "preventable" deaths due to inadequate policies, procedures and staff training. The government failed to make the shelter reasonably safe and breached its duty of care, per the document.
Some of the language and the damages listed are similar in the two separate lawsuits.
George Filipovic is listed as the lawyer in both statements of claim. The News reached out to Filipovic by phone but didn’t get a response by publication time.
The claims haven’t been heard in court and statements of defence haven’t been filed by the defendants.
A Jan. 8 email from Drew MacNeil, a communications director for the Yukon government’s Justice department, indicates the government will file its statement of defence within the prescribed or agreed-upon timeline.
MacNeil said that the Government of Yukon will carefully consider the pair of claims before responding to them through the court.
MacNeil describes the deaths of Tizya-Charlie and Skookum as “tragic losses.”
“The coroner’s inquest that examined their deaths, along with the deaths of Cassandra Warville and Josephine Hager, resulted in a number of recommendations made by the jury to improve operations at the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter, all of which have been accepted by the Government of Yukon,” MacNeil wrote.
The statement goes on to recognize the “disproportionate” impact of the substance use health emergency on Indigenous communities in the Yukon.
Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee declared the emergency on Jan. 20, 2022, citing a "drastic increase" in overdose-related deaths in the territory, according to a government statement published online at the time.
MacNeil attributes the declared emergency and drug-related deaths as the outcome of “many complex factors that don’t have one simple solution.” MacNeil noted the government’s plan to address the declared emergency outlines more than 40 actions.
“We continue to advance that work,” MacNeil said.
A statement attributed to Chris Kinch, Connective’s vice president of Yukon service delivery, recognizes the civil suits filed in relation to the deaths, with Connective named as a respondent in the claim regarding Skookum.
Kinch declined to comment further given the active legal proceedings.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
