Residents push for cameras under Winnipeg bridges

WINNIPEG — It happens far too often that we hear of another body being pulled from the Red River. And now a Winnipeg woman is saying we can do something to catch crimes along the river, install security cameras under the bridges.

“There’s been so much frustration,” Kim Ellison said, “why are all these women, and it’s not just aboriginal women, why are all these women being found in the river?”

Ellison was frustrated last week after hearing another woman was pulled from the Red River. It’s a place several missing or murdered women have been found over the years, more recently, Tina Fontaine who was murdered and tossed in the river. Earlier this month Jill Tardiff, who suffered from depression, was found near the Provencher Bridge.

Ellison says why not put up cameras where we know people are dying so she took the idea straight to city hall.

“I sent an email to Mayor Bowman and today I got a reply from his office just saying they’ll make sure he gets that letter,” Ellison said.

Bernadette Smith’s sister Claudette Osborne went missing seven years ago. She says if there were cameras, her family could take solace knowing her sister is not in the Red River.

“We’re dragging the Red for that very reason,” Smith said. “We just don’t know, could she be there or could she be over there or could she be here? It’s just never ending the things that go through your head.”

Winnipeg police say any surveillance video can help solve a crime but they’re not sure it would prevent one.

If you have that camera, it’s possible if someone notices it they might just move along.

Ellison says we won’t know if it’ll work unless we try it.

“If it can help save even one person, if it can help calm people’s minds then it’s worth I think looking into,” Ellison said.

This could come with a substantial cost as well as who would monitor the cameras. All questions that need to be answered but the first step is happening, people are talking about it.