Vulnerable residents suffer most
By John Mohan

What happens to you if you live in a hotel where a murder has occurred? Apparently, nothing helpful.

Forty-five-year-old Leonard Delorme was found murdered on an outdoor staircase of the downtown Garrick Hotel a week ago Monday, on St. Patrick's Day. Shortly after arriving on the scene, Winnipeg Police rounded up hotel residents (particularly those on the fourth and fifth floors) for questioning and transported them to the Public Safety Building. None of the tenants saw the need to take any extra clothing, toiletries, or medications because authorities said they would only be gone a few hours.

Those few hours of questioning lasted until almost 7 p.m. To compound their inconveniences, none were allowed to return to the Garrick that night as it was now an official crime scene -- yellow tape and all. Upon confirming space availability, city police taxied the stranded to the emergency shelters.

People like Garry were told they could probably return to the hotel the next day. He's a quiet and frail 56-year-old man who walks with a cane. Weighing only 118 lbs, he suffers with failing health related to tuberculosis and diabetes. He's been staying at the Garrick off and on for the past three years because it's close to hospitals, where he spends much of his time.

UNABLE TO RETURN HOME

When Garry woke up Tuesday morning in a Salvation Army (SA) cot, it had been almost 24 hours since his last insulin shot. According to SA policy, staff advised him to contact Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) to make arrangements for a second night. He at first didn't see the need because he'd been assured he could be back in his room at the Garrick by the end of the day. However, after numerous calls to city police and being passed around between departments, he came to the end of day two with no answers or resolution.

Still unable to access clean clothes or toiletries. Still unable to access his medications. And still unable to return to his modest home. Fortunately, SA shelter staff helped Garry make emergency arrangements with EIA for a second night of lodging.

Day three begins as did days one and two with no answers or promises -- just maybes. Another frustrating day of making calls, being passed to another office and not knowing when he could go home. Three days of wearing the same clothes and three days without taking his medications. It was Wednesday evening before he and others living on the fifth floor were permitted to return. "A few hours" had lasted three days.

It's hard to know who is to blame here, but it's certainly not the people inconvenienced the most: the Garrick Hotel residents. If proper emergency measures exist for this type of situation, they weren't communicated to the people who needed to know them. Or, if measures were communicated, they weren't done effectively. Garry estimates about 20 people were left stranded without answers or support. Siloam Mission staff confirm an unusually high number of Garrick residents utilized their shelter and meal services. All increasingly agitated with each passing day.

One thing is fairly certain. People who could have afforded to stay at hotels such as the Fairmont or Fort Garry likely would not have had the same experience if a murdered body had been discovered on their respective properties.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, March 26, 2008.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.