Family, colleagues take final ride with ‘cool school bus driver' slain in June double homicide
Wilson, 41, was slain in a June 20 double homicide in the Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach. Six weeks later, Mounties continue to look for the unidentified killer in what is believed to have been a targeted attack on the cottage-area resident and a 29-year-old man from Winnipeg.
The death of the mother of four who had three grandchildren prompted her Beausejour-area colleagues to ask the division to arrange a proper sendoff.
SUPPLIED
Family members, friends and colleagues celebrated the life of Melissa Julie Wilson, 41, on Saturday with a final trip aboard the school bus she spent much of her life driving.
She was one of 87 bus drivers employed by the division, which is located about 60 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, in the just-ended school year.
Sunrise administration agreed to allow the bus to be decorated and taken to a celebration of life in Victoria Beach on July 26. A bouquet of flowers, featuring her favourite tiger lilies, was secured to the hood. Selfies of Wilson in her parked bus and other photos were printed out and strung across it.
'It was a very tragic loss. Whatever we can do as a school community to support her family in Melissa's absence, we will do that,' said Jason Ziprick, the school division's transportation manager.
A online obituary referencing 'the cool school bus driver lady,' along with her job as an assistant caregiver, allowed Wilson to 'touch the hearts of others.'
'The students meant the world to her,' said Jodi Ruta, a school bus driver who took more than a dozen of Wilson's family members, as well as her dog and her urn, on a farewell trip.
Ruta delivered a 'last call' over the radio in honour of her former colleague.
'This is the last call for Route 12, Melissa Julie Wilson. We have it from here,' she told the packed bus and otherwise-silent weekend radio channel.
Moments later, Be My Angel by Manitoba country artist Kimberley Dawn blared from the speakers.
SUPPLIED
A school bus was decorated and taken to a celebration of life in Victoria Beach on July 26 in memory of Melissa Julie Wilson.
Ziprick recalled that Wilson had driven kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students along Route 12 — a trek requiring stops in and around Gull Lake — for as long as he could remember.
'We're going to feel her loss again in September when another driver's going to be driving that route,' he said.
The division's student services team was made available to support affected community members at the end of the school year.
Ruta indicated it was a fitting tribute, given Wilson was 'a strong advocate' for mental health.
'She always wanted people to know they weren't alone,' the bus driver said.
The online obituary described Wilson as an outgoing and 'adventurous soul' who loved camping, foraging and fishing.
She had recently transformed her family's cottage in Victoria Beach into her primary residence, it says.
Wednesdays
What's next in arts, life and pop culture.
A list of of her wide-ranging talents included cooking, sailing and painting.
Melissa Julie Wilson, 41, is being remembered as a great friend to many.
Manitoba RCMP have been searching for 'a person of interest' in a white pickup truck who was seen driving southbound on Highway 59 after gunshots rang out in Sandy Bay at about 2 a.m. Officers found two bodies at a property on a quiet road in the community on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, after receiving reports about a possible shooting in the area.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Powerview RCMP at 204-367-8728, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
— With files from Scott Billeck
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
a day ago
- Global News
Report highlights Indigenous discrimination following incident at B.C. Canadian Tire
A new study out of York University is highlighting concerns about Indigenous racial profiling. The study is called 'Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada: A Neglected Human Rights Issue.' Its co-author says discrimination in retail environments is commonplace. Dr. Les Jacobs told Global News it's 'a daily, everyday experience, that they are in consumer interactions, whether they're shopping, whether they're going into a bank.' Jacobs noted an incident in 2020 at a Canadian Tire in Coquitlam. Richard Wilson and his daughter Dawn were buying tires and getting an oil change. They did some shopping, then, at the till, Wilson says a security guard asked to look through his bag. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Wilson said, 'I feel racially profiled (while) I've been followed around in the store. It really bothers me, I just try not to let it bother me but it does.' Story continues below advertisement 2:08 Canadian Medical Associations apologizes for harms to Indigenous people Dawn Wilson says the profiling continued when she complained to an employee. 'He looked at me and he said 'My dad taught me the difference between an Indian and a native.' And I said 'Yeah, what's that?' And he said an Indian comes from the reserve and begs and steals and demands money.' Canadian Tire did not respond to our request for comment about the alleged incident. Dr. Les Jacobs commented, 'There's a real opportunity here for a major Canadian retailer like Canadian Tire to work with researchers to really understand the extent of the problem.' York University's study has numerous recommendations, which include promoting restorative justice and education. The incident at Canadian Tire will be heard by the BC Human Rights Tribunal in October.
National Observer
a day ago
- National Observer
Consumer racial profiling is a neglected humans rights issue, report says
Heiltsuk Tribal Council Chief Marilyn Slett says no one in her community is immune to the small acts of racial profiling that can embed themselves in everyday life for an Indigenous person in Canada. "It's my parents going to a restaurant, and it's not a busy time in that restaurant, and they're refusing to serve them," she said. "(It's) myself going grocery shopping in a neighbouring community and having a store employee literally follow me around in the grocery store. These things happen to our community members, our Indigenous people, on a daily basis and it's to some degree being normalized." The behaviour, known as consumer racial profiling, is a neglected human rights issue in Canada that requires proper study, according to a new report written by two well-known Canadian human rights experts. "Recent research and media reports underscore the fact that consumer racial profiling is a deep-seated social phenomenon often with low visibility in our daily round of life where the corresponding adverse social harms routinely go unnoticed or are interpreted as normal practice and so 'business as usual,'" the study released Thursday says. The call for more research is one of a series of recommendations in the report by Lorne Foster and Lesley Jacobs which was commissioned by the Heiltsuk Nation as part of a BC Human Rights complaint against a Canadian Tire outlet in Coquitlam, BC. A father and daughter say they experienced racial profiling and racism while shopping in 2020. Foster said small actions like being followed around, singled out for scrutiny, or closely monitored by a clerk or guard who suspects they may steal, can have a cumulative effect over time, building to a point where someone might go public with their experience, in what he describes as a thousand small cuts. "This goes on for months. It goes on for years. And it actually only builds. It becomes cumulative at that time, and those are the times when you'll see something magnified occur." But the impact goes beyond the individual, he said. "In terms of the community, I think that what we have is a situation where there are entire generations that actually are wounded, and these wounds are transmitted from generation to generation," he said. "And they form a kind of oppression that surrounds this group, generation after generation, which cannot only impact Indigenous mental health, but also emotional and physical health as well." The accusations against Canadian Tire have not been proven. A hearing on the BC Human Rights case is expected to take place in October. The complaint alleges that Dawn Wilson and her father Richard Wilson were at the store to shop to get new tires installed when Wilson says a guard with a third party company asked to search her father's backpack, despite other customers also having similar bags. Wilson, a member of the Heiltsuk Nation, says when she raised what happened with one of the store's mechanics, instead of taking the incident seriously, he responded with a racist anecdote. When the pair went public with the complaint last year, Canadian Tire issued a statement saying it takes claims of racial profiling and racism very seriously and they should not happen. The company said the owner of the store "has been actively at the table, co-operating with the tribunal since the claim was filed.' Considering how pervasive consumer racial profiling appears to be, Jacobs said research on the topic is lacking. He said consumer racial profiling doesn't get the same type of attention as alleged profiling by police, for example. "What we're trying to say is that consumer racial profiling for Indigenous folks is so every day that it doesn't tend to have the highlights that (come) when police are involved. There tends to be concerns about police shootings, use of force, all of those kinds of things that accompany police action that often are not involved consumer racial profiling," he said. Foster and Jacobs, whose work includes a more than decade-long study of race-based data collected by the Ottawa Police Service during traffic stops, said data could be collected on consumer racial profiling if major businesses decide to step up. "We look for a leading national bank to work with researchers to begin to collect data so that you can identify whether there are risks of Indigenous consumer racial profiling when people come in to open bank accounts, when they come into cash cheques, whatever that might be, and begin to collect data in those contexts with those willing partners," Jacobs said. "In the same way that in policing, Ottawa's lead then became a model for dozens of other police services across the across the country." Slett said the nation supports all of the recommendations from Foster and Jacobs' report, which also include calls for better education, training and a recognition that restorative justice measures, including healing ceremonies, have an important role in remedying the harm. "For all of us, to some degree, we've experienced the type of discrimination that we're talking about here today, and we know that it needs to stop. We need to be able to talk about this and shine a light on it, and find ways to do things better," she said.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Consumer racial profiling a neglected human rights issue, report says
BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Heiltsuk Tribal Council Chief Marilyn Slett says no one in her community is immune to the small acts of racial profiling that can embed themselves in everyday life for an Indigenous person in Canada. 'It's my parents going to a restaurant, and it's not a busy time in that restaurant, and they're refusing to serve them,' she said. '(It's) myself going grocery shopping in a neighbouring community and having a store employee literally follow me around in the grocery store. These things happen to our community members, our Indigenous people, on a daily basis and it's to some degree being normalized.' The behaviour, known as consumer racial profiling, is a neglected human rights issue in Canada that requires proper study, according to a new report written by two well-known Canadian human rights experts. 'Recent research and media reports underscore the fact that consumer racial profiling is a deep-seated social phenomenon often with low visibility in our daily round of life where the corresponding adverse social harms routinely go unnoticed or are interpreted as normal practice and so 'business as usual,'' the study released Thursday says. The call for more research is one of a series of recommendations in the report by Lorne Foster and Lesley Jacobs which was commissioned by the Heiltsuk Nation as part of a B.C. Human Rights complaint against a Canadian Tire outlet in Coquitlam, B.C. A father and daughter say they experienced racial profiling and racism while shopping in 2020. Foster said small actions like being followed around, singled out for scrutiny, or closely monitored by a clerk or guard who suspects they may steal, can have a cumulative effect over time, building to a point where someone might go public with their experience, in what he describes as a thousand small cuts. 'This goes on for months. It goes on for years. And it actually only builds. It becomes cumulative at that time, and those are the times when you'll see something magnified occur.' But the impact goes beyond the individual, he said. 'In terms of the community, I think that what we have is a situation where there are entire generations that actually are wounded, and these wounds are transmitted from generation to generation,' he said. 'And they form a kind of oppression that surrounds this group, generation after generation, which cannot only impact Indigenous mental health, but also emotional and physical health as well.' The accusations against Canadian Tire have not been proven. A hearing on the B.C. Human Rights case is expected to take place in October. The complaint alleges that Dawn Wilson and her father Richard Wilson were at the store to shop to get new tires installed when Wilson says a guard with a third party company asked to search her father's backpack, despite other customers also having similar bags. Wilson, a member of the Heiltsuk Nation, says when she raised what happened with one of the store's mechanics, instead of taking the incident seriously, he responded with a racist anecdote. When the pair went public with the complaint last year, Canadian Tire issued a statement saying it takes claims of racial profiling and racism very seriously and they should not happen. The company said the owner of the store 'has been actively at the table, co-operating with the tribunal since the claim was filed.' Considering how pervasive consumer racial profiling appears to be, Jacobs said research on the topic is lacking. He said consumer racial profiling doesn't get the same type of attention as alleged profiling by police, for example. 'What we're trying to say is that consumer racial profiling for Indigenous folks is so every day that it doesn't tend to have the highlights that (come) when police are involved. There tends to be concerns about police shootings, use of force, all of those kinds of things that accompany police action that often are not involved consumer racial profiling,' he said. Foster and Jacobs, whose work includes a more than decade-long study of race-based data collected by the Ottawa Police Service during traffic stops, said data could be collected on consumer racial profiling if major businesses decide to step up. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'We look for a leading national bank to work with researchers to begin to collect data so that you can identify whether there are risks of Indigenous consumer racial profiling when people come in to open bank accounts, when they come into cash cheques, whatever that might be, and begin to collect data in those contexts with those willing partners,' Jacobs said. 'In the same way that in policing, Ottawa's lead then became a model for dozens of other police services across the across the country.' Slett said the nation supports all of the recommendations from Foster and Jacobs' report, which also include calls for better education, training and a recognition that restorative justice measures, including healing ceremonies, have an important role in remedying the harm. 'For all of us, to some degree, we've experienced the type of discrimination that we're talking about here today, and we know that it needs to stop. We need to be able to talk about this and shine a light on it, and find ways to do things better,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.
