On Monday, February 10, a Niverville woman endured a horrific home invasion when two men entered her home and briefly grabbed her. The event triggered many reactions in the community—and it has raised further questions about the safety of this community.

Now she will need time to recover mentally—and she is asking the community to consider taking action.

The home invasion, which is still under investigation by the RCMP, happened when she was at home with her two sons around 9:50 p.m.

“I was doing homework with my son and he went out to the garage and he could hear the lock jiggling,” she says. “He ran back in and told me he’d seen two guys at the window. It was instinct, so I just went back to the garage and the door was half-open. And they grabbed me. I didn’t even have time to think. There were two guys with light grey ski masks. One guy had what I know was a machete. It was huge. They had my arm and my shoulder in a lock.”

The woman, who worked as a nurse for 25 years, says she dug into her attacker with her long nails and screamed.

“As a nurse, you take non-violent crisis intervention, but when it’s happening to you, I was just praying and started screaming,” she says. “My son realized I didn’t come back right away and heard me screaming, so he yelled for his older brother. My older son is a big boy, and between the two of them they started yelling at the intruders and they scared them off.”

When the police arrived, they immediately began a search of the area. Police dogs picked up a scent and followed it to a point, but they eventually lost it—an indication that the intruders got into a car.

She adds that someone in the neighbourhood saw two men getting into a car, and that the car may have been white.

“The RCMP’s response time was amazing,” she says, estimating that it took about ten minutes for police to arrive. “You’d never get that response time in the city and our investigator has been amazing. 911 stayed on the phone with us the entire time and they were amazing.” 

Not Feeling Safe 

The woman moved to Niverville with her two sons approximately two years ago after a divorce. She says crime has been a notable issue in the community in that timeframe, and her vehicle has previously been broken into.

“I moved here after my divorce to feel safe and I certainly don’t,” she says.

The ordeal has caused her to reflect on the community at large and what it’s been like moving from the city to a small town.

“The people here hold very big stigmas. If you’re in a certain group that’s already established, people already have made their friends. So it’s hard to make friends, especially if you’re different.”

She describes the reactions of her friends and local professionals as being concerned and supportive, but she also sees a problem with the level of community gossip that goes on.

“When I moved here, I joined the Niverville Facebook page and then removed myself because it was too much drama,” says the woman. “Then I rejoined this winter to get updates on local weather, driving conditions, and stuff the page is helpful for. But now it’s just too much drama again.”

Though she would peg some comments on the Niverville Facebook group as being a source of concern, she also has experienced some good community support.

She says she now struggles with the ability to feel safe. “It’s a violation. Until it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels to not feel safe. It changes you and gives you OCD to check the house and check the house. I remember their piercing eyes, the man’s eyes. When I close my eyes, that’s what I can see, and so I’m not sleeping. I keep my blinds open in winter so that they don’t have frozen build-up of moisture with the cold weather. I have them closed now.”

She has also taken other steps to help her feel safer. She has a security system, although she’s been told it’s too difficult to install cameras when it’s this cold. She also owns three dogs… but none of them barked or came to her rescue when the attack occurred. Inside she uses LED nightlights. She’s gotten new locks, too, and she’s ordered a personal alarm that rings at 140 decibels.

“We need an RCMP presence here full-time, not just in St. Pierre. People are feeling violated and people can’t defend themselves,” she says. “Online, people may be watching and reading, knowing when you are going out. Don’t put it on Facebook when you’re not at home.” 

Citizens on Patrol 

The woman adds that she wishes more people would participate in community safety programs, such as the local Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP). The Niverville COPP began patrolling in July 2019 and currently has 12 trained volunteers who each patrol once a month. The group’s objective is to be a visible, active presence in the community to deter criminals.

“While we do not engage in situations, we carefully evaluate and monitor things and can be a very useful tool in helping RCMP locate criminals,” says Lindsay Unrau, coordinator for the Niverville COPP. “We also host the Niverville COPP Facebook group. Here we keep residents in the loop about criminal activity happening in our neighbourhood which they should be on the lookout for.”

In Unrau’s opinion, crime is on the rise in Niverville.

“Ten years ago, the most prevalent types of crime generally fell under vehicle vandalism. Within the last five years we have seen somewhat of a shift in violence,” Unrau says. “We recognize that it is of the utmost importance that we grow our COPP team to better monitor our neighbourhood. We really need more help from our community to make this happen.”

To attract more volunteers, the COPP is holding a recruitment event on Wednesday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Niverville Chicken Chef.

“We called an emergency recruitment night based on the criminal activity from the last week,” said Unrau. “A home invasion, and thefts have been an almost everyday occurrence of the last week. The Niverville COPP plans to be proactive. Everyone in attendance [at the recruitment night] will be offered a packet of information about how the program works. We’ll walk through what a patrol is all about and how a volunteer becomes a trained patroller. The Niverville COPP coordinator will be available to answer all questions.”

Even though the local COPP is putting in more effort to recruit volunteers, the home invasion victim sees some challenges ahead for the program.

“I know a lot of places are doing it, even communities in the city, because people don’t feel safe. I don’t know how effective COPP is, but I think it’s a very good thing,” says the woman. “But a lot of people don’t have a lot of time to volunteer. Until you’re the victim, you don’t think about it. From what I understand, they need more volunteers.”