Parents emotions stirred by sexual assault charges at Wilkie facility

Hearing of an alleged sexual assault case at a care home in Wilkie brings back “lots of emotion” for the Hawkins family.

Al and Naomi’s son Derek lived in Shepherd’s Villa group home in Hepburn, where multiple sex-related crimes involving residents occurred.

In Wilkie, the RCMP says at least four residents were assaulted, sexually assaulted and or threatened between January 2023 and February 2024.

CKOM News has confirmed the facility is Prairie Branches.

Police have charged 36-year-old Jaclyn Elias of Wilkie, who was a staff member there up until February 2024.

In the Hawkins family case, Brent Gabona was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to five sex-related crimes between 1992 and 2009.

Derek was at the Hepburn care home from 2003 until 2005. He died in 2011 at the age of 27.

Al said he feels there is a lack of transparency with the provincial government when it comes to discussions about sexual assaults that happen in group homes. He added there should be more transparency with families of care home residents when it comes to incident reports and sexual assault accusations. 

“If transparency to the parents and the loved ones of these residents was more open I think there would be less of this,” Al said. 

Additionally, he explained he feels the policies surrounding abuse in such homes should be followed more closely. 

Al urges the families affected by the alleged Wilkie incident to “find (their) own truth” and “gather all the information” in the investigation.

“These are vulnerable people and they need strong people in society to stand up for them,” he said.

“These special needs individuals, they know when they are being treated poorly and when they are being assaulted and people need to pay attention to the signs and indicators and support these individuals,” Al said.

Naomi also reminds families that there are care home workers with good intentions.

“For every one of the monsters that work in these homes, there’s 100 good employees that are going for the right reasons and are empathetic,” she said.

On Thursday, Saskatchewan’s Health Minister Everett Hindley expressed concern over the incident in Wilkie.

Whether a hospital or a care facility, Hindley said it should be a place of safety and trust, where individuals expect to receive “the best possible care.” 

“It is greatly concerning and something that is absolutely unacceptable,” he said of the incident.

“We need to take some steps to find out what happened in this case, how did it happen, and what can we do to prevent that from happening again,” Hindley said.

A statement from the Ministry of Social Services says it’s been working closely with Prairie Branches Enterprise Inc., to ensure all residents are receiving the support they need, and is working with the RCMP in the ongoing investigation.

“The ministry has a zero-tolerance abuse policy,” the statement read. “We require all group homes and approved private service homes to immediately report serious incidents involving individuals in their care. These reports are monitored and investigated by the ministry, and immediate action is taken to ensure client safety, and address issues, up to and including the closure of homes and termination of contracts.”

The ministry also notes it requires service providers to complete criminal record checks, which includes a vulnerable sector check for employees, volunteers, board members. 

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) notes this was not an employee or facility operated by the SHA.