Helen Betty Osborne

Helen Betty Osborne, or Betty Osborne (July 16, 1952 – November 13, 1971), was a Cree woman who was kidnapped and murdered while walking down the street in The Pas, Manitoba.

Life 
Osborne was born on the reserve of Norway House, Manitoba, to Joe and Justine (née McKay) Osborne. She wanted to become a teacher. There was no secondary school in Norway House so she had to leave home for further education. She spent two years at Guy Hill Residential School, just outside The Pas, Manitoba, a town of European Canadians, Métis, and Cree people. In the fall of 1971, Osborne attended Margaret Barbour Collegiate in The Pas. Back then in Canada, a collegiate institute was a high school for students who wanted to go to university. She stayed with the Bensons, a non-aboriginal family.

On the evening of her death, Osborne had spent time with friends at The Northern Lite Cafe and then at the Bensons' place before heading back downtown. Around midnight, Osborne's friends returned home; not much is known about where Osborne was or what she was doing after that. She was walking home at approximately 2:30 a.m. when she was abducted, beaten, and stabbed with a screwdriver over 50 times. The following day, a boy named Kenny Gurba discovered her naked body. He and his father called the police.

Murder investigation 
Police at first suspected her ex-boyfriend, Cornelius Bighetty. His name was cleared after successfully passing a lie detector test. She and Cornelius had an argument earlier in the evening at the Cambrian Hotel. At first, attention was placed on Betty's friends. Unfortunately, poor recording and preserving of evidence at the Pump House (the crime scene) seriously affected the investigation.

Dwayne Archie Johnston, James Robert Paul Houghton, Lee Scott Colgan and Norman Bernard Manger, four young white men from The Pas, were accused of killing her. However, it was not until December 1987, sixteen years after her death, that any of them were convicted of the crime. It was at this time that Constable Rob Urbanowski took over the investigation and placed an ad in the local newspaper asking for witnesses to come forward. Even then, only Johnston was convicted, as Houghton had been acquitted, Colgan had received immunity for testifying against Houghton and Johnston, and Manger was never charged.

The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission did an investigation into concerns about how long it took to solve her case. According to the Commission report, Osborne's autopsy showed that "along with well over 50 stab wounds, her skull, cheekbones and palate were broken, her lungs were damaged, and one kidney was torn. Her body showed extensive bruising." The Commission concluded that the most significant factors prolonging the case were racism, sexism and indifference of white people.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police officially closed the Osborne case on February 12, 1999.

Aftermath 
A formal apology from the Manitoba government was given by Gord Mackintosh, Manitoba's Minister of Justice, on July 14, 2000. The apology addressed the failure of the province's justice system in Osborne's case. The province also created a scholarship in Osborne's name for Aboriginal women.

The Pas, Manitoba, is still affected by this event. Recently, there has been a movement by the Aboriginal community to build healthier communities and this is having a positive impact on the town and surrounding community.

To remember Helen Betty Osborne, the town of Norway House named a school after her. The University of Winnipeg's Wii Chiiwaakanak Learning Centre is located in a building named after Osborne. 

On March 26, 2008, the Osborne family again grieved as her brother was found slain in his apartment in downtown Winnipeg. It was Winnipeg's sixth homicide of 2008.

Cultural references
On December 2, 2008, a graphic novel entitled 'The Life of Helen Betty Osborne' was published by The Helen Betty Osborne Memorial Foundation. The purpose of the graphic novel was to educate youth about racism, sexism, and indifference.

Canadian Indie-Folk Rock band The Wooden Sky has produced a four-song EP entitled "The Lonesome Death of Helen Betty Osborne" and has also released a song with the same title on their full-length album "When Lost At Sea" in recognition of Osborne. Lyrics to the song discuss the night of Osborne's murder.

Robert Munsch, a Canadian children's author, discussed his experience of being walked to the grave of Helen Betty Osborne one year before her perpetrators were captured. He discussed how this single incident led to a complete evolution not only in his writing as a children's author, but also in his philosophy of life.

The Osborne case is a considered an influence on Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters (1986). The character Zhaboonigan Peterson, a mentally challenged young woman, performs a monologue in which she describes being raped by two white men with a screwdriver (Osborne was stabbed 56 times with a screwdriver). Highway attended junior high school in The Pas and graduated a year before Osborne's rape and murder.

In 1991, a CBC TV miniseries about the Osborne kidnapping and murder was made, entitled Conspiracy of Silence.

References