Nurses’ vote could make St. Boniface Hospital third facility in province grey-listed over safety concerns By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 6:27 PM CST Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 Last Modified: 7:38 AM CST Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 Updates

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Unionized nurses at St. Boniface Hospital will vote to “grey-list” the facility over increasing concerns for their safety, potentially becoming the third health-care centre in the province to be hit with the reputation-damaging designation.

Grey-listing is a union declaration that a workplace is unsafe and doesn’t meet professional standards, and advises colleagues not to take jobs or accept available shifts.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said a vote could come in the next two weeks after the board of directors authorized the request Monday.

“Nurses are incredibly frustrated and disappointed in the lack of recognition that the employer is obligated to provide a safe environment for all front-line workers to work in,” Jackson said.

“Nurses are incredibly frustrated and disappointed.”

She said safety issues similar to those experienced by union members at Health Sciences Centre and Thompson General Hospital — both of which have been grey-listed — have gone unaddressed, and nurses felt like they had no other choice.

The union threatened to “grey-list every hospital” in the province in November after a nurse was sexually assaulted in St. Boniface Hospital’s parkade.

A memo sent to staff signed by St. Boniface president and CEO Nicole Aminot at the time said security measures were under review. The memo listed enhancements made to the parkade in the previous two years, including key-card access to the stairwell, overnight security staff, additional mirrors, improved lighting and security cameras.

Jackson said the memo was too little, too late and came only as a reaction to the assault.

A nurse who works at the hospital who spoke with the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, called the potential grey-list vote a “lose-lose,” but said it might be the only way to ensure concerns are being heard.

“In recent months violence has continued, not just in the emergency department, but in all areas of the hospital,” she said. “We do have some safety officers, but we’re still looking for more change.”

The nurse said the union and hospital officials have been in discussion about some of the concerns.

A WHRA spokeperson said in a statement Monday evening, “The safety and security of staff, patients and visitors at all WRHA sites, including St. Boniface Hospital is of the utmost importance, and we take all issues and incidents very seriously. We continue to work on steps aimed at improving safety within our facilities,” and pointed to the security measures undertaken at the hospital in recent years.

As well, St. Boniface Hospital is rolling out the Shared Health SAFE app to staff this week, the WHRA said. The app includes emergency notifications, quick connection to security and a safety toolbox.

According to the WHRA, St. Boniface Hospital executive and security teams recently met the Winnipeg Police Service’s Community Relations Unit to identify ways to make the hospital and surrounding area safer.

“In recent months violence has continued.”

In a statement late Monday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said several security upgrades, including safety officers and amnesty lockers, have come to the hospital in recent months, but the province will continue to work with the hospital to improve safety as necessary.

If nurses vote to grey-list St. Boniface Hospital, it would be the third facility in Manitoba with the union’s designation.

MNU members at HSC voted overwhelmingly to grey-list the province’s largest hospital in August owing to a string of disturbing incidents, including several sexual assaults on the same day on and around the core-area campus. A nurse and health-care aide were attacked in the ER in October, and a doctor was assaulted by a patient in November.

The designation remains in place until HSC implements several more safety measures for staff and patients, Jackson said.

Thus far, the hospital has installed weapons scanners at main entrances, employed dozens of Institutional Safety Officers and there are two police officers on duty around the clock in the adult emergency department.

In November, MNU members in Thompson voted in favour of grey-listing the facility following an emergency department waiting-room stabbing in September, and a man firing a gun in the hospital’s chapel on Christmas Eve 2024.

The union would like management at both hospitals to sign a memorandum of understanding that includes a binding commitment to resolve safety issues within a certain timeline and allow the union to file grievances if the timeline isn’t met.

Jackson said the union is considering adding off-site health-care facilities in Thompson to the listing after a man went to the local primary-care clinic on the weekend armed with a knife.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said officers responded to the Thompson Clinic at about 12:20 p.m. Saturday after receiving a report of a man with a knife; a doctor spotted the weapon in one of the man’s pockets and called police.

He did not brandish it or threaten anyone and was not arrested or charged with an offence, Manaigre said.

Jackson said the union is considering adding the clinic, a long-term care facility and an Addictions Foundation of Manitoba building to the grey-listing because unionized nurses work in the facilities. The union plans to meet with health officials this week to discuss the matter further.

“Clearly there are big issues in that town, and not just at the hospital.”

“Clearly there are big issues in that town, and not just at the hospital,” Jackson said.

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In November’s throne speech, the province promised to hire eight institutional safety officers for Thompson’s hospital, but Jackson said Monday that she’s not aware of any working at the facility.

The Northern Health Region did not responded to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

Jackson said she could see every hospital in Manitoba grey-listed if safety issues are not addressed.

“(Nurses) are not going to work in these situations without saying to the employer, ‘This is not right. You have to provide some sort of protection,’” she said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole 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.