Women’s Health Clinic staff take issue with parting shots from ex-boss

Staff at Winnipeg’s Women’s Health Clinic say they were put at risk when their former executive director left doors unlocked and allowed unsupervised, drug-using individuals — some armed — into private health-care spaces, a situation serious enough to draw provincial intervention.

Workplace Safety and Health received a complaint from a staff member in March 2023 and conducted an investigation that included a site visit. The Labour Department issued an “improvement order” listing 10 areas — including issues of violence and harassment — that the clinic needed to address to improve working conditions, a provincial spokesperson confirmed.

The order was deemed to have been complied with by November of that year.

On Thursday, the street-level entry doors of the Graham Avenue facility were not locked, but further entry into the clinic was blocked off. A sign on the front door informed visitors of a security checkpoint ahead and advised that weapons are not permitted in the clinic.

Since its founding in 1981, the clinic has been a leader in expanding access to abortion and birth control, mental-health supports, pregnancy counselling and birth options outside of hospital settings.

The clinic is the largest of the three facilities in Manitoba that perform medical abortions.

Current and former employees are also pushing back against what they say are omissions in former executive director Kemlin Nembhard’s resignation email, obtained by the Free Press earlier this week.

Nembhard, who took the job in 2020 and left the clinic a week ago, cited a culture of “toxicity, hostility, racism, white privilege and white fragility” as her reason for stepping down earlier than planned.

“Staff sometimes evacuated due to safety threats, but directors generally worked from home and were absent during incidents.”

But staff allege that under her leadership the clinic became unsafe and dysfunctional for both workers and clients. They claim Nembhard allowed homeless individuals into WHC’s private spaces — waiting rooms, staff areas, bathrooms and hallways — to access “harm-reduction supplies” and remain unsupervised, often while using drugs.

“This created repeated chaos and danger, including assaults, fights, public sex, nudity, urination/defecation in hallways, overdoses, theft of staff food, and weapons on site,” a current staff member, granted anonymity to speak, told the Free Press.

“Staff sometimes evacuated due to safety threats, but directors generally worked from home and were absent during incidents.”

Nembhard declined to comment on the allegations Thursday.

WHC interim board chair Faustine Muyenzi acknowledged that safety issues had been brought up in the past and, in the wake of Nembhard’s resignation, the board would be announcing changes to the “organizational health and future of Women’s Health Clinic” next week.

“We are aware that concerns have been raised in the past and we have consistently acted to ensure they are addressed through the appropriate channels,” Muyenzi said in an email.

But staff have continued to flag safety concerns and an “increasingly hostile and toxic workplace culture,” said Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater. The union asked for a full review of workplace policies, process and culture in January.

He said leadership at WHC began allowing members of the public into the clinic, offering snacks and access to washrooms, resulting in a makeshift drop-in space that “lacked appropriate space, resources or staff training, which put staff and clients at significant risk.”

“Our members raised concerns to management for their own safety and that of their clients and members of the public who were accessing the clinic, but those concerns were dismissed,” Linklater said. “We are aware of serious assaults and other safety incidents that occurred due to this policy and lack of proper support.”

A grievance filed by the MAHCP in July 2024 alleges that the clinic’s actions had “resulted in sexual harassment and verbal assaults on staff and clients,” along with impacting delivery of care and causing staff burnout. That grievance has not been resolved.

In an email to staff, Nembhard said a man carrying a knife walked into the clinic on July 27, 2022 and staff called police.

“We are aware of serious assaults and other safety incidents that occurred due to this policy and lack of proper support.”

“We learned that we over-reacted in this particular situation, which resulted in harm to an individual who was arrested,” Nembhard wrote, noting the man had been interacting respectfully with staff and showing no signs of aggression or self-harm.

“And yet, instead of engaging with the individual in a respectful manner once we realized that they were carrying a knife, politely asking them to put the knife elsewhere off-site and then come back — we judged and racially profiled this individual and further harmed them by calling the police and getting them arrested.”

The Winnipeg Police Service said Thursday officers were called to the clinic on that day and arrested 32-year-old Nicki Beardy, who had a lengthy court record. He was charged with possession of a machete and was also found to have an outstanding warrant for robbery and failing to comply with an undertaking.

Staff allege Nembhard resisted change until Workplace Safety and Health department issued the improvement order.

“Only after repeated inspections and threats of closure did Nembhard agree to lock the front door,” one said.

Three unions and a professional association representing workers at the clinic — MAHCP, the Manitoba Nurses Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Doctors Manitoba — became involved and eventually secured the door-locking policy.

The clinic also installed a front desk on the main floor, and eventually hired someone to staff it. Previously, the reception desk was located on the third floor; the first level had only an elevator and stairwell.

CUPE Local 204 president Margaret Schroeder, which represents 96 staff members at WHC, said the union has been calling for a security guard trained to handle violent conflict.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson, meanwhile, said she was “surprised” to learn of Nembhard’s resignation.

“There was some concern from the staff there, that concerns were brought forward under Workplace Health and Safety, and they were not being addressed… we felt it was more of a safety concerns (issue), more than a discriminatory thing,” she said.

About eight months ago, a new human resources staff member was put in place, and morale has improved since.

“We’re going to continue providing care. We’re going to continue providing abortion care, primary care, (the) teen clinic,” one staff member said. “With this new HR individual, staff are feeling supported, and staff are feeling better.”

— with files from Dean Pritchard

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca