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Abigail Robson remembers moving with her mother, Ashley Burke, from Nova Scotia to Alberta a decade ago in search of a fresh start.
“But for her, coming from such a small town, it was harder,” Robson said in a recent interview. “Did we get a fresh start? Yes. But did it end how either of us wanted? No.”
Robson, now 20, recalled the moment she was informed about her mother’s death. “He began with an apology for having to share the news this way. That’s when I knew what had happened,” she said.
Ashley Burke, 43, was described by her daughter as friendly, funny, and generous, embodying the warmth of the East Coast. But in recent years, she struggled with substance abuse and mental health challenges. It was not unusual for Robson to go days without hearing from her mother. Their last conversation was on Christmas Eve.
“There were some warning signs in the past few months, but nothing specific during that conversation,” Robson said.
At the time of her death, Burke’s husband was incarcerated. She had been living in Spruce Grove but moved to Edmonton a few months earlier to stay with Daniel Boothman, the man now accused of killing her.
Although police have labeled the case an “intimate partner homicide,” Robson refutes the idea of a romantic relationship. “Maybe he thought that, but that wasn’t her perspective.”
While Robson never witnessed Boothman abusing her mother, she had heard unsettling accounts from others. She believes her mother may have sought help from social services but often felt ashamed to confide in her daughter.
“My mom isn’t defined by these recent events,” Robson emphasized. “She did her best with the circumstances she faced. She was a kind, sweet person, and that’s how she should be remembered.”
Femicide: An Epidemic in Canada
According to the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS), a woman is killed by a current or former intimate partner in Canada every 4.2 days, a statistic the organization calls an epidemic.
This alarming trend was particularly visible during the holiday season. On Christmas Eve, a man in Saint John was charged with murdering his wife. One day before Burke’s body was found, a Calgary man killed his wife and her father. On New Year’s Eve, a Halifax man killed his girlfriend and her father.
“My mom always managed to get through tough situations,” Robson reflected. “But you can’t take that for granted.”
Robson says the reality of her mother’s death still feels unreal. “You never think it’ll happen to you — until it does.”
While she did everything she could to help her mother, she is haunted by the feeling that she could have done more. She urged survivors of domestic violence to keep seeking help.
“If my mom had just called me, I would’ve done anything to help her,” she said.
Robson recently saw her mother’s body at the funeral home. “All I could do was hold her hand, hug her, and say, ‘I’m so sorry for all of this.’”
The loss has left her in shock. “She always called me eventually. I keep thinking, ‘She’ll call me back in a few days.’”
A Shelter System Under Strain
The ACWS reports that demand for shelter space in Alberta is at a 10-year high, with many survivors unable to access help. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, only one in six people needing assistance received it. Factors like stagnant funding, inflation, and staff burnout have worsened the crisis.
Despite answering 46% more calls than in 2015, shelters now have only three-quarters of their previous spending power, leaving countless survivors without the support they desperately need.
