Family of Surrey murder victim calls for change to child welfare system

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — The uncle of a young woman killed in Surrey last month is building a coalition of advocacy groups to create changes to the child welfare system and mental health resources.

On Feb. 4, Ryan Morris heard the news of gunshots fired that Thursday morning on 139A Street near 108 Avenue over the radio. Officers reported they found a pair inside a home, both with gunshot wounds.

“It’s just so common, you just hear and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s terrible.’ Next story, you continue on your day, you completely forget about it,” he explains.

Later that day on his drive home, Morris called his sister where she told him Shana Harris-Morris, his 23-year-old niece was shot.

“And obviously it’s just instant numbness when you hear something like that,” he says.

Shana later died in hospital.

Morris says Shana’s death — one of a number of fatal shootings in the Lower Mainland February — is a devastating example of the “collateral damage” of drug and gang conflict.

RELATED: Family grieving 23-year-old Surrey shooting victim launches GoFundMe for funeral costs

Morris admits his niece had a troubled life as she struggled with opioid addiction. But he believes changes to how children in care are taken care of and the impacts the system has on mental health, could have changed things.

Since Shana’s death, Morris says he’s heard stories from countless families who’ve lost children and young loved ones who’ve struggled with a mental illness, drug use or have been in the child welfare system.

‘The more people we have, the louder the voice grows’

A month after his niece’s death, Morris is calling on independent advocacy groups to band together to direct governments toward the changes that need to be made.

“We can continue to operate as 1,000 groups with 100 members, or we can become one group of 100,000 members,” he says.

“The more people that we have, the louder the voice grows. And right now it’s a whisper. And we need that whisper to be so much louder.”

Morris says creating a collective will help governments direct funding to the group where they can then make sure money is best used.

“These politicians sit in their homes, and I’m sure that it bothers them what’s going on, but they’re not in the front lines,” he says. “As parents and as children that are in the system, we are fighting this battle ourselves, and we know the landscape.”

Morris adds that his goal is to reignite hope to create changes families need and provide support and resources to help them heal from their tragedies.

Morris has also been asked to join a public committee where he will give revisions to the police to handle mental health calls.

“If I truly want change. I’m going to do my due diligence, and I’m going to get everybody that I can involved.”

Last month, Shana’s family set up an online fundraiser to pay for her funeral and her gravestone. The GoFundMe was also able to raise enough money to pay for a memorial bench in Chilliwack, where Shana’s parents and siblings live.

The memorial bench was installed Friday at the large dog park at Vedder Park.

No arrests have been made in connection to Shana’s murder so far.

Anyone with information about last months shooting is asked to contact IHIT at 1-877-551-4448 or ihittipline@rcmp-grc.gc.ca