Chaos continues at Labrador Inn, but there is hope help is on the way

A young woman peers down the long corridor before starting to kick, leaning back for momentum before her foot reaches the door. She continues to kick until she gets inside the hotel room. 

A man sits in an empty cafeteria booth as a woman points a finger in his face. When she turns around, he gets up and grabs her, dragging her off frame. 

Two women locked in a fist fight are quickly separated and whisked out of sight. 

A man sits unable to move, frozen in place by frigid temperatures, behind a building. He survived.

Those incidents and more, including what appears to be an attempted suicide, were captured on surveillance camera over a two-week period at the Labrador Inn.

The hotel has been serving as a for-profit shelter, providing room and board for homeless people on the provincial government's dime. It started as overflow for the Housing Hub, the town's homeless shelter, more than two years ago.

CBC News has reviewed the footage provided by the Labrador Inn. 

"Unfortunately we deal with a lot of attempted suicides," said Labrador Inn manager Bill Dormody in an interview last week.

"We have probably dealt with 10 [attempted suicides] in the last six months, so at any given time me and my staff are conditioned to watch a person's behaviour."

CBC Investigates recently reported on the deaths of two young Indigenous people who died outside two government-funded buildings, six weeks apart. One of those buildings was the Labrador Inn.

Frederica Benuen died on Jan. 19 after spending the night 45 metres away from the entrance of the inn in minus double-digit temperatures. Lukie Karpik died in hospital on Dec. 7, 2021 after sleeping outside the Housing Hub, the town's homeless shelter. Staff at the inn and the shelter said they did not know Benuen or Karpik were outside until they were discovered the following mornings. 

The provincial minister responsible for housing vowed swift action to protect the vulnerable homeless population in the central Labrador town in the wake of their deaths. Part of that promise included security and support for residents of the inn, the majority of whom suffer with addictions, mental health issues and intergenerational trauma. 

"We are exchanging how best to do that right now and we will be working on that literally in the weeks and months ahead to make sure we have something in place as soon as possible," John Abbott said in a sit-down interview on Feb. 16.

"We are very committed to doing that."