Edmonton police are on the lookout for more potential victims after charging a man who previously stayed at a women’s shelter with sexual assault.
Mika Katz, who has also been known as Michael Collins, was arrested Thursday after two women staying at the shelter reported being sexually assaulted in August, police said.
The Edmonton Police Service did not identify Katz, 37, as transgender, but did release a mugshot showing him with long pink hair and a slight beard.
Katz was previously arrested in September in connection with alleged sexual assaults of two other women at the shelter around the same time.
Katz had been released with conditions including to not contact any of the alleged victims or be within 50 meters of any women’s shelter in Alberta.
“As police have now received multiple reports related to separate events on different days, investigators believe there may be additional complainants and are releasing Katz’s photo to encourage them to come forward,” the Edmonton Police Service said in its release.
For women’s advocates, the incident underscores the need for greater protection in legislation. In Apr. 2024, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith asked transgender people to “show modesty” when in women’s spaces, but declined to put regulations in place.
“I do not find the idea that asking men to ‘show modesty’ when in women’s spaces is adequate,” said Shelley Crowley, co-founded of Women’s Rights Matter. “Men, regardless of how they identify, should not be in women’s spaces at all.”
“I have always favoured third spaces, but there has been very little willingness to use them, since much of the trans paraphilia is to be validated by being in women’s spaces,” Crowley also said.
Mohamad Al Ballouz, who fatally stabbed his wife, Synthia Bussières, 23 times before drowning their two sons in Oct. 2022, only began identifying as a woman after being incarcerated. Ballouz, who now goes by the name Levana and is currently housed in the Leclerc detention facility for women.
