‘A quiet time’: James Smith Cree Nation reflects 2 years after mass stabbing

This week marks two years since the horrific stabbings on James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) and the nearby community of Weldon.

On Sept. 4, 2022, Myles Sanderson took the lives of 11 people and injured 17 others.

The tragedy is still fresh in the minds of many in the community and across the province.

“It’s always a quiet time you know, September 4th, we’re all thinking about the people that we lost,” Peter Chapman Band chief Robert Head said.

“I don’t think there’s one house that’ll go home and go to bed without locking their doors now,” JSCN justice director Eddie Head echoed.

JSCN is in the early stages of developing a self-administered police service, which Eddie believes is vital for the safety of its members.

“We’re working on our due diligence in making sure our membership understand when we talk about self-administration policing that it’s going to affect their lives and affect them,” Eddie explained.

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“Our mandate is within the next three years that we can have everything in place.”

Saskatchewan Public Safety Minister Paul Merriman said there might be more opportunities for First Nations self-policing, adding that the province is working with the RCMP, justice ministry and First Nations partners to see it through.

The decision comes after multiple inquiries into the stabbings and the many recommendations made on how to prevent these situations in the future.

“We’re just working with specific tribal councils to see if there are opportunities out there, but that is in conjunction with the federal government,” Merriman said. “That’s basically a 50/50 split on dollars from the provincial government and the federal government on First Nation policing.”

Eddie said self-policing will have input from youth, elders and community members to ensure lives won’t be taken like those of two years ago.

“At the end of the day, we want to make sure that the lives of our people are very safe within our community,” Eddie said.

Eddie said other resources have also been available to the community, including land-based programs to help with the healing.

Work is currently underway for a wellness centre to help with mental health supports and provide grief counselling in addition to treatment.

“There’s a multifaceted approach of all of our agencies trying to work together to create more community engagement across all of our reserves,” JSCN chief Kirby Constant explained. “It’s going to be where we come to meet culturally and spiritually and physically.”

Head said he wants people to know healing is a lifelong process and the wellness centre will be able to provide help healing for generations to come in a community still finding ways to move forward.

“We want to be healing, we want to be healed, we want to feel better and it takes time, it takes a long time,” Head said.

“We can have a wholesome, vibrant community of individuals and if we all flourish together, then our whole community starts to flourish,” Constant said.

The community will be having a powwow to reflect on the last two years Friday evening.

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