After tragic stabbings in Sask., First Nations leaders call for their own police force

Warning: This story contains distressing details

Local and provincial leaders are calling for more First Nations policing in Saskatchewan in the wake of the stabbing rampage in the province that captured national and international attention. 

Ten people were killed and 18 wounded — not counting the two men accused — in the stabbings in the James Smith Cree Nation area and the nearby village of Weldon last Sunday, which also led to a days-long manhunt spanning a large swath of Saskatchewan. 

It ended on Wednesday when Myles Sanderson, 32, the main suspect in the violent attacks, died after going into medical distress shortly after he was arrested. His brother Damien Sanderson, 31, who was also facing charges in the attacks, was found dead on Monday.

At a news conference Thursday, James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Burns said the community needs its own tribal justice system, including some form of police force.

"We have to make it loud and clear that we mean business. We got to protect our people," Burns said. "We got to protect them, because no people in Canada should be scared to go from here to there."

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He envisions a police force that would work hand-in-hand with the RCMP, which currently serves the community. That would not only benefit James Smith but communities around the Cree nation too, the chief said.

Darryl Burns, whose sister Gloria Lydia Burns was among those killed in the attacks, said he fully supports having a police force in his home community.

"One of the things I always talk about with these murders that happened here in our community, they were spread out over lots of different periods of time," he said after Thursday's news conference at James Smith Cree Nation — a joint conference that included local Indigenous leaders along with representatives from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the RCMP and the provincial government.

"So if the cops responded at the first call, would some of these people still be alive?"

RCMP officers were first contacted about the stabbing rampage at 5:43 a.m. CST on Sunday, Sept. 4. Officers were sent out three minutes later and arrived at the first scene at 6:18 a.m, roughly 35 minutes after the call was first made. 

Darryl Burns's concerns about response times were echoed at Thursday's conference by Prince Albert Grand Council Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte, who said it's a common sentiment in First Nations communities.

"A lot of the times [community] members make a call to some of the [RCMP] detachments, [but] their call goes all the way to Regina. Just imagine the response time on that," Hardlotte said.