'Picking up these pieces': Daughter of Sask. stabbing victims says healing journey will be long, complicated
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Deborah Burns presses a wet, crumpled tissue up to her eyes, taking a moment to breathe.
She wishes her mom Joyce was beside her to share their family's story. Joyce isn't ready to speak publicly yet, but she has made progress in her recovery after a terrifying tragedy that devastated the Burns family and their community.
Joyce and her husband Earl were brutally assaulted in their family home on James Smith Cree Nation, Sask., during the September long weekend.
Earl didn't survive.
"It's just so shocking when I think about it. It's really, really, really unbelievable," Deborah said.
The man wielding the knife was Myles Sanderson, who stabbed 10 people to death on James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) that morning, including his own brother Damien. He also killed one man in the nearby village of Weldon, Sask., and injured several others during the merciless rampage.
Joyce was on life support in the hospital. She's awake now, but has needed ongoing hospital care because of complications and infections.
"Her healing journey through this hasn't been easy at all. She's a strong woman," Deborah said, speaking from a hotel room in Prince Albert, Sask., the city where her mom has been treated.
"She's been trying her hardest to be really strong for us all, herself included. I can see it in her eyes and I can see it in her body that this has taken a lot out of her."
Deborah's phone lit up just before 6 a.m. CST on Sept. 4. She woke up in her Melfort, Sask., home to several missed calls and messages from her teen daughter, who was spending the long weekend at Joyce and Earl's.
"I knew something was wrong because they were back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back."
She ran outside and called back.
"'Granny and Grandpa were stabbed,'" she remembers her daughter saying upon answering. "I was like, 'oh my God, from who? From who?' And she's like 'Myles' and I started crying immediately."
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and includes graphic content.
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