‘The pain doesn’t go away:’ Chiefs reflect on James Smith Cree Nation stabbings

Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the largest mass stabbing in Canadian history.

On Sept. 4, 2022, 32-year-old Myles Sanderson killed 11 people and injured 17 others on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon.

On Monday, James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Burns said the system has failed them.

“Our people are full of jails, colonialism and also the residential schools,” Burns said.

Moving forward, Burns said he wants to look at land-based learning through the guidance of Elders, and self-administered policing for the Cree Nation.

“The justice system failed Myles, and the whole concept of that alluded to what happened a year ago,” he said.

Chakastaypasin First Nation Chief Calvin Sanderson also spoke of the tragedy and how it personally affected him and his family.

“I don’t even feel comfortable where I live right now. One of those individuals lost their life by my place and I didn’t realize he was actually lying there,” he said.

Sanderson said certain drug-related issues have to be addressed in the community.

“Healing is not an overnight project,” said Peter Chapman First Nation Chief Robert Head, adding it will take many years of therapy for the community to recover.

“When you lose someone so important in your life, the pain doesn’t go away. The sadness doesn’t go away.”

He said the struggles First Nations people face are real.

“Residential schools, abuses, alcoholism, discrimination, it all combines and drives people to do awful things in this world, and that’s a lot of reality for First Nations people,” he said.

Patty Hajdu, the minister of Indigenous Services of Canada, said she brought a heavy heart to James Smith Cree Nation on Monday.

“This didn’t happen by accident,” she said, adding it’s a byproduct of intergenerational trauma.

Hajdu reflected on her time at James Smith Cree Nation a year ago, when she attended three funerals and spent time in the community as people started coming to terms with “the  incredible shock and loss” they experienced.

“It was just almost unbelievable in those early days that this had happened,” she said.

Last November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Cree Nation, where Hajdu said they had personally met with each of the families who lost a loved one in the tragic events.

Trudeau also announced $42.5 million in funding over six years for the Cree Nation to help build a new lodge and provide mental health and substance use support.