‘I’ll never forgive him for doing any of that’: La Loche shooting victim

A sense of relief for many accompanied Thursday’s news that the Supreme Court of Canada would not hear an appeal from a young offender who was sentenced as an adult in a mass shooting in La Loche.

Randan Dakota Fontaine was two weeks shy of turning 18 when he first killed two of his cousins, Dayne and Drayden, at a home in La Loche in 2016.

He then went to the school and opened fire, killing a teacher, 36-year-old Adam Wood, and a teacher’s aide, 21-year-old Marie Janvier, and wounding seven other staff members and students.

Teacher Charlene Klyne is relieved Fontaine will serve his adult sentence. She was left blinded after being shot while teaching at the school that day Randan Fontaine walked in with a gun.

“I’m just glad I don’t have to worry for a while that he’s going to be out there on the streets,” Klyne told 650 CKOM about the decision.

Klyne was in the same classroom where Janvier was killed.

“He came twice to my classroom — shot me, and came back and shot the tutor I had in the classroom and killed her,” Klyne said.

Klyne is still going through surgeries to repair her sight, but those are on hold for now because of COVID-19. She said there are things she can’t do anymore because of the loud sounds and unfamiliar voices, and her husband still deals with PTSD from the shooting.

“I’ll never forgive (Fontaine) for doing any of that,” Klyne said.

The mayor of La Loche, Robert St. Pierre, says he was also relieved when he read the decision.

“Relieved because my community doesn’t have to go through that (appeal) process and that ordeal, and having to relive those experiences,” St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre says La Loche is strong and resilient, but the decision will be met with mixed emotions. He says the legal ordeal has been a roller coaster for the whole community, including the shooter’s family and his supporters.

“It has been trying times. You get the (initial) decision — some are elated and some are disappointed. Then you get the appeal — some are elated, some are disappointed. It’s a mixed reaction all across because we’re all dealing with families in the community,” said St. Pierre.

He says the decision should help people in the community move forward and close this chapter.

Aaron Fox is the lawyer who represents Fontaine. Fox said he was disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision, saying his legal team had argued the sentencing judge did not fully consider his client’s low IQ and his fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

“We thought there were good grounds and good reasons why the leave to appeal should have been granted and ultimately why he should have been sentenced as a youth,” said Fox.

Fox says the decision means all legal options for his client have been exhausted.

“All appeal avenues are completed,” Fox said. “(Fontaine) will complete his sentence now — the one he received in the provincial court.”

Fontaine initially received an adult sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. His team appealed the decision to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which upheld the sentence.