Left - Darryl Burns, Centre - Chelsey Stonestand, Right - Buggy Burns (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

James Smith Coroners Inquest

Family members of James Smith stabbings respond to jury recommendations

Jan 31, 2024 | 8:43 PM

The jury recommendation for the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon Coroner’s Inquest took place Wednesday evening in Melfort as suggestions were made to prevent similar events in the future.

Afterwards, family members of the victims spoke to media to provide their thoughts on the 29 recommendations.

The 14 recommendations from the jury included:

• RCMP should make sure any photos of people in the police database have a date on them, which is clearly visible.
• James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) should consider adding programs related to addictions and substance abuse, victim services, difficult childhood experiences, and domestic violence, towards their community programming.
• JSCN should mandate that all houses and streets are properly marked with numbers and signs, and maps are updated and given to emergency workers.
• JSCN should continue to fund and train their Security Force to ensure the safety and security of all within the community.
• JSCN should continue the process of establishing a local police force, as soon as they possibly can.

Meanwhile, the 15 recommendations from the presiding Coroner included:

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• RCMP should make sure patrol officers looking for someone have the most current photo possible, from whatever database they can access.
• The commander of the warrant enforcement and suppression team should provide a list of the 60 most wanted targets to all Saskatchewan RCMP detachments at least once every quarter (Myles Sanderson would have sat just outside the top 60).
• When a wanted person is affiliated with a First Nation, RCMP should let the First Nation’s leadership know about their wanted status.
• Continuing with the former point, JSCN should speak with community members, in hopes of acquiring information on their whereabouts or any other helpful tips, so they can pass it on to police.
• Correctional Services Canada (CSC) should require offenders with a history of domestic violence to complete domestic violence programming in hopes of breaking the cycle, prior to their release.

Darryl Burns, Chelsey Stonestand, and Buggy Burns all commented on the recommendations, as they were happy with most, but know it doesn’t stop here.

For Darryl Burns, he referred to what his sister left behind and what those recommendations mean when it came to her passing.

“In our community, we lost a lot of good people and that left a huge impact, so for them to lose their lives for nothing, wouldn’t be right. If my sister’s death means that something positive is going to come out of this, then her legacy is gonna live on, because our community needed some changes for a long time,” he told northeastNOW.

“We’re not disappointed by the recommendations, the recommendations are good, but in five years time, if there’s no action to the recommendations, then we’re going to be disappointed. Right now we’re feeling very hopeful and I hope that in time, that feeling doesn’t go away with the inaction of our governments.”

As for Stonestand, she recognized that the recommendations weren’t 100 per cent what they wanted, but that they were a good start.

“It brought such relief… while they’re not perfect recommendations, they’re practical, and this inquest brought us together to seek truth and share truth. At the end of the day, I think there’s comfort in this inquest and the recommendations that are going to be implemented,” she added.

“Everyone was a huge loss to our community, but we appreciate this inquest in that it can take us to a road forward.”

Finally, for Buggy, he explained that the community is starting to get closure and moving forward, as he’s now able to process his grief.

“There’s good recommendations and they’re positive. This helped me sleep at night since the inquest started, I was getting up in the middle of the night crying and wondering. I feel better now with a weight lifted off my shoulders. There’s still a couple more recommendations that we’d like to see, but I’m happy that at least they got honored.”

All the chiefs will be meeting Thursday at the FSIN Building in Saskatoon for a press conference to share their thoughts.

One of the common themes that the family members and chiefs interviewed felt that wasn’t addressed, was the intergenerational violence that stemmed from the effects of Residential Schools.

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