Saskatchewan stabbings: Indigenous leaders call on Canadian government to fulfill promises

The reality of the tragedy on James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon in September 2022 still hits close to home for both family and community members. On Thursday, Indigenous leaders responded to 29 recommendations brought forth following the coroner’s inquest into the tragedy in which 11 people died. Indigenous leaders focused on promises made to fund Indigenous self-administered policing for communities in Saskatchewan. "The James Smith Cree Nation tragedy is a prime example of how the lack of local first nations police and justice services added to the vulnerabilities of first nations," said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) assistant commissioner Rhonda Blackmore acknowledged the request of funding and says she believes all first nations in Saskatchewan need attention. "Our mandate was to protect first nations people, and that is a very important mandate for us and we are very much determined to do better than some of the black marks that we have in our history in the past related to residential schools," Blackmore said. A victim’s family member, Chelsey Stonestand, said that although self-administered policing will help, it will take time to establish and the RCMP needs to improve their response times when responding to Indigenous communities. Global’s Easton Hamm has the details. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10264695/james-smith-cree-nation-inquest-jury-recommendations/ Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #GlobalNews #Saskatchewan #JamesSmithCreeNation