Langley Times, November 28, 2013

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Young and Homeless PAGE 5

THURSDAY November 28, 2013 • www.langleytimes.com

18 21 41 Arrest made in Antone murder NEWS

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MICHELLE SERDAR, 42, IS FACING SECOND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES IN MARCH 2011 DEATH OF KWANTLEN ELDER BR EN D A AN D E R SO N Tim e s Re po r t e r

An arrest has been made in the 2011 murder of a Kwantlen First Nations elder. The Integrated Homicide investigation Team announced Tuesday that Michelle Marie Serdar, 42, has been charged with second-degree murder. She was arrested in Quebec City after an extensive investigation and will be transported to B.C. to face the charges. She is charged in the murder of George Antone, 71, whose body was discovered in his McMillan Island home on March 7, 2011. Antone had been shot to death. An extensive police investigation took place after Antone’s death, and there was a lot of concern among the Kwantlen First Nation people about the fact that a suspect had not been apprehended. At a police news conference Tuesday, Kwantlen member Tumia Knott spoke about the tragedy. “The family and community of Kwantlen continue to mourn the loss of our beloved elder George Antone. “We wish for closure for the family; we pray that the truth will be revealed and for justice to prevail. “Our Kwantlen family and George’s family are strong and we are determined to stay strong and walk together through this. We pray for justice and resolution. “We also wish to thank the investigators for their long and diligent efforts in this matter. “We look at today as one

step closer for closure on this matter for our family who have been through so much. “We await the judicial process to begin, as we continue to remember and mourn the loss of our dear elder.” Not long before Antone’s death, former Langley Times photographer John Gordon interviewed the elder in his home for a feature which appeared in Sideroads magazine. Antone lived on McMillan Island until he was seven years old. He was taken to a residential school for the next decade, living far from home. The first residential facility was on Cooper Island, midway between Ucluelet and Bamfield. Later, he would be moved to one in Sechelt. Life was tough for the children in residential homes, Antone told Gordon. Some children tried to escape by swimming for shore. Most drowned, and when

their parents came to visit them, they were told that their children had run away. “The food was terrible,” Antone recalled. So bad, in fact, that as a 16-year-old he stood almost six feet tall but weighed only 127 pounds. “It was real sad the way they treated us,” he said. “We still got strapped every day, it was a very sad part of our lives, that residential school. My son got to go to school in Langley. He was lucky.” The children were forbidden from speaking their own language. “They told us to talk like them. We were called savages.” When he finally left, he became a logger and fisherman. “I still fish,” he said in the interview. He praised Chief Marilyn Gabriel in the interview. “Marilyn helps us when she can. She’s a good chief, she is making life better for us.”

J OHN GOR D ON Langley Time s file pho to s

Above: Kwantlen elder George Antone in a photo taken shortly before he was was shot and killed in March, 2011; top left: an RCMP officer speaks to a woman on McMillan Island during the investigation into Antone’s murder. On Tuesday, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced that a break had been made in the case. Michelle Serdar, 42, was arrested in Quebec City last Friday and will be transported to B.C. to face second degree murder charges.

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