Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 59 • Issue 40
Thompson marks Orange Shirt Day in honour of residential school system survivors
SECOND POT STORE OPENS IN THOMPSON NEWS PAGE 3
FIREFIGHTERS MARK 60 YEARS NEWS PAGE 4
Thompson recognized Orange Shirt Day and the impacts of the Canada’s residential school system Sept. 30 with a memorial walk along Thompson Drive and Cree Road by students, teachers and staff from R.D. Parker Collegiate and other School District of Mystery Lake schools. Keewatin Tribal Council also hosted an Orange Shirt Day event at St. Lawrence Hall with keynote speakers elder Marie Ballantyne and Clint Saulteaux. Since 2013, people across Canada have donned orange shirts in honour of Phyllis Webstad, who had a new orange shirt, along with reminders of her Indigenous culture, taken away when she first arrived at a British Columbia residential school in 1973. Webstad also published a children’s book called The Orange Shirt Story in September 2018 in the hopes of spreading her story to a younger audience. Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said in a press release that the residential school system, which forcibly removed Indigenous, Métis and Inuit children from their homes to attend schools far away for more
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham Thompson students march down Thompson Drive on Orange Shirt Day Sept. 30 in a memorial walk for survivors of the Canadian residential school system. than a century in an attempt to assimilate them, had far-reaching effects that still linger more than 20 years after the last of the schools was closed. “My grandmother attended residential school and I know the impacts it
has had on our family firsthand,” said Settee, who took part in the Thompson walk with students. “I am proud of my grandmother for surviving 10 years in a residential school. For others who have a survivor in their family, I encourage you to recognize
them for what they experienced. They are heroes. Let us not forget what happened to young Indigenous Peoples across Canada. This is why we are working to overhaul the child welfare system and return children to our First Nations and their cultures.
We still have a lot of work to do to heal from the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. We are strong people and we will continue to heal and build a brighter future for the generations of Indigenous children to come.”
Northern B.C. murders that sparked Northern Manitoba manhunt were random, RCMP say RDPC GIRLS WIN SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS ON PENALTY KICKS SPORTS PAGE 5
MANTO SIPI CREE NATION WOMAN KILLED IN WINNIPEG. NEWS PAGE 6
Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky admitted killing Lucas Fowler, Chynna Deese and Leonard Dyck in videos BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
B.C. RCMP said they believe Kam Mcleod shot and killed Bryer Schmegelsky in the Northern Manitoba wilderness before turning the gun on himself, ending a three-week crime spree and manhunt that began in northern B.C. with three random killings. Rifles found near McLeod and Schmegelsky’s bodies, which were discovered by Manitoba RCMP Aug. 7, though they may have died several days earlier, were the same ones used to kill Australian Lucas Fowler, American Chynna Deese and B.C. resident Leonard Dyck, police said at a Sept. 27 press conference. The search for McLeod
and Schmegelsky began when a vehicle belonging to 64-year-old Leonard Dyck, who was killed in northern B.C., was found abandoned and burning near Fox Lake Cree Nation July 22. McLeod and Shmegelsky were charged with murder in Dyck’s death and were also suspects in the killings of 23-year-old Fowler and 24-year-old Deese, also in northern B.C. Along with Dyck’s vehicle, which the two killers from Port Alberni stole after murdering him, they also took his digital camera, on which police found six videos and three photos. In the videos, McLeod and Schmegelsky took responsibility for all three murders and dis-
played no remorse. “They were cold, they were remorseless, matter of fact,” said B.C. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett. “McLeod and Schmegelsky targeted Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese for unknown reasons. They shot and killed the couple before continuing up to the Yukon. There’s no real clear understanding of why they were ultimately chosen, if that’s the word, or targeted or became the victims other than they were at the side of the roadway. They were in a position that made them likely more vulnerable than others because they were pulled off the highway.” After returning from the Yukon to B.C. because they
were having car trouble, Mcleod and Schmegelsky came across Dyck, killed him, burned their truck and stole his vehicle. “There was a marked difference in the amount of violence that was used in the Fowler/Deese homicides and then the subsequent killing of Mr. Dyck,” said Hackett, who credited the search effort by Manitoba RCMP for making McLeod and Schmegelsky feel as if they couldn’t escape. “I think it speaks to the work that was done to saturate the area around Gillam with police dog, aircraft, armed police officers trained in searching for subjects like this.” Their bodies were found
in an area with the Nelson River on one side and a steep embankment on the other. “They could not escape, cross, swim,” Hackett said. “They were able to traverse down but could not get back up.” The RCMP decided not to release the videos that McLeod and Schmegelsky recorded out of respect for the victim’s families and because they don’t want to inspire similar crimes. “The videos may influence or inspire other individuals to carry out a targeted act of violence, essentially creating copycats,” said Hackett. “It is believed the suspects may have made the video recordings for notoriety.”