Family, friends of Sask. woman accused of faking death and fleeing to U.S. say community will support her
CBC
Family and friends of a Saskatchewan Indigenous woman arrested in the United States say she will have her community's support upon her return to Canada.
Dawn Walker, 48, was to be handed to Canadian authorities Wednesday after spending two weeks in U.S. federal custody.
"It's the best news ever really," said Kathy Walker, Dawn's younger sister.
"It's truly an answer to our prayers and hopes. The battle's not over, but just to know she's no longer sitting in a U.S. jail is wonderful news."
Police allege the Saskatoon woman faked her death and that of her son, prompting a two-week missing persons investigation before the pair were found in Oregon City, Ore., earlier this month.
At her detention hearing Tuesday in Oregon, U.S. federal public defender Megha Desai told court that Walker is a victim of domestic abuse and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The father of Walker's son has told Saskatoon radio station CKOM that he would never hurt her or the boy. Police in the city have said any previous allegations made by Walker were investigated, but no charges were laid.
Eleanore Sunchild, a Saskatchewan lawyer and Walker's friend, said her case is important because it highlights the challenges Indigenous women face when accessing the justice system.
This has also been documented in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report and its calls to justice, Sunchild said.
The report says the Canadian legal system fails to adequately respond to intimate-partner crime against Indigenous women and girls.
"There are very real and systemic issues that this case raises that continues to call for action," Sunchild said Wednesday from Saskatoon.
Walker is a member of Okanese First Nation, which is part of Treaty 4 in southern Saskatchewan. She is also a celebrated Indigenous author and had served as chief executive officer for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations for 10 years.
Sunchild said Walker's story has resonated with other women across Canada who have their own stories of abuse, and they will continue to support Walker as her case makes its way through the courts.
"I'm so happy that people were able to see Dawn's point of view," Sunchild said. "It's really great to see people were supporting her and could relate to her story."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.