James Smith Cree Nation grappling with what to do with public donations after 2022 attacks

Inside James Smith Cree Nation's council chambers, you will find the words "Remember Me" spelled out in dancing figures painted on an orange wall.

The words have taken on a whole new meaning since violence and death visited the central Saskatchewan community last September. 

They remind Chief Wally Burns of the 11 lives lost and the 17 others forever changed by their injuries in the First Nation and the nearby village of Weldon, which sit about 200 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

The massacre that took place in the early hours of Sept. 4, 2022, was carried out by 32-year-old community member Myles Sanderson, who died in RCMP custody shortly after being arrested following an intense four-day search.

The RCMP Major Crimes Unit will present a preliminary timeline of the mass casualty homicides on Thursday in Melfort, Sask. The presentation is expected to last four hours, followed by a 45-minute Q&A session.

Burns said the tight-knit community of about 1,100 people is still reeling from the attacks.

On top of the physical and psychological after-effects, he said James Smith's leadership is grappling with what to do with more than half a million dollars' worth of public donations sent following the tragedy, including $125,836 raised in a GoFundMe campaign.

"This is all new to us," Burns said. "We never asked for this kind of event to happen in our community, so how can we spread that [money] out evenly is a good question. It deals with mental health. It deals with all the trauma."

Almost eight months after the worst stabbing attack in Canadian history, the majority of the money collected in donations from corporations and private citizens remains in the band's coffers, with no plans yet on how to distribute the funds.

Survivors and families who lost loved ones have questions about what's happening with the money, especially at a time when some are struggling to get by.

"We have never seen — not a paper — on who donated what, what they spent the donations on, who got what," said Darryl Burns, a 63-year-old addictions counsellor who works at the James Smith health clinic, and is a distant relative of Chief Burns. Darryl Burns lost his 61-year-old sister Gloria in the attacks. She was a crisis worker, and during the rampage, she had been called to one of the stabbing scenes to help. The James Smith band covered her funeral expenses, and provided $800 grocery gift cards and $1,500 cheques to Gloria's family members for the first few months after the tragedy, he said. Darryl Burns is grateful for the support, but he worries about a lack of transparency. He also wants family members of the deceased to be consulted on how the donation money is used.

James Smith Cree Nation is a Plains Cree community made up of three bands: Peter Chapman, Chakastaypasin and James Smith.

Chief Burns says the massacre left the chiefs and councils scrambling, and that they went into debt in the months following the violence. 

James Smith spent more than $3.5 million to pay for hotel accommodations for displaced community members, along with travel, gas, food, mental health support and funerals, according to a March 2023 financial document the band shared with CBC News.