 The mass-stabbing attack that left 10 people dead has rocked the community of James Smith Cree Nation. Nine of the victims were from the community. The federal government is promising a review of why Miles Sanderson was released from prison and his supervision in the community. Sanderson has been unlawfully at large since May. Pearlboard documents show Sanderson has a history of drug use and violence. He was serving a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for assault, robbery and uttering threats. Then, after serving two-thirds of that sentence, he received a statutory release. He was supposed to be under supervision in the community, but he failed to report to his parole officer in May, and police have been searching for Sanderson ever since. Her husband was one of the accused. Her husband was the accused of killing my sister. Our family is here to forgive. This woman shouldn't have to bear that kind of guilt and shame and responsibility. I just come here to personally thank the RCMP, all of them. Every single one of them. They left their families behind to come and help us and to help us grieve. We can finally grieve. A lot of people were chased out of their houses in our community scared. It's been the hardest few days of my life. The parents of Miles Sanderson spoke to CBC News this afternoon before he was arrested. In that interview, they urged Miles to turn himself in peacefully. A message they hoped would reach their son. They say they have not had contact with him. The parents did not want to be named, but they did want to apologize to survivors and families of the victims. And a warning. This is hard to hear. I apologize to all the people who are affected, the whole community of James Smith and surrounding areas. I'd like to give all my sincere apologies to the families that my son has hurt. From my bottom of my heart, I meet it. I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say, what to do, but I do apologize. Please try to forgive, I know you can't right now, but please, please, I'm very sorry, honestly. Before we begin, I would like to first acknowledge the land on which we gather on is treaty number six and current home of the James Smith Cree Nation. Over here with us today are the family members of the people who have lost their lives. Chief Wally Burns is from James Smith Cree Nation. Where to begin or where to start? I've been thinking for the past few days, no words can emphasize the feelings that we're going through. There are a lot of us, the families, the membership that are seeking help. There's a lot of emotions right now. No words can express anything on the things that happen. I commend the families that are here, courage, the love. We ask all of you. We ask all of you to come together with prayers and thoughts. I'm trying to hold myself together with the words that need to come out. We ask three things, three things from the governments. We ask that we have our own tribal policing. We ask for awareness and addictions. We ask for treatment centers. So things won't happen like this to any nations around the world. We don't wish this upon anybody. You know, I've been thinking and today was the day, supposed to be at 10 o'clock but moved to 11 for this conference call. Today we found out the monarch that served Canada has passed. She wrote a letter to James McCree Nation on behalf of the monarch expressing the condolences to the families, the friends, to the community and to the rest of the world. This story has reached people around the world and the Queen has sent a message of support. Release this morning, Queen Elizabeth wrote, I would like to extend my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the attacks that occurred this past weekend in Saskatchewan. My thoughts and prayers are with those recovering from injuries and grieving such horrific losses. I'm mourned with all Canadians at this tragic time. I'd like to thank the Prime Minister of Canada for taking time to speak to us, his ministers and also the other governments, level of governments. I'd like to thank the Premier for coming. I'd like to thank everybody that's here but this is not why we're here. We are here for the families to support them in time of need. My nephews lost their father, my best friend, my family on the left lost their sister. These acts of violence have to stop and they have to stop now. With the way that the world's going now, I think it takes the whole community to back and support the youth, our elders, our community members. I got a lot of calls yesterday from different chiefs from all over Canada expressing their condolences to the family. I commend Chief Clarence Louie for reaching out. I commend those other chiefs that came in to the community yesterday to visit the families. I'd like to thank our team, the team that was set up without them, you know, I think we'd be scattered all over the place. Bringing us back to a circle, making us understand we're here for them. We're here to make them heal. We've got to collect all the resources that we can to help them heal. We've got to protect our community, fight against drugs and alcohol. I'd like to thank those communities, far and wide, different countries, nations that express their condolences to the family. I'd like to thank our warriors that are here today, making sure we're safe. I'd like to thank the sweatlots keepers, the knowledge keepers that are here helping in our own customary way. I thank our singers that gave us the honor song. I thank the people behind the scenes, making sure everybody is safe. And most of all, I thank the RCMP, working with them all hours of the night, asking for reports, updates, you know, without them and the help, you know, this guy wouldn't have been caught. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart. There's no words to express or close off my words, just with a heavy heart, but we all have to come together as a community, as Canadians, as a whole. So in closing, God bless you all and thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, our council. Mr. Justin Burns, Gerald Mackay, Debbie McClain, and Vice-Chief Alvin Moustis. So with that, I thank you. God bless you. Chief Kelvin Sanderson of the Czechosday-Pasen First Nation. We're going to ask for help from our elders, our elders, our elders, our helpers, our lodges, our elders, for lifting up the pipes far and near. For this young fellow that's holding my bonnet today, so many of our membership that we lost affected me too, my relatives, my nephews and nieces, we're having a hard time here. For all the help, though well, this is coming far and near, we'll get there all over to our visitors, to all the condolces to the families, and no one's that are in the hospitals. It'll take a while for our community to heal. And we're starting that process today. As you can see, so many tents around here in our tepees, the fires that were lit and further families will be soon put out when we are done our grieving and saying our farewell. It's windy. They're here with us, very strong wind, they come here, and our smudging, our elders that help us heal too as leaders. Our leaders will need that help too if they're having a hard time. I'd just like to thank all the provincial and federal governments for all the response they gave us. Our community will take a while for us to heal our tepees and will not come down until we reach every one of our family members, our relatives, our relatives, our friends, all our reverents that are coming for our near to help us here. Whoever comes out there and come and help us heal here, be we chayah, come and help us out, you're more than welcome to come and stay in our community for how long it takes. As you can see, it's very grateful that we finally have some closure here. We're not the only ones that are impacted, as you know, it's impacting us all, whether it's in the cities, in our First Nations communities, but not the forgettable, let's get some solutions, the mandates and the commitments that provincial and federal governments made for us. That time will come, but not, let's not drag it on, because our members here too are very angry. We can make these solutions, the tragedies that maybe some other First Nations are going to endure. Sorry how I'm speaking a little bit of Cree, but that's our language here within me and Pauliak. Like I say, a nice, no. Thank you. Chief Robert Head of the Peter Chapman First Nations. First of all, I want to thank the elder for the prayers this morning, the elders. I want to thank the Creator for allowing us another day in this world. And on behalf of Peter Chapman Band, we want to start off by extending our condolences to all the families here and the families involved in. Our deepest sympathies to each of the families on the losses that you endured and suffered. I just want to remind all Canadians that First Nations people, we've been here in this country, we call Canada now. We've been here tens of thousands of years before arrival of the Europeans, before the cities, before the towns, before the Saskatchewan. We were here all this time, living on the land amongst our people. We have our own laws. We have our own justice system. We have our own culture, our own religion, languages all across Canada, our people lived here. We signed treaties in the 1800s. We gave up our lands, which you call Canada now, and the provinces. And we ask you Canadians, Canadian people, honour our treaties, honour our treaties, work with the government. We need help in our First Nations lands to implement our own justice system, implement our own laws, implement all the things under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that have been outlined. If we did all of those things, our people would be good. We would be set. We wouldn't have problems like we have in our lands, under funding, lack of housing. We wouldn't have those problems. We would be just as well off as your regular average Canadians. So I ask you to get behind the government and start implementing our Truth and Reconciliation recommendations and honour our treaties. We gave up so much so that you guys could have so much, and that's all we ask. I just want to say to the families, the Chief Council here, we're honoured to be your leaders. We've been working diligently for years, and we still work to this day. We've lost loved ones ourselves. My first cousin passed away, and it was very hard for each and every one of us in this community. Very hard for the leadership. We had to respond very quickly to help all the people. And here on the ground, it was like a war zone. I've got to thank STARS, you know, they had four helicopters here, and they were just coming down and landing and taking people to the hospital, and they did such a good job organizing and making a command centre there at the band office and helping all the injured get off to the hospital. Right now we still have 14 families that are in the hospitals there. We have loved ones in the cities, depending on their family members, and our prayers go out to them for a speedy recovery. We love our people. We're very close knit here. Each and every one of these is a heartbreaking incident that nobody should ever have to go through. And it's very nice of you all to be here to hear our story, because this is something that can be avoided. We can avoid this. You know, we've heard First Nations travel police. You know, we need First Nations justice systems. We need support for mental health. We need addiction centres. These are some of the things that we can address. Grand Chief Brian Hardlock of the Prince Albert Grand Council. I want to thank our great creator for giving us this beautiful day. Thank you Elders for the opening prayers. Thank you. So really, in this first conference, as the Grand Chief, I have the Vice Chief to my left and the Chief of Hadron Lake, Denny Nation, to my right here, to support me. And really sending the condolences to the families. The condolences to the families affected in this terrible, terrible event. Of course, our thoughts and our prayers to those families who have lost their loved ones and the ones in the hospitals, we pray for them for recovery. I want to also, of course, or I should say, we acknowledge that James Smith Cree Nation, the Emergency Operations Center, which was formed under the strong leadership of the Chief and your council members, James Smith Cree Nation, Sagastipi Cree Nation, and Peter Chapman. There is an outpouring of support locally, regionally, nationally, and also internationally. President Biden gives his message. We heard the Prime Minister and ministers saying that world leaders sending their condolences to this community. We acknowledge that, and we thank them for that. Of course, a special thank you, a special thank you to the RCMP. Brenda Lecky is here, Commissioner Ronda, Commissioner F Division. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All the first responders that did their work for the protection, again, for the community of James Smith Cree Nation and also the surrounding communities. In the area of justice, I have to say this, that the criminal system, again, has failed the indigenous community, the people. This incident sheds light on a fractured system where the parole board has to be more transparent and to make some fundamental changes in consultations with First Nations peoples. The justice system needs to work with our members, our leaders of our First Nations, and establish, in this case, a transition period for those dangerous offenders that are within the system. As we move forward, this is a call for the Attorney General, the Commissioner, and the First Nations leaders have always said this, and it is time, it is time. Our bylaws, our bad council resolutions, they have to be enforced by the RCMP. They have to be. In the area of justice, the term restorative justice, we have to get back to that. That system must be the way forward. Again, we have to have those sentence encircles, those justice committees in our communities, and this can be done voluntarily. There has to be funding for that. PAGC, in the area of policing, PAG, with the mandate that achieves, they did a policing and also a justice symposium in 2019. The recommendations were made there in the area of policing, self-administered policing, injustice. Attorney General, you have those recommendations within your office. I call on you to review that. Prince Albert Grand Council, along with the FSI, and again from the mandate from the chiefs. They have been doing work in tribal policing, self-administered policing. The chiefs gave that mandate. And I remind the federal government budget 2021 proposed to provide 4 to 3.7 million over five years beginning 2021-2022 to co-develop, to co-develop a legislative framework for First Nations. PAGC has been working with the federal government after the chiefs' mandate to develop tribal policing framework. PAGC, along with the chiefs, will be meeting with the federal government immediately to discuss how we can move forward. Prince Albert Grand Council has started this work and the roadmap was developed. In March of 2022, this mandate reaffirmed through another chiefs' meeting. PAGC began meeting with provincial and federal officials to begin a feasibility study. We are now waiting for that funding, for that feasibility to look at the models that are out there. The Ontario models, the Manitoba models in tribal policing. During these hard times, tenuous times, that our love and passion for one another is what the First Nations of People defines us. There's no doubt that in the upcoming days, weeks, months, we'll be challenging, but we will be there. We will do it, chiefs. But to the people out there, we will be there. Reach out to the services that are out there. We will be there for you, but as leaders, let's listen to our people. Let's listen to our people. Let's listen to our grassroots people. Let us listen to our elders. Nannasko Monk. Nannasko Monk. Nannasko Monk Manitoba. Our Sandpete commissioner, Brenda Lucky. Thank you. Thanks so much to the James Smith Cree Nation to have us here to be here during this difficult time. And it's really with a heavy heart that we stand here. The loss felt by the families, the loved ones and the community for those whose lives were taken in this horrific event is unimaginable. And you know I was really struck by earlier today we were in the TP and the elder was talking about the two sides of a heart, the anger and the healing and you have the commitment of the RCMP that we will stand by you and healing this community and giving everything we can to give you strength and to help you through this most difficult time. The commitment of Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore and her team to work with First Nations leaders, we talked about earlier about community led and community driven and community focused solutions to keeping First Nations communities safe, working together towards solutions for increasing our indigenous recruitment so that we can provide that structure so that we can work together for a self-governed police service. This can never happen again. This senseless violence we need to work together. Once again my deepest condolences on your loss. I can't even imagine what you're going through and you have our commitment to work with you. Thank you. I'm going to give this medallion to Scott Mota to keep his promise in front of you to work with us. Let's get this healing going and the commitments that they said here in this mic to work with our chiefs, our FSIN and our tribal chiefs on behalf of all of our communities, Chagastepes and James Smith and Peter Chapman, our colleagues, our counselors. So if you don't mind Premier Scott Mota to come up here and accept this medallion and to start that work and that foundation. Honourable Scott Moe, Premier of the Government of Saskatchewan. Tina and I thank you to Chief Burns, Chief Sanderson and Chief Head for bringing us all together here today to support the community of James Smith First Nation but also to support the families that have experienced more tragic loss over the course of the last couple of few days now and I bring on behalf of the Government of Saskatchewan, I bring on behalf of the people from corner to corner in this province, our condolences, our love, our support and our prayers. I've talked to my colleagues, other premiers from across the nation and they have virtually all reached out to offer their condolences and their thoughts and their prayers and I think it's fair to say that all of Pianata is with you during this very, very difficult time. Arkand's sister, Bonnie Burns. Burns and her adult son, Gregory, were killed on Sunday. Arkand says one of his nephews was stabbed but survived. How can somebody do this to women and children? Words can't express the pain that we're feeling. She was killed by senseless acts. Her son, she was protecting her son. She was protecting these three little boys. This is why she's a hero. She's a true matriarch in the First Nations way of living which is our women take care of our homes. Driving to the community that day was the longest two hours of my life not knowing what to expect. In the back of my mind I thought about my family, what are they thinking? Holding each other, my first reaction when I got there was to go see my sister and my nephew and touch her and hold her, couldn't do that. None of our family could do that. Right outside of her home she was killed. That day I wanted to turn to alcohol. I wanted to turn to it so bad that I could taste it. To my understanding these young boys want to stay in the community and be with their friends and go to school there and that's what we're going to support because that's what's going to make them happy. She was always with her family. She was the caretaker of her home. They had a beautiful home and that's what we want people to remember her as. She's not a victim. She's a hero. Started a GoFundMe campaign raising money to support her five children including two foster children whose lives have been ripped apart. On Wednesday morning the corner service and RCMP released all the names of the victims. Nine of the ten are from the James Smith Cree Nation. They range in age from 23 to 78 years old. It's windy. They're here with us. As a Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Something significant happened here during the Honors Song. Those flags fell to the ground. Some of us older people went to go and lift it up, put it back on its feet until these younger men, the youth, took over. So the James Smith people, Peter Chapman and Tchaikovsky, they said our prayers and condolences to you and your families, to this lady that's grieving here, to the people in the hospital that we went and visited the last couple of days. The rebuilding and the healing and the grieving is going to begin with our little ones. That's what they did there. They picked up where the old people left off to build a better life for the three First Nations. These three young men, we thank you for doing that. That was a significant thing that happened. Chief Robert Head, Chief Wally Burns and Chief Kelvin and your people, again our prayers and condolences to you as you continue to heal, continue to grieve, Grand Chief and your executive. Somewhere in First Nation country, there is a state of emergency. Right now, there's a state of emergency and the implementation of the grassroots people, your direction to create a safer, healthier community. Brenda and Rhonda, I want to call you ladies up here. It takes one month to make real change in our communities in Canada. Know your heart is in the right place. Receive in your eyes and feel it in your words. There are so many resolutions and BCRs at Chief and Councils, right across this country. We're going to get there, we're going to get there. We have an update from the Saskatchewan Health Authority today about those who were injured in the attacks, two are in critical condition at hospital, eight are in stable condition, seven people have been discharged.