Norway House community calls for change a week after teen killed by police

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Peggy

People grieving the death of a teenager killed by police on a northern Manitoba First Nation say they want real change.

About 100 members of Norway House Cree Nation gathered outside the local RCMP detachment building on Thursday, a week after 17-year-old Elgyn Muskego was shot by a police officer outside a home in the community about 460 km north of Winnipeg.

Norway House RCMP say the boy was holding an edged weapon, and didn’t stop moving toward police despite being told to stop.

The teen’s family and members of the community say police should have used other methods to subdue the teen, who struggled with mental health issues and substance use, but was trying to get his life back on track.

Jonathan Meikle, who helped organized Thursday’s Justice for Elgyn Walk on behalf of the teen’s family, said the gathering was meant to channel the community’s anger toward police into something constructive.

A teenager — Elgyn Muskego was shot and killed by police on Norway House Cree Nation in the early hours of Friday, Nov. 22. (Submitted by Kathy Ettawacappo)

“We need our people to know that … we need to come together and work together,” Meikle said Sunday. “That we’re all part of this collective healing and that there’s a lot of work to be done.”

A petition written with input from the family calls on all levels of government to partner with Indigenous community to build culturally grounded mental health infrastructure, and for RCMP funding to be diverted toward supporting community-based responses.

‘The solution is our own police force’

During an unrelated event in Winnipeg Friday, Norway House Chief Larson Anderson said the community should establish a police force of its own.

“The solution is our own police force, not only because we we can do a better job, but we would have more sustained involvement of our membership to police itself,” Anderson said.

A man speaking from behind a microphone — Norway House Chief Larson Anderson says the community should establish a police force of its own. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)

“We have a better idea of how things are. We have our our bylaw enforcement officers. They’ve done far more work in in bringing drugs out of the community than the RCMP has.”

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Patty Hajdu — who was also at the Friday event announcing a federal program for new schools in remote communities — said the government is committed “to do more in terms of self-determined police legislation.”

Hajdu said Elgyn’s death speaks to a broader issue that needs to be addressed.

“This has to end. It’s unacceptable,” the minister said. “An investigation on a case-by-case basis is not enough.”

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit has taken over the investigation into Elgyn’s death. The Norway House band announced last week it was also working on its own probe.

The community’s petition also calls for Ottawa and the province to divert funds from correctional services into First Nation-led, health-centred alternatives, and for Canadians to learn about the impacts of colonialism in Indigenous communities today.

“When we don’t … address the root issues, it’ll just continue to happen,” Meikle said. “We just wait for the next tragedy. We just go back to that dormant state.”

A sacred fire will be lit in Norway House Cree Nation for four days starting Monday, when Elgyn’s body is scheduled to be released to his family, Meikle said.