Today, the first of two Coroner's Inquests related to the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon mass casualty homicide begins.
The Saskatchewan RCMP is committed to providing the best policing service possible to the people of Saskatchewan. We welcome the Coroner's Inquests as they are fact-finding processes that will allow for full disclosure of the facts of the mass casualty. We welcome the opportunity to describe our actions during our response to it and have cooperated with the Saskatchewan Coroners Service throughout the inquest preparation process.
Representatives from the Saskatchewan RCMP will be testifying during the inquests.
To respect the integrity of the inquest process, we will not be providing further comment about our response to the mass casualty until the inquests are complete. In April of 2023, we released all the information we could without impacting the integrity of the inquests. You can find that information here.
An inquest typically results in recommendations. The Saskatchewan RCMP takes any recommendations regarding our policing service made by the Saskatchewan Coroners Service and inquest juries very seriously. Any potential recommendations resulting from these inquests will be analyzed by our Criminal Operations Branch, which is responsible for reviewing them thoroughly with all stakeholders. A full written response to each recommendation will be provided directly to the coroner and will then become part of the public record available on the Saskatchewan Coroners Service website.
The inquests are being held by the Saskatchewan Coroners Service. Background and details are available here.