A banner covers up an RCMP detachment in New Brunswick. Photo courtesy: Jacqueline Clair.
The head of the RCMP in New Brunswick says officers were dispatched to a 911 call for service at a home on Elsipogtog First Nation on Sept. 8 involving a “suicidal male armed with a weapon” and not for a wellness check.
“I want to clarify that information circulating that this call was a wellness check is inaccurate,” said assistant commissioner DeAnna Hill, commander of the New Brunswick RCMP, in a statement released Friday.
“I am deeply committed to transparency and accountability to the public and, as such, this incident was referred to the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) at the earliest opportunity.”
SIRT investigates deaths, serious injuries, sexual assaults and intimate partner violence, and other actions of any police officer in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The RCMP statement was released despite the force saying it wouldn’t comment on the incident now that the province’s police watchdog has control of the investigation.
The RCMP said on Sunday that two officers went to the home of Steven (Iggy) Dedam in Elsipogtog after a 911 call regarding a man threatening to harm himself. The First Nation is a Mi’kmaq community about 91 kilometres northwest of Moncton, N.B.
RCMP said when they arrived, Dedam had a weapon and approached the officers. According to police, one officer tried to use a stun gun but it failed to work. The other officer shot and killed Dedam.
SIRT Director Erin Nauss says she understands the initial interaction on Sunday was not what the RCMP would call a “wellness check”, but she says the police oversight agency will conduct an investigation to “determine all of the facts.”
But Indige Watch, a group in Elsipogtog formed to work with police on distress calls, told APTN News on Thursday that they weren’t informed about the situation at Dedam’s home.
“As far as my information tells me, is that we were never contacted,” said Elder Kenneth Francis. “All the evidence that I have gathered up at this point in this time, in the case, there was no, not even a try to contact us.”
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Dedam’s sister, Amber Joseph, told APTN she arrived on the scene just after the shooting.
“When I came in they didn’t have compression on him,” she told APTN. “He was shot three times. The first thing they did was handcuff him and say he was ‘under arrest.’
“He was shot in the chest.”
Hill said in the statement the RCMP is now cooperating with the SIRT investigation.
“I am also focussed on ensuring public safety in the community of Elsipogtog, supporting the community as they face their loss, and supporting our police officers and employees who are heavily impacted by this incident as well,” she said in the statement.
Francis told APTN that in January Indige Watch staff accompanied RCMP to Dedam’s house for a wellness check. Francis said the incident was resolved peacefully.
New Brunswick’s Liberal Leader Susan Holt has described what happened as a wellness check gone wrong.
Chiefs from both the Wolestoquey and Mi’kmaw nations have called for Indigenous representation on the investigating team.
With files from Angel Moore and the Canadian Press.
