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‘It still hurts:’ Family wants new home after mass stabbing in Saskatchewan

Brian (Buggy) Burns says it’s the little things he misses most, like sitting down with his wife for coffee most mornings for over 30 years.

Ever since his wife Bonnie and son Gregory died in a mass stabbing, coffee has never tasted the same. The jokes weren’t that funny.

And Burns says he has no place to call home.

“I miss talking to her and joking around with her,” Burns says through tears. “He always had coffee for her before she went to her work.”

The September 4 stabbings left 11 dead and 18 wounded in James Smith Cree Nation and a village near Weldon, Sask, northeast of Saskatoon.

The suspect in the attack, Miles Sanderson, 32, later died in police custody.

For a First Nation of approximately 1,900 people located 170 kilometers northeast of Saskatoon, their homes have become crime scenes. Even after the police have left, some families devastated by the massacre cannot make sense of returning to their homes.

“It still hurts,” says James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Barnes.

He expects there will be four families, including Brian Burns’ family, who are struggling to decide whether to return home, and he says First Nation is trying to find a solution. These include providing ready-to-move homes that can be placed on site but without basements.

But the chief said he relied on funding from Ottawa.

‘Government is slow to respond’

The Canadian Indigenous Services Agency will fund four homes, said Matthew Gucci, a spokesperson for the agency. However, due to winter conditions, it may not be ready for use until next spring, Gucci added in an email.

In the meantime, the agency said it would fund families unable to return to their communities.

A total of 17 homes were damaged during the rampage, according to the Canadian Indigenous Services Agency. Funds are also provided to clean, restore, and repair what is not replaced, Gutsch said.

Brian Burns’ shocking memories of his wife and son’s deaths hang on the walls of his home.

Bonnie, 48, and Gregory, 28, known as “Johnsy” by their families, died during an attack on their parents’ home. 61-year-old Community Her member Gloria Her Lydia Her Burns also died trying to help Bonnie, who had called for help from her home.

There were three other children and two grandchildren there at the time. Another of his 14-year-old son was stabbed but survived.

Brian Burns says he shudders at the thought of his son returning.

Brian Burns built the house seven years ago. After the massacre, he says there was blood everywhere.

Now he wants to see it burned down and a monument and three crosses placed in its place.

“If there’s a murder in the house, you have to burn the house down and start over,” he says. “So I’m just following conventions and protocols from the traditional way.”

Since the stabbing, Brian Burns shares a hotel room in Melfort, Sask, 40 kilometers south of the Indigenous Peoples, with his three surviving sons, granddaughter and grandson.

“We’re sick of hotel life. We’re sick of takeout meals,” he says. “We just want a home cooked meal and a home.”

He says they already have a lot of support and that means a lot to his family. I do not understand.

Until then, I hope to find a place to rent in Melfort so my kids can experience Christmas at home.

For his wife, Brian Barnes says it was an important holiday where everyone got together and shared food and love.

“Me and Bonnie, we cook a lot of meals,” he sobs. “I will definitely give those kids presents. I make sure they have a turkey meal. Maybe a hotel room, but I hope not.”

— Kelly Geraldine Malone of Saskatoon

canadian press

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‘It still hurts:’ Family wants new home after mass stabbing in Saskatchewan

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