Patrice Dedam, the director of Indige-Watch, in Elsipogtog First Nation, N.B. on Sept. 28. RCMP in the province had been working alongside Indige-Watch for about a year with its members transporting community members in distress and helping to de-escalate mental-health crises.Chris Donovan/The Globe and Mail
A grieving New Brunswick Mi’kmaq community wants answers as to why RCMP failed to request help from a local Indigenous-led crisis team before going to the home of a man who was shot and killed by police last month – a question that is sowing even more distrust between the First Nation and the Mounties.
Steven (Iggy) Dedam, a 34-year-old fishing captain from Elsipogtog First Nation, was fatally shot by an RCMP officer on Sept. 8 – one of nine Indigenous people to die in incidents involving police in the last month. The deaths sparked calls from Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak for improved accountability, oversight in law enforcement and de-escalation training.
Mr. Dedam’s death also spurred calls to compel police to use programs already in place like Indige-Watch, a de-escalation crisis line staffed by police-trained community members in Elsipogtog, an hour north of Moncton.
RCMP had been working well alongside Indige-Watch for about a year, said Sheneeka Millier, a recent director of the program and a cousin of Mr. Dedam. She said Indige-Watch’s eight members work in shifts in pairs, patrolling by truck, transporting community members in distress and helping to de-escalate mental-health crises, sometimes in collaboration with the Mounties. Indige-Watch had also received a confirmation letter from New Brunswick RCMP last year confirming their support for the project, according to the group.
“They knew we were there to prevent this from happening,” said Ms. Millier, who added that she met with members of the local Elsipogtog detachment, including RCMP Sergeant Pierre-Luc Haché. “They knew how firm we were in protecting our own people and to assist them, especially if anyone was in distress.
“No one should’ve died that night.”
RCMP were at Mr. Dedam’s home at 11:19 p.m. in response to a 9-1-1 call about a man in mental distress who was threatening to harm himself – a call that his family has described as a request for a wellness check but which the province’s top Mountie, RCMP Assistant Commissioner DeAnna Hill, later said was inaccurate.
What exactly happened next is now under investigation by a police oversight agency, but according to RCMP, the man refused to drop his weapon and would not co-operate with police. (It’s unclear what the weapon was though his sister Amber Joseph has said it wasn’t a firearm.)
One officer tried to taser Mr. Dedam but it was ineffective, according to the independent police oversight agency, the Nova Scotia-based Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), which has taken over the investigation. The other officer fired his gun, striking Mr. Dedam. Police said he was treated with first aid, but that he later died in hospital.
Ms. Joseph disputes that, writing in a public social-media post that she saw her brother bleeding out on the floor in handcuffs when she arrived at his bungalow. She said there were three shell casings at the scene.
RCMP would not provide any additional information, citing the integrity of the review.
SIRT director Erin Nauss, a lawyer who oversees a team of investigators, will ultimately decide whether a criminal charge is laid. Owing to distrust in policing and the administration of justice, she said she’s appointing a liaison from Elsipogtog to observe the investigation and work with her team.
Meanwhile, distrust of the RCMP persists.
Mr. Dedam had already been shot by the time the crisis team was called at 11:40 p.m. – 21 minutes after police arrived, said a statement from Indige-Watch and Kopit Lodge, a local advocacy organization that launched the program. The RCMP’s failure to communicate that they were coming to Mr. Dedam’s home “was not in the good spirit of working collaboratively,” the statement said.
Members of Indige-Watch are trained in suicide prevention, search and rescue, and the administration of opioid overdose medication, and they have completed five weeks of training at the Atlantic Police Academy.Chris Donovan/The Globe and Mail
Indige-Watch’s new director Patrice Dedam, also a cousin of Mr. Dedam, said she’s now trying to figure out how to ensure RCMP contact her team before attending any other mental-health call. She said Indige-Watch has been inundated with calls since Mr. Dedam’s death – up to 10 a day, compared to about 10 a week. “What happened in the community has steered everyone away from calling the RCMP,” she said.
Funded by the federal government’s Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative, Indige-Watch members are trained in suicide prevention, search and rescue, and the administration of opioid overdose medication, and they have completed five weeks of training at the Atlantic Police Academy.
Mr. Dedam was the third Indigenous person in New Brunswick to be killed by police in four years. A provincial coroner’s inquest into the death of Rodney Levi of Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation, who was shot and killed by RCMP in 2020, made various recommendations related to mental-health services and police training and interventions, including that in situations involving mental-health wellness checks on First Nations, the RCMP should not be the first responders, but be on standby for mobile crisis units or an Indigenous liaison for the community.
Following Mr. Dedam’s death, Bridget Stevens of Eskasoni First Nation in northern Nova Scotia launched a petition calling for the creation of a bill requiring all police services to call Indigenous crisis teams or other crisis response teams before attending to anyone who is in a crisis. She said she believes Mr. Dedam would still be alive if Indige-Watch had been called prior to police attending his home.
“My people would’ve saved him,” she said.
Federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who represents the Beauséjour riding, which includes Elsipogtog, declined an interview, citing the continuing investigation.
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, who recently called for an emergency debate in Parliament about the Indigenous deaths in the last month, said legislation is clearly needed to require police to collaborate with Indigenous-led teams like Indige-Watch. She said the project should also be expanded to other Métis, Inuit and First Nations communities in Canada.