(Brent Bosker/650 CKOM)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Coroner's Inquest

‘I couldn’t imagine what he was capable of’: Elders speak about interactions with mass stabbing perpetrator

Jan 30, 2024 | 12:00 PM

An elder who spoke with the man responsible for the mass stabbing attack on the James Smith Cree Nation and Village of Weldon while he was in prison believes he really wanted to better himself.

Geraldine Arcand spoke Monday at the coroner’s inquest looking into exactly what happened on Sept. 4, 2022.

The inquest is a fact-finding exercise to determine the events leading up to a death. The jury is not tasked with determining fault but rather looking at the circumstances and making recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening.

Arcand explained she interacted with Myles Sanderson during his first couple of months while he was incarcerated at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

“He was quiet, but he spoke and was respectful,” she said.

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She added Sanderson talked to her about his childhood and events that led up to his incarceration. This included cases of assault, assault with a weapon, robbery, mischief, assaulting a peace officer, and uttering threats to cause harm.

“He felt remorseful. He talked about his children and wanted to be there for him,” Arcand said.

She specifically mentioned that Sanderson talked about ensuring his children don’t follow in his footsteps.

Meanwhile, Elder Harvey Knight met with Sanderson multiple times a week for several months at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

He was leading an Indigenous program aimed at helping offenders recapture their culture and use its teachings to better themselves. Sanderson was taking part in the program.

Knight said he was well-behaved and respectful.

“I couldn’t even imagine what he was capable of,” he added.

Knight believes drugs or alcohol must have played a part as the person he knew when sober wouldn’t have killed 11 people. Because of this, it’s his opinion that there needs to be more addiction programs offered to offenders.

He went on to say that the two met one-on-one on multiple occasions. Again, nothing during those talks led him to believe Sanderson would do what he did.

“He spoke in a good way, respectful, in a thoughtful way about his situation. The feeling that I got from my interaction with him is that he had a childlike demeanor, when he talked about his past it was like how a child would take about their past,” said Knight.

Overall, he felt compassion for him when he was incarcerated.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

X: @princealbertnow