Samson Cree Nation determined to push gangs out

Nearly two months after the shooting death of a child in a First Nations reserve at Hobbema, Alta., band leaders, community members, local RCMP and the province are working together to bring an end to the epidemic of gang violence that has rocked the community.

“Our task is to create a safer community and to reduce gang violence,” said Samson Cree band councillor and spokesperson Koren Lightning-Earle.

She said that since the July 11 shooting, which left five-year-old Ethan Yellowbird dead from a gunshot wound to the head, the community has been focused on various efforts to ‘clean-up’ gang activity.

“Some of the tasks we have undertaken have included putting in effective street lighting, tearing down the abandoned houses, cutting grass and bushes that serve as hiding spaces [for gang members] and beautifying our town-site area with the use of parks,” Lightening-Earle explained.

She said that along with immediate plans, the band is also looking into long-term initiatives such as, “examining current bylaws, building relationship with RCMP, looking at lobbying various levels of government [for funding] and opening the lines of communication to all of the stakeholders so that incidents like this do not happen again.”

It is suspected that Yellowbird, who was the grandson of the Samson Cree Chief Marvin Yellowbird, was an innocent causality in †gang-related drive-by attack. The child was asleep in his bed in the middle of the night when he was fatally struck by a stray bullet that entered the home where he lived with his family.

Constable Pernell Cardinal of the Hobbema RCMP says that while no charges have been laid in connection with the incident, he confirmed that a homicide investigation is ongoing. Last month there was speculation that a member of the community had been detained after RCMP found fire arms in a home on the reserve. But Cardinal told Windspeaker that the suspect has since been released and cleared of any connection to the shooting.

But while police say the major crimes unit investigation is ongoing and progressing, they admit the task has been difficult.

“Determining who is responsible has been an arduous process,” admitted Cardinal.

But he says community cooperation and the assistance of RCMP officers from detachments in Calgary, Lethbridge and Red Deer, has been an asset to the investigation.
“I believe there has been more cooperation than we’ve seen in the past and that’s why it [the investigation] has been progressing,” he said.

But the grim history of violence that haunts the community has taken the lives of  gang members, innocent bystanders and now children.

In April 2008, two-year-old Asia Saddleback was shot in the stomach while she ate dinner in her family home at the Samson Cree First Nation.

She survived, but the bullet will remain lodged in her spine for the rest of her life.

In 2009, Christopher Shane Crane pleaded guilty to several charges related to the shooting of the toddler. He claimed he fired one shot at the home on April 13, 2008 to intimidate rival gang members who frequented the area.

Other homicides in recent years include the 2008 death of Dale Deschamps, 21, who was found beaten to death at the Samson townsite.

Hobbema resident Darrell Ernest Baptiste, then 22, was given three years and 14 days for manslaughter in connection with the death.

Later that year, Hobbema resident Jordan Lee Roasting, then 18, was charged with  second-degree murder in the Oct. 4 slaying of Brian Randall Littlechild, 20. Also in 2008, Delena Dixon, a 20-year-old mother was killed as bullets riddled the home she shared with her parents and young daughter.

And in 2010, Hobbema teen Preston Thom, 15, was shot on the street on Christmas Eve as he and his younger brother stood outside their home. It is reported that Thom urged his brother to run moments before he was struck.
But while the RCMP have long dealt with gang-violence in Hobbema, located 90 miles south of Edmonton, they say the level of gang-related homicide in the community had actually dropped in the last few years.

“ There has been a downward trend,” confirmed Cardinal.
“It was getting better,” agreed Hobbema Family Violence Investigator Constable Courtney Reich. She suspects that the shooting death last December was the catalyst for an up tick in more violence on the reserve.

“This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family of the child,” said Ryan Cromb, spokesperson for the Department of the Solicitor General and Ministry of Public Safety in Alberta, of Yellowbird’s death.

“Our ministry continues to work closely with the RCMP and community leaders to find sustainable solutions to gang-related violence plaguing Hobbema,” said Cromb.
He said plans to combat violence in Hobbema must be collective.
“Community leaders recognize that police alone can’t stop the violence. Strong community involvement is also needed to eliminate the deep-rooted gang culture in Hobbema,” he explained.

Cromb said the Solicitor General and Public Security is supporting efforts in Hobbema through aiding with additional enforcement and community support efforts.
Since 2009, the Alberta government has allocated more than $5 million to community programs in Hobbema aimed at curbing gangs, domestic violence, and substance abuse while assisting victims and offering positive lifestyle choices to Hobbema youth, he said.

In addition, the local Community Cadet Corps, which was created with funding help from the Alberta and federal governments, is providing Hobbema youth with an alternative to gangs and a criminal lifestyle, Cromb said.
Furthermore, in terms of law enforcement, Cromb said the Hobbema RCMP detachment currently has 40 members, compared to 18 in 2005. He also said that the RCMP’s Major Crime Unit, Emergency Response Teams, Forensic Identification Section and other support units are also available to provide assistance to the Hobbema detachment.

“We did see a jump in new [RCMP] members a few years back,” confirmed Reich. “But ideally we could use more members. We’re still short of what we need,” she explained.

Despite the need for more policing staff, RCMP ensure they are doing what they can to help keep community members safe.

“We have responded with additional [policing] resources, particularly in the night shifts,” said Cardinal, adding that the extra police presence at powwows and other cultural events acts as a deterrent for the gathering of gangs in the area.