If we want to keep the next person from going down Myles Sanderson's path, should't we listen to experts who understand best practices?
We are seeing themes emerge from the inquest into the 2022 stabbing deaths on James Smith Cree Nation — themes that, by now, should be familiar to us and the government.
As was eloquently observed by longtime Indigenous issues columnist Doug Cuthand in his latest writing: “The sequence of events that include drug addiction, a flawed justice system and the jurisdiction of the chief and council extend to all First Nations across Canada.”
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In fairness, one can’t expect a provincial government to make amends for 150 years of flawed justice and failed treaties that are a big part of the backstory of what Myles Sanderson did at James Smith and in the village of Weldon on the 2022 Labour Day weekend.
But Cuthand also points to the roles played by mental health, drug addiction and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) — all areas deeply affected by provincial government policy.
Others who presented inquest testimony also pointed to these factors.
According to a post-mortem behavioural analysis from Dr. Matthew Logan based on psychological assessments of Sanderson when he was imprisoned, the accused assailant demonstrated anti-social personality disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, psychopathy and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
All of these contributed to Sanderson’s violence and absence of remorse, further fuelled by lifelong substance use that included methamphetamine and cocaine, Logan explained.
It is a complex issue in which one shouldn’t assign any one, single factor as the cause of this tragic outcome.
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There are no easy and simple solutions to stopping drug addiction and its brutal outcomes — something that a 17-year-old Saskatchewan Party government should clearly know by now.
In fact, the maddening thing is that the government probably does know and understand this. Yet it is now moving backward toward easy and punitive answers because those also happen to be the answers most politically appealing to many.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Tim McLeod said last week that his new policy, in which the government is curtailing public money for needle exchanges, educational material and clean pipes for illicit drug use, is needed because current policies were not working.
Already, the policy is being lambasted by non-governmental support organizations, medical students and doctors as a dangerous one, likely to put users at greater risk because it will mean less capacity for those who are in a position to help monitor the activity of users.
Of course, a lot of people see this as the right thing to do and further view the drug epidemic as an urban problem confined to the back alleys of Regina and Saskatoon … or at least, confined to the users themselves.
Some are of the sentiment that those who don’t choose to voluntarily get off illicit drugs deserve whatever fate awaits them.
One can clearly point to Sanderson’s violent criminal history and breach of probation that strongly suggested he was uninterested and beyond help.
But if we want to keep the next person from going down his path, shouldn’t we listen to experts who understand best practices?
Personal responsibility is obviously a factor in recovery, but it’s debatable whether this new policy is really driven by “personal responsibility” or simply about being punitive.
This inquest may be forcing us to examine these complex realities — that drug use (especially meth) is just as rampant in smaller cities, towns and reserves and has become a deadly cocktail when mixed with longstanding social problems as represented in Sanderson’s history.
In a remote reserve and a small farming town, we witnessed a murderous, drug-fuelled rampage that arose from drug debts, addiction and unwillingness or inability to get help. After terrorizing an entire province, it ended with what appears to have been a fatal overdose. It affected all of us.
As one of my colleagues brilliantly put it: “From first spark to last ember, it all can be traced to the same drug problem afflicting people across Saskatchewan.”
We need to be smart to ensure this fire doesn’t keep spreading.
Murray Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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