Mayor Ryan Bater looked like a man still in search of answers Monday in the wake of a fatal shooting by an RCMP member in North Battleford on the weekend.
“We are not used to this kind of incident, we are not used to this kind of activity,” said Bater in speaking to reporters following Monday night’s council meeting at City Hall.
“This is certainly out of the ordinary for North Battleford. And so we’re concerned about that kind of activity. We’re also concerned about the earlier reports from earlier that evening about an individual being chased by an individual and being shot at. All of these things are concerning to the city and certainly out of the norm for what this city is used to.”
The incident Saturday night, which ended when Brydon Bryce Whitstone of Onion Lake was killed by a member of the RCMP at 15th Avenue and 105th Street, is now being investigated by Regina Police Service.
Mayor Bater had few details to share with reporters about the incident itself. Moreover, there was very little said about it during council.
The only mention came in a question posed by Councillor Kelli Hawtin about whether the detachment had the numbers they needed for public safety.
Bater responded the indication he received was there was “no anticipated disruption in services to the people of the Battlefords as a result of the incidents on the weekend.”
“Of course our thoughts are with the members that were involved in that,” said Bater at council.
RCMP Insp. John Sutherland had been scheduled to deliver the monthly police report at the meeting, but was unavailable, as he dealt with matters at the detachment in the wake of the incident. The update was instead delivered by city manager Jim Puffalt.
Bater acknowledged that was one reason why there wasn’t more said about the shooting incident at the meeting, as Sutherland was not there to answer questions. As well, the file is now in the hands of Regina police.
“This incident is being investigated by the Regina city police,” said Bater. “And so we’re not sure what information anybody from the Battlefords detachment of the RCMP could have shared about the incident anyway. Our concern is about public safety. We have been assured by the RCMP that there are no further threats to public safety as a result of this incident. And of course our thoughts are with the families of all the individuals involved in the incident on the weekend.”
Bater also was posed a question about the comments of Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Cameron has called for First Nations representation in the investigation, and also suggested in an interview with CKOM radio that the situation created mistrust among First Nations people about the justice system.
“I really can’t respond to that, I don’t know where that’s coming from,” said Bater. “The details of what has happened have not been reported so I think it’s premature to start talking about motivating factors.”
Bater acknowledged the frustration of people over the lack of details available about the incident Saturday.
“I know it’s frustrating and I share some of that frustration,” said Bater. “I know that a lot of citizens do. But the reality is there are processes in place because an RCMP member was involved in a shooting. An outside third party policing agency, the Regina City Police, will be conducting an investigation into what happened. So we are dependent on them to conduct that investigation, and we won’t find out the details until that is concluded.”
When asked by the News-Optimist about the city's reputation for mayhem, Bater admitted “this doesn’t help that.”
“This is definitely out of the ordinary,” he added. The mayor noted the majority of violent crime in the city was “domestic in nature” with people known to each other. The other major category, he said, were property crimes and preventable crimes.
“This is going to take a lot of time,” Bater said. “This situation with crime in the city didn’t happen over a couple of years, it’s not going to be fixed in a couple of years. But this council is committed to a long-term solution. I would challenge that we do more than any city in the country to address not only those root causes, but also the enforcement of crime.”
The mayor also made clear the city would stay the course in pursuing public safety efforts in the community.
“I don’t think that a single incident should distract us from that effort. I think we have to remain strong and committed to what we’ve initiated over the last three years now.”
