A Brother's Tragedy: SIRT Concludes Investigation into Fatal Incident on Fishing Lake First Nation

It’s truly a heartbreaking scenario, one that rips at the fabric of a family and a community. The Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team, better known as SIRT, has finally released its findings regarding a profoundly tragic incident that unfolded earlier this year on the Fishing Lake First Nation. And, well, the conclusion confirms what many suspected: a devastating homicide followed by suicide.

Back on that somber day of January 16, 2024, RCMP officers were called to a residence on the First Nation after receiving a report of a stabbing. Imagine the urgency, the scramble to get there, hoping against hope to make a difference. When they arrived, the scene was already one of profound loss. Officers discovered 61-year-old Mervin Kakakaway deceased. It's tough to even picture.

But the tragedy, you see, didn't end there. Not far from Mervin, they found another individual, 59-year-old Gerald Kakakaway, also deceased. And yes, a knife was located nearby. What makes this all the more gut-wrenching is the revelation that Mervin and Gerald were brothers. It paints a picture of unimaginable family grief, doesn't it?

SIRT’s investigation, which officially wrapped up on April 15th, was initiated because RCMP members were present when Gerald Kakakaway was found deceased. Their mandate, remember, is to investigate serious incidents involving police. In this particular case, their primary focus was to determine if any actions taken by the responding officers contributed in any way to Gerald's death.

After a thorough review of all the evidence, SIRT has concluded unequivocally that Gerald Kakakaway died by suicide. And, crucially, they found no evidence whatsoever that any actions or inactions of the attending RCMP officers contributed to his death. It means the officers, arriving at an already devastating scene, were unfortunately too late to intervene in that specific aspect of the tragedy.

This report, while bringing a degree of closure to the official investigation, can't possibly erase the pain for the Kakakaway family or the community of Fishing Lake First Nation. It simply confirms the sequence of events of a truly devastating day, a stark reminder of the fragile threads that sometimes hold lives together.