The Violence of Sandy Bay First Nation
*****UPDATE – 30 September 2023*****
Well, there’s still no solving a murder which everyone knows the culprits. It’s the worst kept secret that Cody Mousseau was killed by the Sandy Bay Reserve crime gang. He had gone to retrieve a stolen quad and was getting the upper hand when someone decided to just shoot him. As a side note, his former warden from Stony Mountain Penitentiary didn’t shed too many tears when he heard of Mousseau’s murder. There is no Native ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ until they acknowledge that their Reserves are cesspools of crime, alcohol, and drug abuse which is all of their own making.
*****UPDATE – 13 May 2020****
It seems that members of Mr. Mousseau’s family are incensed with my article and have demanded its removal as they feel it is racist, insensitive, and demeans their murdered relative. If there is something factual which is in error then bring it to my attention. Instead, all I’ve heard is vitriol.
Respectfully, I am sorry for their loss, but the purpose of highlighting this particular tragedy was to speak to the exorbitant levels of violence and drug use at Sandy Bay. In a larger context, these issues are associated with most MB Native communities. The first step in the process of healing is to acknowledge the problem rather than cower from or deny its existence.
Mr. Mousseau was not a saint but he did not deserve to be murdered. From the rumours, he was actually trying to stand up to the extreme criminal elements in his community and was killed for his actions.
Perhaps all of this extra attention will help bring his killers to justice and galvanize the community to action.
*****UPDATE – 13 May 2020*****
If horrific violence associated with First Nations was not so common, the discovery of the body of a Sandy Bay First Nations resident on Christmas Eve would have been more shocking.
The latest Sandy Bay native lost to violent crime, Cody Grayson Mousseau, was found in the RM of Rosedale on December 24. His family had been looking for him as he had been missing from earlier in the month. Now that his body was found, they are calling for justice and asking for people to come forward to police.
Since the mainstream media ‘native’-washes all their stories related to First Nations people, here are some easily googled items you will not find or downplayed in the coverage related to this homicide:
- Apr 19, 2008, Cody Mousseau was identified as an armed assailant and truck thief who had fled to Sandy Bay.
- Oct 19, 2018, Cody Mousseau was identified as the assailant in a home invasion in Sandy Bay.
- Dec 12, 2019, Cody Mousseau’s family started a search for their relative. From the accompanying picture from the police, it looks like he had been in a fight.
- Cody Mousseau was an admitted meth drug addict and was not looking after his children. “I wish I didn’t touch meth. I wish I wasn’t a drug addict. I wish I was there for my kids,” Cody wrote.
Did Cody Mousseau deserve to be killed and have his body dumped in a remote location? No. Was Cody Mousseau going to end up being killed and have his body dumped in a remote location? Yes.
Sandy Bay First Nation, with an official census count of 2515 (4157 or 6677 if you count the off-reserve natives according to the Dakota Ojibway Police Service), is a rough place. From the DOPS 2016-2017 Annual Report, Sandy Bay had 1862 reported incidents and over 200 assaults for 2016. Interestingly, the report dropped the ‘provided assistance to other Police agencies’ from 2015 which listed another 2427 incidents.
Comparing some of the crime statistics against the StatsCan national average, (being charitable, the 6677 total Sandy Bay population was used) for Sexual assault it is about 6 times higher, Level 1 Assault is 7 times higher, property crime is 2 times higher, but strangely the Drug Offences are only one third the national rate. Considering the Band has repeatedly declared their reserve to be in a ‘Drug Crisis’ since 2017, it does not appear that there has been any headway with dealing with illicit drugs on the reserve.
Here is a small sampling of the violence related to the reserve:
- Jul 2011 – Roberta McIvor, 32, beheaded. In 2017, a pair of girls received a light sentence for the killing.
- May 2015 – Fight over $10 resulted in attempted murder charges.
- Jun 2019 – Aggravated assault charges resulting from ‘graphic and disturbing’ video of a Sandy Bay incident.
- Jun 2019 – Long stand-off with police and Sandy Bay residents scared due to meth on the Reserve.
- Aug 2019 – shooting led to attempted murder charges against two natives.
- Aug 2019 – Man on meth with rifle walking through the reserve.
- Aug 2019 – Officer shot responding to B & E in Onanole. Sandy Bay native charged with attempted murder.
- Dec 2019 – Sandy Bay Native, termed one of MB’s most wanted, captured on the Reserve.
- Dec 2019 – Cody Mousseau killed and body dumped in RM of Rosedale.
The preceding numbers and incidents are but the tip of the iceberg. Vastly more incidents will have been swept under the rug in the interest of preventing retaliation or retribution.
Members of the reserve and the local police know exactly who the culprits committing these crimes are. There is nowhere to hide in a small community of a few thousand in rural MB. Whatever passes for a law and justice system on this reserve is irreparably broken and this is a community in crisis.
Mousseau’s murder capped off an appalling year of violent crime on the Sandy Bay First Nations Reserve. There appears to be no plan to deter in 2020 what was a lawless 2019.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.