Suspect in court today in Saskatchewan shootings

About 150 students and staff were in the school when the shootings occurred about 1900GMT Friday.

Police also said they still don’t know the minor suspect’s motive and did not also disclose the gun use on the incident. “But am I a Canadian in a full sense?'” Mr Coates said.

Wall planned to visit the community on Sunday and promised to provide crisis support and counseling services.

But he was never violent, she said, and she was shocked to hear he was a suspect. La Loche is a town of 3,000 where everybody seems to know each other. A second road leads to Fort McMurray, Alta., but it crosses ice and is only available in winter.

“It’s certainly one of the worst communities for having nothing for youth”, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations said on Saturday. “That to me just speaks so much to who he was – always there and willing to help out and give you a helping hand”.

Bellegarde pointed out several areas of concern, including a dearth of youth programs and wellness centres.

Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in December promised a “renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples” and an inquiry into the high rates of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Goodale said the lessons from La Loche will have broader application than just this one community. “This community is the epicentre of the most recent tragedy, but it is a set of issues that the country has to come to grips with, and Mr. Trudeau is determined to make that happen”.

RCMP say nine people were shot at the La Loche Community school.

In those eight minutes, two victims were fatally shot.

The 35-year-old started his teaching career in September in La Loche.

Brothers Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, were discovered by the RCMP in a home not far away. Four were then airlifted to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

The suspect was also charged with one count of unauthorised possession of a firearm, according to St Germaine.

A 17-year-old, who can’t be named, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

The school shooting is Canada’s deadliest in 26 years.

The Ecole Polytechnique massacre prompted the federal government to significantly restrict Canada’s gun laws, especially, the sale of semi-automatic weapons and military-style assault rifles with large capacity magazines.

About 250 mourners gathered in a Roman Catholic church in the community on Sunday, where Archbishop Murray Chatlain offered encouraging words to attendees.

Outside court, lawyer Ian Mokuruk said he was contacted on the weekend to represent the accused.

Chatlain added that he has met with the victims’ families, as well as the family of the 17-year-old suspect.

“We’re not blaming them…. It’s just, this has happened and now how do we bring healing and support and try find ways for our young people to have more hope”, said Chatlain.

“The shooting hits close to home for me as my family members attend the school”, Joliebois said.

A former La Loche teacher, who now lives in Burnaby, B.C., has set up an online fundraiser for the victims of the shooting.

All seven injured are classified as critically wounded, according to CBC News.

La Loche, an isolated Dene community in northwest Saskatchewan that borders the Clearwater River Dene Nation, has roots dating back to before the fur trade.