Archbishop tells La Loche, Sask., to focus on its generosity after shootings

He was arrested after police received an emergency call about “a person discharging a weapon in the community”, Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent Maureen Levy said.

Grant St. Germaine said nine people were shot in the school, including a female teacher’s aide who died at the scene and a male teacher who died in a hospital.

The Saskatchewan government’s response to violence and mental-health issues in the North is coming under scrutiny, days after four people were shot dead and seven injured in the remote and largely aboriginal community of La Loche.

The worst school shooting in Canadian history happened on December 6, 1989 in Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique engineering school, where a gunman killed 14 female students and a university employee, and injured another 13 women, before taking his own life. He said two wounded people were in critical condition.

“We send out deepest condolences to the families of the victims, our thanks to the first responders for their quick action and our love to the community that continues to suffer this awful loss”, Mulcair said.

Mass shootings are rare, however, even in Canada’s most desperate corners.

The other victims were identified earlier as teaching assistant Marie Janvier and two brothers, Dayne Fontaine, 17, and Drayden Fontaine, 13. At least three of them were students at the high school, one a female “whose injuries were described as life-threatening”, CBC News reported.

One other thing is painfully clear: the predominantly Dene residents of La Loche and the surrounding area have long struggled in the grip of isolation, neglect and a crippling lack of services.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who represents a southern Saskatchewan riding, travelled to La Loche Sunday with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a statement from Davos and was scheduled to speak again upon his return.

Despite Desjarlais’ warning, he believes his friend was one of the unidentified victims, stating that “I saw him fall down”.

“Some of the young people have said to me that by tearing it down, are we getting rid of everything that happened?”

The government will consult with the community about what’s to be done with the school. “And then I was hearing those shots, too, so of course I started running”. “I looked back. He didn’t see me, that’s why I ran to the gym class, closed the door, and I ran in the dressing room”.

Saskatchewan’s two most senior politicians visited La Loche on Sunday to meet with local leaders and offer support. La Loche, like a number of aboriginal communities in Canada’s prairie provinces, has been plagued by high suicide rates and poverty.

“We don’t know the specifics around the tragedy, but I can say, in the general sense that the link is hope”, said Wall.