The family of a Mi’kmaw man killed by police Sunday in Elsipogtog First Nation say officers used excessive force when they should have been trying to help him.
Steven “Iggy” Dedam, a 34-year-old father and fisherman, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer during a wellness check in the community about 55 kilometres north of Moncton.
“He loved gatherings with his family and his friends,” said his sister Amber Joseph.
“He loved his son; he loved spending time with his son and he was very outgoing, loved everyone.”
Dedam’s family, some of them witnesses to the incident on Sunday evening, say there are inaccuracies and omissions in the RCMP statement from Monday afternoon.
The RCMP statement said officers from the Elsipogtog detachment responded to a call around 11:19 p.m. about a man in mental distress with a weapon at a residence in the community. RCMP said the man refused to drop his weapon and a member shot their gun at the man. RCMP said first aid was immediately administered and the man was taken to hospital where he later died.
A statement Monday from the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), the agency that is investigating the shooting, said one officer attempted to Tase the man “but it was ineffective” and the other officer shot the man.
Thirty-four-year-old Steven (Iggy) Dedam was shot and killed by an RCMP officer. The Serious Incident Response Team. or SIRT, is investigating the shooting.
Joseph and Dedam’s brother Samuel were on the phone with Dedam as the incident unfolded and arrived just after they heard the shots.
“He was Tased and shot three times,” she said.
“After he was Tased, they didn’t even give time for the Taser to work. It was Tase, shot, shot shot.”
They said the RCMP’s statement did not reflect that RCMP were called to the home for a wellness check, and that the statement should have indicated how many times Dedam was shot. The family also challenges the statement’s claim that first aid was administered immediately.
“It wasn’t administered right away as they say it,” said Samuel Dedam.
“It took them like maybe 10-20 minutes to actually put pressure to his wounds.”
Cpl. Hans Ouellette, spokesperson for New Brunswick RCMP, referred CBC Indigenous to the statement and directed any questions to SIRT.
SIRT director Erin Nauss confirmed initial evidence indicates there were three shots fired, and that from the information they have received the RCMP were responding to “what they call a wellness check.” The investigation is ongoing.
Wellness check team called after shooting
Hayley Sock, the partner of Dedam’s brother Samuel, said at the hospital they weren’t allowed to to say goodbye.
“He died alone with the cops,” she said.
“We deserve to hug him, kiss him, say our last goodbye and they didn’t even want to give us that. Instead, he died surrounded by … seemed like 50 cops in there, when he should have been surrounded by us.”
Kopit Lodge, an Elsipogtog-based advocacy organization, oversees the Indige Watch project to assist and accompany RCMP in wellness checks in the community.
In a joint statement, Kopit Lodge and Indige Watch said they received a call from RCMP at 11:40 p.m. to assist, when the events that took Dedam’s life had already transpired.
The statement said the RCMP’s failure to communicate to Indige Watch that they were performing a wellness check “was not in the good spirit of working collaboratively.”
In previous meetings, “Indige Watch made it clear that they want to be involved in nearly every aspect of RCMP calls that relate to our people who are in distress,” said the statement.
Elsipogtog First Nation administrator Bo Augustine said the community is in shock and anger but is coming together to provide support. There is a community-led sacred fire at the RCMP detachment, the community centre is a drop-in site and the youth access centre is having sweat lodges daily.
He said mental wellness teams are also checking up on individuals who might have been close to the incident.
Augustine added there are conversations happening about next steps for the community, especially around essential services like policing and who should deliver these services.
“How many people is our community going to lose before we start to see something change?” he said.