Saskatchewan's mass murders over the decades

This week’s tragedy at the James Smith Cree Nation is one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history, but Saskatchewan has experienced other serious incidents over the years.

Two from the 1960’s stand out as among the most horrific.

One of the worst took place at Shell Lake, Sask. in 1967, when a man released from a mental health institution shot nine members of the Peterson farm family.

Larry Christie was the first news reporter on the scene.

“It was terrible. It was terrible. Everybody was shocked you know, absolutely. Something that large and unkind and inhumane, you’ll never forget it.”

Two years later, Christie, who’s now retired, was dispatched to Buffalo Narrows, Sask. where seven members of a family were killed by an axe murderer.

“It was the Pederson family this time except for this time the Pederson family had a “d” and in Shell Lake the Peterson family had a “t” in their last name and I covered both those events. Just too many,” Christie said.

Barb Pacholik is a Regina author and newspaper city editor who has written several books about crime in Saskatchewan.

She has found record of three incidents where five members of a family, including children, have been killed.

“In 1900 in Welwyn we have five deaths and then in Moose Jaw in 1918 five deaths, all the same family, then in 1955 in Fenwood we have five deaths,” Pacholik said.

Pacholik said the latest incident at James Smith Cree Nation is somewhat different from earlier mass murders.

“I think the ones I look at from the past, typically it’s one family that’s involved. Someone goes to the house and unfortunately, everyone dies. I think what separates this one perhaps is the randomness of it.”

Saskatchewan appears three times on Canada’s list of the largest mass killings, far more tragedy than might be expected in a province of its size.