Four-year-old boy drowns at St. Theresa Point

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This article was published 21/05/2019 (2614 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A four-year-old boy drowned at St. Theresa Point First Nation over the holiday weekend, RCMP said Tuesday.

Community members from the Oji-Cree First Nation located 470 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg began a ground search after the child was declared missing early Sunday evening. The search kept going long after dark, until searchers located the child on the shores of a bay in the north end of the community.

The boy was taken to the local nursing station, where attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, RCMP said, adding officers were called in about 12:30 a.m. Monday.

An autopsy subsequently confirmed the child died from drowning. RCMP did not identify the child by name, but said police continue to investigate the death.

St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall asked for people’s prayers Tuesday.

The child had been attending a holiday family gathering that included extended relatives at the time he went missing, but it seems his absence wasn’t immediately noticed.

“As in any family get-together, many children are present and somehow his absence was noticed later in the day… At which time, everyone got involved to search for the child; eventually leading to the discovery on the shoreline,” the chief said in an email.

The death has hit the Manitoba First Nation of 2,800 people hard, he indicated.

“The community is reeling from this tragedy. It has affected the whole community, the extended family, the school teaching staff and students, Jordan’s Principle workers and CFS,” the chief wrote, including First Nation Safety Officers, who are the local constables and the emergency response crew.

“And at the core of this tragic event is the family and extended family,” McDougall wrote.

The chief did not disclose details of the involvement of Child and Family Services nor Jordan’s Principle workers. Jordan’s Principle workers are assigned to provide support to families who care for children with special needs, either physical and or developmental challenges, who require extra resources and services.

The community is one of a group of four closely-knit First Nations, three of which, including St. Theresa Point, are located on the shores of Island Lake.

The bay where searchers found the child’s body along the shoreline, about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, is part of that lake.

“At this time, as the matter is still being investigated, (First Nation officials) cannot make further statements,” the chief wrote. “We thank people for their kind thoughts and prayers.”

 

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca