No service

A mass stabbing and head-on crash that killed two people, including a suspect, and injured eight has renewed concerns about cellular coverage gaps in and around Hollow Water First Nation.

Residents said there is no cellphone service in Hollow Water and some surrounding areas, leaving people vulnerable if they’re in a location or circumstance where there’s no other way to call 911 or an emergency service directly.

“I don’t get any service in Hollow Water. It’s difficult to communicate,” said Brook Monkman, who lives south of the First Nation near Lake Winnipeg.

Monkman said he was driving on a road about 40 kilometres north of Hollow Water in 2023 when he came upon a crash that killed a mother and young son, and left a father and young daughter seriously injured.

He couldn’t call for help at the scene because there was no cell service.

“It would have been nice if I could have dialled 911 where I was on the road,” Monkman said. “I had to drive 40 minutes to get to a land line.”

RCMP said Tyrone Simard, 26, fatally stabbed his 18-year-old sister and wounded seven others in Hollow Water on Thursday. Residents identified his sister as Marina Simard.

Police said Tyrone Simard fled in a stolen SUV and died when the vehicle collided with an oncoming RCMP cruiser. An officer was seriously injured.

After the attack, the siblings’ mother, Jenny Bushie, posted multiple pleas for help on her Facebook profile, residents said.

“Any first responders in Hollow come to Sibi Drive ASAP,” said one post, which described one stabbing victim as “unresponsive.”

Some of her Facebook friends wrote back to let her know they were calling for help or sending people to the house.

It is not yet known if the house had a land line, internet-based or other phone service, nor if any phone calls were attempted by people within the residence after the attack.

RCMP did not say who alerted them to the stabbings. They have promised a thorough and comprehensive investigation of every aspect related to the incident.

Some people who live in or near the First Nation use land lines or internet-based phone services at home.

“We don’t have cell service per se, but at the same time, the connection that the people have to be able to reach out to people is there,” Ian Bushie, a Hollow Water resident and the province’s minister of natural resources and Indigenous futures, said Friday.

“A lot is Wi-Fi calling that people use, whether it be through various methods of internet connection that they have.”

Bushie was at home when the tragedy occurred.

“People were still being able to reach out to each other in real time to be very communicative,” he said.

Bushie said he can’t speak for Hollow Water’s chief and council, but there have been past conversations in the community about a telecommunications tower.

“I think we’ll continue to have that conversation as how we can support them in that initiative as well,” Bushie said.

Hollow Water Chief Larry Barker could not be reached for comment.

Monkman installed a cellphone signal booster at his house to get service from a tower on the other side of Lake Winnipeg. He also connects his cellphone to a satellite internet service.

Monkman has found pockets of coverage in Manigotagan, about 10 km south of Hollow Water.

“There are some places you can park and get a couple of bars,” he said.

Hollow Water resident Evelyn Kennedy uses a land line at home.

“We don’t have cell service out here,” she said. “If we did have cell service, we would have quicker access for emergency services.”

“We don’t have cell service out here. If we did have cell service, we would have quicker access for emergency services.”

Some residents without land lines rely on online messaging services to communicate when they’re at home, Kennedy said.

The cost of phone or internet services can be prohibitive for some, she said.

Manigotagan resident MJ McCarron has satellite internet and uses a Wi-Fi cell service at home.

“Once I leave my house, I have no service, so if something happens I have to go back home,” she said. “That leaves us very vulnerable. You’re losing precious minutes because you can’t call.”

She is concerned people may not receive alerts on their phones when there is an emergency, such as a tornado warning.

Cellular service is an essential service and should be available, said McCarron.

She believes economics and business are the reason the area doesn’t have a cellphone tower. Towers carry high costs and some places have small subscriber bases.

“You’re losing precious minutes because you can’t call.”

The Assembly of First Nations published a report in 2023 that said more than 350 First Nations in Canada lacked broadband internet and standard cellular services.

The report said First Nations with no mobility services require a tower plus 5G electronics, typically at a capital cost of $1.5 million.

Hollow Water has a registered on-reserve population of more than 1,100.

A Manitoba government spokesperson said New Technology Minister Mike Moroz and Liberal MP Buckley Belanger, the federal secretary of state for rural development, last week discussed connectivity in rural areas, with a focus on cell service.

The federal government has said it is working with telecoms, including several that operate in Manitoba, to expand cell coverage.

Bell is Manitoba’s 911 network provider. Spokeswoman Katherine Cuplinskas said the company is working with all levels of government to build new towers and “enhance and grow” its wireless network.

— with files from Carol Sanders

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca