Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation chief calls for crackdown on machetes

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This article was published 09/08/2024 (418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s justice minister has hinted a clampdown on machetes is in the works just as a First Nation chief has renewed the call to regulate sales of the weapon following recent attacks.

Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Chief Angela Levasseur said the 3,500 people in the Nelson House-based community live in fear of being harmed by machete-wielding youths. There have been at least two recent machete attacks.

Levasseur wants the province to regulate sales of the weapon, similar to the process for buying bear repellent.

This week, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe alluded to possible measures.

“Our government is very concerned about the appalling use of machetes to commit violent crimes,” Wiebe said in a statement to the Free Press.

“We look forward to the coming legislative session and the opportunity to share more about the specific measures we will take to ensure these weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

Wiebe was not made available for an interview Thursday.

The previous Progressive Conservative government imposed conditions last year that require anyone buying bear spray to show photo ID, provide personal information and specify what the spray is for.

An NCN woman was attacked with a machete in June, followed by a man weeks later, who was severely injured and required nearly 50 staples to close his wounds.

“They’ve been weaponized and they’re being used increasingly in First Nations communities,” Levasseur said.

Machetes can be purchased legally in Manitoba. There are legitimate uses for the broad-bladed knives, such as cutting through brush.

Levasseur said the issue isn’t isolated to her community, pointing to a 2022 massacre on James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan — machetes were among the weapons used — in which 11 people died and another 17 were injured.

In 2022, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs passed a resolution in support of NCN calling, in part, for the regulated sale of machetes.

“Nothing happened,” Levasseur said.

“People continue to get hurt, and more people are going to be killed if (government doesn’t) clamp down.”

NCN law enforcement chief Carol Kobliski told the Free Press machetes weren’t nearly as prevalent in her community a decade ago.

She has worked in law enforcement in the community for approximately 20 years and said machetes started to show up more frequently around 2015.

Machetes are easily purchased at stores in Thompson and Winnipeg and taken to First Nations communities, Kobliski said, where they find their way into the hands of troubled youths.

Children as young as eight who have grown up neglected and devoid of hope are being recruited by gangs, in and outside of the community, which encourage violence.

The NCN woman attacked on June 20, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Free Press two teenage boys attacked her in front of a home on the First Nation.

As she tried to fend off one boy, another swung at her head with a machete.

“He pulled the machete out of nowhere; I think it was in his sleeve,” she said.

The blade hit her above the left eyebrow, leaving a bloody gash on her forehead. She now has a tender, red scar and said she occasionally gets a “jolting” sensation across her forehead.

“People getting (attacked with machetes) has been happening for a while,” she said.

The woman also blamed the violence on gangs influencing youths with nothing to do and little to look forward to.

“A lot of these youths are angry. They’re very angry at their parents; they’re angry at everybody,” Kobliski said.

Solving issues with violence in First Nation communities, both Levasseur and Kobliski said, will require much more than regulating machete sales. But they say it’s a relatively easy and much-needed step.

Kobliski said NCN has implemented curfews — 9 p.m. for youths 12 and younger, and 10 p.m. for those age 13 to 17 — around-the-clock patrols and checkstops for people entering the community, where searches and pat-downs are yielding everything from excessive amounts of alcohol to machetes.

Safety officers also rely heavily on tips from the community that lead to raids on band-owned houses.

Eight to 10 machetes a month are confiscated, Kobliski said.

A series of violent incidents in the spring raised concerns about the weapons in Winnipeg.

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In March, a 19-year-old woman waiting at a bus stop was attacked and seriously injured by a machete-wielding 13-year-old attempting to rob her.

Youths with machetes robbed two men later that month.

In April, police charged a 19-year-old man after he allegedly stabbed someone with a machete.

— With files from Erik Pindera

jordan.snobelen@freepress.mb.ca