A Manitoba First Nation is “extremely concerned and saddened” after it says a second community member in less than a month died while in custody.
Sagkeeng First Nation Chief Derrick Henderson says the community will ensure the facts surrounding the death of Dwayne Louis Simard on March 1 are brought to light and justice is done.
“The frequency with which inmates of correctional institutions are coming to their deaths is alarming and intolerable,” Henderson wrote in a release Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday, Correctional Service Canada confirmed Simard’s death at Stony Mountain Institution.
Few details were provided besides to say the 37-year-old had been serving a sentence of two years and eight months for aggravated assault.
Simard had been arrested over the weekend following a standoff in the city’s West End.
A spokesperson for Stony Mountain previously told Global News Simard was the subject of an arrest warrant after the conditions of his statutory release had been breached.
“The Sagkeeng First Nation will be following these matters closely and we shall provide further comment as more facts are discovered,” Chief Henderson wrote.
“Until then, our thoughts and our prayers are with the Simard and Ahmo families.”
William Walter Ahmo, 45, died in hospital on Feb.14, following what RCMP described as an “incident” with corrections officers at Headingley jail.
Mounties say Ahmo had been brought to hospital with life-threatening injuries on Feb. 7, but the nature of the incident has still not been revealed.
— With files from Elisha Dacey