Playground built to honour victim of Saskatchewan mass stabbing two years later

By The Canadian Press on September 4, 2024.

WELDON, Sask. – Children have been swinging, sliding and climbing on a playground built to honour one of the victims of a mass stabbing two years ago northeast of Saskatoon.

Chelsey Erickson, who organized the playground project, says Wesley Petterson’s name is to be emblazoned on a metal sign at the structure in the village of Weldon.

In 2022, Myles Sanderson killed 10 people and injured 17 others on James Smith Cree Nation before fatally stabbing Petterson, who was 78, nearby in Weldon.

Erickson says flower beds have been placed around the playground to remember Petterson.

She says he was heavily involved in the community and would cut the town’s grass and gather people for coffee.

At James Smith Cree Nation, a powwow ceremony is planned for Friday to honour an RCMP officer who took down Sanderson’s stolen truck during a high-speed chase before he died in police custody from a cocaine overdose.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.

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