The province’s child intervention services were being used on the child
A five-year-old boy from a First Nation in northern Alberta was killed by his family’s dogs on Sunday. The people of the First Nation are sad about this.
Constable Kelsey Davidge said Thursday that the child died Sunday after his family’s dogs attacked him on Whitefish Lake First Nation.
She said, “He did die because a dog bit him.” “They belonged to a family. The public has nothing to worry about in terms of safety or anything else.”
Davidge said that after the attack, the family killed the dogs on their own. She couldn’t say how many dogs were responsible for the attack.
She said that the RCMP is still looking into the death and that no one has been charged yet.
In a message sent Thursday, the boy’s mother said that her son was a happy boy who had touched the hearts of many people. The child was getting help from the province’s child intervention services, so CBC won’t say who he is.
The mother wrote, “My son was only five years old and had his whole life ahead of him.” “I can still hear him telling me how much he loves and misses me,” she said.
She said that she can still hear him talking about his day at school.
In an interview, Chief Albert Thunder said that the little boy went to the community school on Whitefish Lake First Nation. The town is about 400 kilometers northwest of Edmontontt
Thunder said that everyone in his community is very sad and is doing what they can to help the boy’s family.
He said it’s hard to believe that something like this could happen.
“It’s a small, close-knit community where almost everyone knows each other, so when terrible things happen, they really affect the whole community,” Thunder said.
Thunder said that the community held a prayer meeting to mourn the deaths of the little boy and another person from the community who died over the weekend. He said that it is a very hard time, but that people in the community are helping each other.
“When things like this happen, we pray together and stick together,” he said.
Thunder also said that his community has a crisis response team that is run and paid for by the community. This team has been very helpful in getting help to the family much faster than what outside agencies can do.
In an email statement, a spokesperson for Children’s Services Minister Mickey Amery said that privacy laws make it hard for the ministry to give information that could be used to find a specific child.
Chinenye Anokwuru, the press secretary, said, “There is no greater tragedy than the death of a child.” “Our hearts go out to all the loved ones who have lost a child.”
She also said that when a child in foster care dies or gets seriously hurt, the news is made public and a “rigorous examination” of what happened is done.