Community buries shooting victim
‘Good kid’ made some ‘bad choices,’ says mom after RCMP incident
The smell of sweetgrass and the sounds of song and drums permeated parts of a community hall this weekend as family, friends and community members gathered to say goodbye to Brydon Bryce Whitstone.
Whitstone, 22, was shot and killed by Battlefords RCMP on Oct. 21 after the vehicle he was reportedly driving rammed a police cruiser in the city of North Battleford during a police pursuit.
Officials with the RCMP said an officer opened fire on the vehicle “in response to the driver’s actions,” after they were received a report of a man being shot at and chased by two people in a vehicle. Regina police are now conducting an external investigation into the RCMP-involved shooting.
On Saturday at the Communiplex Hall on the Onion Lake Cree Nation, the words uncle, cousin, father, son and friend were each attached to a piece of material that rested above Whitstone’s coffin.
In the coffin, lined with light blue padding and placed at the front of the hall, family members had placed in Whitstone’s hands pieces of tobacco — which serves as a traditional gift for the spirits on his journey to the afterlife — alongside a large eagle feather, as the bird is a symbol of strength.
Nearby, photos of Whitstone were on display as part of a tribute to the 22-year-old. In them, Whitstone appeared as a smiling child wearing a graduation cap. Other photos showed the young man participating in army cadets, working on a Judo move, and sharing an embrace with his mother Dorothy Laboucane.
“He was a good kid,” said Laboucane not long after she buried her son in the community’s Holy Rosary Cemetery. “He just grew up a little too fast and made some bad choices.”
While looking at the photos of her son, Laboucane recalled times when she laughed and cried with him. She said she and Whitstone’s father, Albert Whitstone Sr., were loving parents who taught their children right from wrong. Even as Whitstone got older, Laboucane said she worked to keep him on track.
“We’d cry together, laugh together, and all I’d have to say is that you’re better than that, and he’d look at me and he knew I was right.”
A funeral card passed out at the ceremony said Whitstone, the youngest of 11 kids, was an inquisitive child who loved to play hockey and enjoyed the outdoors and being one with nature.
It said he “was a young, kindhearted soul” who was “always willing to lend a hand without hesitation.”
Ruth Lewis, Whitstone’s aunt, said her nephew took the wrong path as he got older, but said he was man who had so much potential. During his time as a Judo student, Lewis said Whitstone was a “very fast learner” who was “quick on his feet.”
Although he would later become involved in a gang known as the Westside Outlaws, he had told family members he was planning to leave the gang life behind after the death of his baby son on Sept. 7.
“He was going to go straight,” Lewis said, noting although people become involved in gangs, it doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, as many of them are just looking to be acknowledged and may become “trapped” once they enter the life.
“Everybody is born with an innocent heart,” she said. “I just see them as lost souls looking for that sense of belonging.”
The service itself was officiated by elders within the Onion Lake Cree Nation and much of the service was spoken in Cree.
Whitstone’s extended grandmother, Marie Alma Poitras, who spoke at the service, said afterwards that Whitstone’s family meant a lot to him.
“They put themselves last and put others ahead,” she said.
Lewis noted while she was overwhelmed with the support she’s received from Onion Lake and the surrounding communities, her family — and many in the Onion Lake community — are waiting for the results of the Regina Police Service investigation, as many still have questions about the RCMP’s use of force.
“We need to find out. We need that closure,” she said.