Community plans to build playground in memory of man killed in mass stabbing
Two Saskatchewan communities at the centre of one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history will come together to honour one of the people lost in the tragedy.
Wesley Petterson, 78, was killed on Sept. 4, 2022, in the village of Weldon. He was among 11 people murdered and 17 others injured by Myles Sanderson, 32, in a stabbing rampage that began on the James Smith Cree Nation.
Sanderson was apprehended a few days later, dying in police custody of what was later determined to be a cocaine overdose.
Petterson was “a kind man,” said Chelsey Erickson in a media release on Thursday.
“He'd give you the shirt off his back because that's the type of person he was. I knew him my whole life because our families spent a lot of time visiting one another.”
Erickson is a co-director of a project launched in February to build a new playground in Weldon to be named the Wes Petterson Memorial Park. Organizers hope to raise $150,000 for the project, aiming to have it built near the Weldon care home by the end of the summer.
Weldon currently has no designated park; the only available play structure consists of a few metal swings in an abandoned schoolyard, according to the release. The new playground is expected to include a full complement of equipment, rubberized ground covering, benches and signage honouring Petterson.
“We need a safe space where our children are free to play and have fun away from traffic. It would be a gathering place for families. Parents and grandparents could bring their kids to the playground and enjoy climbing, swinging, or sliding on the equipment,” Erickson said.
James Smith Cree Nation, Chakastaypasin Band, and Peter Chapman Band leadership and members are scheduled to attend a pancake breakfast fundraiser April 13 at the Weldon auditorium and make a donation toward the project.
Anyone wishing to make donations to the project can contact the Village of Weldon, or reach the playground organizing committee by email.