MONTREAL: In another horrifying mass stabbing in an Indigenous community in central Canada, one person was killed and six others were injured on Thursday.
According to the federal police, the suspect also died in the incident.
The violence occurred in Hollow Water First Nation, a remote community with about 1,000 residents, 217 kilometers (135 miles) north of Manitoba’s provincial capital, Winnipeg, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told AFP in an email.
“We can confirm that at least six victims have been transported to hospital and one victim is deceased,” the RCMP said.
“The suspect is also deceased,” the force added.
Investigators were “gathering information to determine what exactly occurred,” the RCMP further said.
Mass stabbing in Canada are infrequent. In December 2022, a man shot five people in a Toronto suburb before being gunned down by police.
Same year, 11 people were killed and 18 injured in a remote Indigenous community in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.
Before that, one woman was killed and five others were wounded in a stabbing at a public library located near a busy shopping area of a Vancouver suburb in March 2021.
The killings in the James Smith Cree Nation and nearby village of Weldon prompted a national inquiry and brought renewed attention the prevalence of crime impacting Canada’s First Nations.
Indigenous people represent five percent of Canada’s population of 41 million, but statistics show they are disproportionately affected by violent crime, including homicide.
In March 2024, six people from Sri Lanka, including a mother and four young children, were knifed to death in the Canadian capital Ottawa.
These incidents rocked a country where mass murders are rare. The then prime minister said he was horrified by what he called a “terrible tragedy.”