No jail time for pointing BB gun at safety officers

A Sioux Valley Dakota Nation man found guilty of pointing a BB gun at first responders apologized in court for the harm he caused the victims, including a woman who quit her job in law enforcement because of the trauma she experienced.

Cyril Elk, 47, said he has been sober and focusing on rehabilitation since the incident on Jan. 11, 2024, when he aimed the weapon at two First Nations safety officers who were responding to a medical call involving his partner at his home in Sioux Valley.

“I’m sorry to the victims and also to the courts for my actions and my behaviours,” Elk said during his sentencing hearing in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Thursday.

“I would like to sincerely apologize to the victim for all the pain and trauma I may have caused in her life due to this incident. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me,” he said.

Elk received a 12-month conditional sentence to be served in the community for a charge of assault with a weapon. An additional charge for pointing an imitation firearm was stayed in a trial earlier this year under the Kienapple principle, which protects an offender from being convicted and punished multiple times for the same criminal act.

During the trial, court heard the Virden RCMP had called First Nation safety officers to assist paramedics with a woman reportedly experiencing severe abdominal pain.

The two officers, Helena Mazawasicuna and Christopher Tacan, testified that when they were on scene, Elk told them, “I’ve got something for you,” before he went inside to retrieve what appeared to be a “black handgun” and pointed it at them. Mazawasicuna said he aimed it directly at her head, court heard.

Elk testified that he wasn’t expecting anyone to come to his home other than an ambulance and panicked.

A few months earlier, he said, several people had tried to break into his home, so when he heard the vehicle pull up outside, he went onto his porch holding an axe and a BB gun.

The officers testified they didn’t know whether it was a real handgun and feared they were going to be shot, so they ducked into their vehicle and reversed while calling for the RCMP to assist, court heard.

“The safety officers weren’t armed, nor did they have the same ability to handle and respond to weapons calls like other law-enforcement officers, and obviously they were unassisted when they responded,” Crown attorney Sarah Kok said.

“They were vulnerable individuals by virtue of the call for service and the circumstances that they found themselves in.”

Both officers wrote statements submitted in court, detailing how the incident has impacted them long term and their desire for Elk to be barred from returning to the community in the interests of public safety.

“Mazawasicuna ultimately ended up going on long-term disability leave and then quit working as a safety officer in Sioux Valley as a result of the incident,” Kok said, adding that the woman continues to experience “adverse medical consequences” more than two years later.

Although it was determined the gun used wasn’t classified as a real firearm, Kok proposed Elk face nine months in jail, followed by three years of supervised probation for the purpose of deterrence and denunciation.

“Prioritization needs to be given to the safety of the community and to the sense of security that all communities deserve to have and feel,” she said.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison suggested Elk receive a conditional sentence of six to nine months as he has been attending counselling for his mental health and addiction.

He presented the court with letters of support touting Elk’s work ethic, sobriety and his goal of building positive relationships with his children. One of the letters signed by the Sioux Valley chief and two council members said they support Elk’s request to return to the community after bail conditions required him to live in Brandon.

Kok argued imposing a conditional sentence “wouldn’t reflect the gravity or the seriousness of the offending” because the protection of the community would be jeopardized.

“The Crown’s of the view here that similar individuals in similar circumstances, regardless of their Indigeneity or not, would likely receive a custodial sentence in the range of nine months, like what’s being recommended,” Kok said.

Justice Scott Abel referenced Elk’s upbringing, his plan to reunite with his children and the ongoing impacts residential schools and colonialization have on Indigenous people as he questioned Kok’s suggested sentence of incarceration.

“My concern is a period of actual incarceration will interfere with those reunification efforts … as opposed to a custodial sentence by way of a CSO (conditional sentence order) that still can meet the deterrents of denunciation, but allow those reunification efforts to continue,” Abel said.

Kok said she understands the courts must consider the background circumstances of Indigenous people and mitigate repeating the cycles of violence while balancing the moral culpability of the offender. But she held firm in her suggestion that any rehabilitation efforts could be achieved through a probation order.

Three of Elk’s seven children are without a mother, so if he went to jail, those children are “going to lose basically their father as well for that period of time,” Harrison said.

Indigenous people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and “it’s time to start addressing that rather than just paying lip service to it,” the lawyer said.

While Elk has been assessed as having a high risk to reoffend, his behaviour while on release conditions suggests he isn’t a risk to the community, Abel said.

He also factored Elk’s background and his desire to reconnect with his children into his decision.

“The breakdown of familial relationships is a recurring consequence of colonialization. In this case, the offender being incarcerated would continue that intergenerational harm,” Abel said.

Elk’s Gladue factors don’t excuse his behaviour, but they do affect his moral culpability, he said.

His sentence includes an order that he must follow conditions, including not to possess any weapons, abide by a curfew, remain in Manitoba, not to contact the victims, attend counselling as directed and only possess one cellphone.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com