Man sent to prison for standoff on First Nation

A Canupawakpa Dakota Nation man was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on Thursday for an hours-long standoff with RCMP in 2023.

“This had an impact on all those that were involved, whether that’s (the complainant), the child, the community members or the officers that were called to respond,” Crown attorney Sarah Kok said in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench.

“The small community of Canupawakpa was endangered.”

Adam Chaske, 34, pleaded guilty to the charges of reckless discharge of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a firearm on the morning his trial was scheduled to begin in May.

The Crown called the entire set of circumstances aggravating and outlined them to the court.

In November 2023, Chaske went to his partner’s apartment in Canupawakpa — a community roughly 70 kilometres west of Brandon ­­­— where they got into a verbal argument. The woman left the apartment and ran into a field.

Chaske found a firearm and shot “numerous rounds” into the field while the couple’s five-year-old son was still with him inside the apartment, court heard.

Several neighbours called 911 and reported that shots had been fired. Officers had to evacuate people from the apartment building, and the community, along with neighbouring areas, had to be contained, Kok said.

“This then results in a nearly five-hour negotiation process where multiple units were called to assist in de-escalating the scenario,” she said.

“Rather than Mr. Chaske co-operating with these demands … while speaking to a negotiator, (he) threatens to continue shooting. He cited that his son, who was still within the residence, would be brought outside for the shootout and that the officers would be responsible if the child were to be harmed or killed.”

It was after 11:30 p.m. when Chaske eventually told the negotiator that he would bring the child out of the residence and leave the firearm on the floor.

Officers secured the child and took him to a safe location, and Chaske was arrested.

Police found a long, narrow rifle with a scope inside the residence and both live and spent ammunition on the porch, in the bedroom and on the steps.

“Fortunately, no one was harmed or injured,” the Crown said.

However, she said Chaske put his partner, his child and the community at risk.

Kok cited several cases that she said highlighted the “serious threat and harm to communities” that firearms pose.

The Crown asked for a total sentence of seven years, which would be broken down into a seven-year sentence for the charge of recklessly discharging a firearm and a concurrent sentence of time already served for the unauthorized possession of a firearm.

Chaske has the equivalent of 729 days in custody, which is roughly two years.

Kok said this sentence would achieve the principles of denunciation and deterrence while taking Chaske’s Gladue factors, substance abuse issues and other personal circumstances into consideration.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison asked for a total sentence in the range of time already served to a period “much” shorter than the Crown’s recommendation.

“Frankly, I think seven years on these facts, I’m not saying they’re not serious, but I think it would be crushing and oppressive,” he said.

Harrison said Chaske was drunk at the time of his offending and that he said he didn’t see anyone in the field while he was firing the gun.

Colonialism has been a factor in Chaske’s life, Harrison said. Chaske’s parents and grandparents went to residential school, and he was exposed to alcohol abuse in his childhood, court heard.

Chaske started drinking alcohol when he was 10 years old, Harrison said.

During his time in custody, the court heard that Chaske went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and took other offered programming as well.

When given a chance to speak, Chaske acknowledged that what he did was wrong and that he shouldn’t have done it.

“My alcoholism and my aggression get the very best of me,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do to change it now.”

Justice Elliot Leven said Chaske’s guilty pleas and the fact that he has a limited, dated and unrelated record made a “deep impression” on him.

He said the defence’s suggestion was “well below the bottom” of the sentencing range for these types of offences but said he would go slightly below the Crown’s recommendation and sentenced Chaske to six and a half years in custody.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com