WHITEHORSE –
A First Nation of fewer than 300 folks in Yukon’s north has used a law it created in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to bar a convicted sex offender from being despatched to its community.
The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow issued a declaration underneath its Community Emergency Act banning Christopher Schafer from the fly-in community almost 800 kilometres north of Whitehorse for at the very least the subsequent 90 days.
Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm says Yukon’s territorial courtroom choice to permit Schafer to stay in Old Crow was made with out consulting the First Nation, which has restricted helps obtainable with solely two RCMP officers and no medical well being workers.
For now, Schafer stays in a Whitehorse jail and can seem in entrance of a decide Wednesday to proceed discussions relating to his future.
Tizya-Tramm says the state of affairs is an instance of a systemic difficulty the place individuals are despatched from jail to small communities with no correct reintegration plan and he desires an apology and a public inquiry into what occurred.
The chief says the community has beforehand tried to reintegrate Schafer into Old Crow and it might be keen to provide you with a plan, nevertheless it wants extra time and assist.