Watchdog finds no grounds for charging Mountie in fatal shooting of Elsipogtog man

A police watchdog agency says the RCMP's fatal shooting of an Elsipogtog First Nation man last fall was not a criminal offence.

Steven (Iggy) Dedam, a 34-year-old Mi'kmaw father and fisherman, was killed by an RCMP officer after calls about an incident unfolding at a home in Elsipogtog, a drive of about 90 kilometres north of Moncton, on Sept. 8, 2024.

The Serious Incident Response Team said Thursday that its investigation "found no reasonable grounds to believe a member of the RCMP in New Brunswick committed a criminal offence when he discharged a firearm while responding to a call in Elsipogtog First Nation."

Two RCMP officers went to a home in Elsipogtog in response to 911 calls about a man believed to be suicidal and in possession of weapons, SIRT said in a news release.

The Dedam family and others in the Elsipogtog community have said the shooting happened during a wellness check, but RCMP have disagreed. Last September, DeAnna Hill, at the time the head of J Division, issued a statement calling the use of "wellness check" inaccurate. The RCMP would not define the term or say why it was wrong in this case.   

SIRT said police who responded that night found a man holding throwing axes, which he did not drop when asked. The man threw one of the axes at officers and others in the home, and one officer then used a Taser on the man, the watchdog agency said.

The Taser was ineffective, and when the man went to throw a second axe, the officer shot him with a firearm, SIRT said. Emergency services were then called and the man was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

RCMP contacted SIRT the day after shooting, and an investigation began. The agency has jurisdiction to investigate police matters involving death, serious injury, sexual assault and intimate partner violence in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Shortly after the shooting, family members of Dedam who spoke to CBC News disputed the RCMP account of the shooting, saying the officers did not allow enough time for the Taser to work before resorting to a gun. The family also disputed that first aid was immediately rendered.

About 100 community members took part in a march after the shooting, calling for justice. 

The full 25-page report from SIRT director Erin Nauss is available publicly. It includes SIRT interviews and statements from 11 civilian witnesses, the officer involved, the witness officer and recordings of 911 calls and police dispatch radio.

The report also said SIRT reviewed soundless video footage of the room before and during the shooting. 

Both officers who responded to the 911 calls "were lawfully in the execution of their duties as police officers when they arrived at [Dedam's] residence, and throughout the events related to this incident," Nauss wrote.

A timeline of the event says that officers arrived to the home at 11:23 p.m. The call of "shots fired" over police radio came at 11:25. Additional officers arrived at 11:28 and 11:31, and an ambulance arrived at 11:50. 

"Although there is a short period of time from when the police arrive at the residence to when shots are fired, it is important to consider the circumstances and actions of [Dedam] during that time," Nauss wrote.