Murder victims' families 'surrounded by death' as connections to homicides and overdoses detailed

It was only a few years ago that Kyle Devine was marching in an annual walk in Calgary to remember his slain mother, whose murder has never been solved. This week,Devine's own killer was sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing three people.

There was no more poignant example of the catastrophic and sometimes fatal legacy of Canada's residential school system and history of colonialism than in Courtroom 6 at the Lethbridge courthouse this week.

"[I was] struck by the fact that not only Austin's family but the family of the victims, they seem to besurrounded by death," said defence lawyer Tonii Roulston.

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Austin Vielle pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder for the brutal stabbing deaths of Devine, his girlfriend Clarissa English, 24, and her brother Dakota English, 18.

The three victims were extremely intoxicated when they died; Clarissa had the most alcohol in her blood at nearly six times the legal driving limit. Vielle was so drunk he couldn't remember what happened, robbing the victims' families of answers.

Court heard thatVielle whose family is from the nearby Blood Tribe had been drinking and doing drugs, self-medicating after a close friend had died from suicide. He'd suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child.

After the guilty plea, several members of the English and Devine familiesread aloud victim impact statements that detailed how other lossescompounded the grief.

"There's uncles who've died, children who've died, mothers who've died; that seems to be a consistent theme throughout both of these families and it appears to be systemic," said Roulston.

'This story needs to stop being told'

The victim impact statements told the story of grandmothers burying beloved grandchildren while mothers raise their babies' babies.

"This story needs to stop being told," said Karen English, an aunt to Clarissa and Dakota and a social worker.

Devine's mother isn't around to raise her grandson. Jackie Crazybull, 43, was fatally attacked by three men who stabbed her to death at a Calgary bus stop in 2007. Her killers have never been caught.

• Jacqueline Clara Crazybull

A "Justice for Jackie" walkthrough Calgary takes place annually to honour Crazybulland all other missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada.

Crazybull had already suffered much loss in her life hersister was beaten to death by her boyfriend years earlier, and in 1999 a cousin was stomped to death in a Calgary alley.

The year after his mother died, Devine's brother Josh was killed on the highway when he was struck by a car.

According to his brother, Devine'smother and father, stepmother and stepfather all attended residential schools. Neither brother was raised by a biological parent.

"Parents don't know how to be parents," said Ian Devine, who was brought up by an aunt. "It has its toll because it's a part of the reason why they had turned to alcohol, drugs."

"[It's] a cycle that kind of affected not just our ancestors that were in residential, it had an impact on every single one," said Ian.

The English family many of whom are from the Piikani Nation suffered extreme losses, too. A year after Clarissa and Dakota English were slain, their cousin Joey English, 25, died after overdosing on drugs. The man she was with panicked and dismembered her body before hiding the remains.

Joey left three young children behind and investigators were never able to recover all of her remains. The family feels police didn't take them seriously when they reportedJoey's disappearance because they are First Nations.

Joey's mother, Stephanie English, made a public plea in Aprilto others suffering from mental health issues and drug addictions.

"Get help, it's not too late," she said. "Don't forget who you are."

In 2015, another cousin Joey's sisterAlison died from what police determined to be suicide,although her family believes she may have accidentally overdosed on drugs.

Alison had spent time in thepsychiatric ward after she'd been hard hit bythe loss of her uncle, who was killed in 2010.

During her victim impact statement, Clarissa and Dakota's great grandmother spoke about burying two of her children.

"I lost two sons in 2007, 2009, and it was one of the hardest things in my life, to lose your children."

• Court hears victims suffered 244 wounds in 'frenzy of violence' as triple murderer pleads guilty in Lethbridge

In deliveringVielle'ssentence, Justice RodneyJerkenoted the "notorious history of colonization, displacement and residential schools," which the judge said provide the context for the abuse suffered by the killer during his childhood and the layers of multi-generational loss suffered by the English andDevinefamilies.

These are themes provincial court Judge Harry Van Harten sees in his courtroom every day.

Van Harten says it's important to avoid continually painting a bleak picture of what life is like for Indigenous people. But he points out it's equally crucial to recognize the factors that led to their over-representation in the justice system as both offenders and victims.

If some kind of reconciliation doesn't happen that's just going to continue. Sadly, it's a thing we see regularly in our courts.- Judge Harry Van Harten

"When you grow up in that kind of atmosphere, you pass it to your kids, which is why you have disproportionate rates of incarceration, disproportionate rates of the apprehension of children, and it's all related to the trauma to earlier generations."

Van Harten says that as a start, every Canadian should read the 94 calls to action fromthe truth and reconciliation commission.

"If some kind of reconciliation doesn't happen ... that's just going to continue. Sadly, it's a thing we see regularly in our courts."

Mitch Walker, the vice-chair of theGladueWriters Society of British Columbia, works in the court system and says the story of the English and Devine families is not an anomoly.

Walker authorsGladuereports, which examine an Indigenous offender'supbringing and background ahead of sentencing. In his practice, he saysit's common to see Indigenous families surrounded by death and loss.

"I can't tell you how many Indigenous inmates I have met who have been to more funerals than birthdays and graduations by the time they are 20."

Loss of hope

Walker says Canadians have a narrow understanding of the accumulation of trauma, which in part is tied topoverty, loss of hope and mental and physical illnesses likeFASDand depression.

"The middle-class value system of work hard, go to school, get a job, save your money and everything will work out is not a concept to those populations who are not only removed from that social contract, but have experienced generations of law and policy specifically designed to remove them from that reality.

But Ian Devineis working toward creating a new reality for his family. He has his own kids now and wants to changehis family's story.

"I want to be a person that can stand my ground and be able to say that we can stop, that there's hope,try to think more positive, and parent differently."

"I love my kids.... I want to be a part of that to stop it."