Yellow Quill Freezing Victims Laid To Rest

Yellow Quill Freezing Victims Laid To Rest

Monday, February 04, 2008 at 14:08

 

 

The heartbroken grandmother of two little girls who met their tragic deaths in an icy field on a Saskatchewan reserve has issued an emotional plea to the Canadian public.

 

Irene Nippi says she doesn’t want her granddaughters’ deaths to be in vain.

 

Nippi says the Yellow Quill reserve should ban alcohol, and counsellors should be brought in to help people with addictions.

 

The Yellow Quill reserve is battling alcohol abuse, high unemployment and a lack of suitable housing.

 

The First Nation also has political and financial difficulties.

 

Three-year-old Kaydance Pauchay and her one-year-old sister Santana died when they were taken outside by their father, who family members say was drinking.

 

They were laid to rest in a private funeral on the reserve on Saturday.

 

The girls’ father, who is still being treated for frostbite, was brought to the funeral in an ambulance.

 

Nippi says she is standing by her daughter and son-in-law — the girls’ parents.

 

(courtesy of The Canadian Press)