Tragedy in a tiny community: Young Ditidaht man charged with first degree murder

After scores of police officers descended on it, the tiny community of Nitinat, north of Port Renfrew must now come to terms with the tragic events that unfolded there over the past weekend.

Nitinat is nestled along the edge of a large cutblock of trees near Cowichan Lake off North Shore Road. It is a community of about 350 people on the Malachan Indian Reserve at Nitinat Lake around 100 kilometres northwest of Victoria. The wider Ditidaht territory begins north of the upper edge of the Westshore.

Early last Saturday morning, around 7am, Lake Cowichan RCMP were called to a house where they say they found a man dead and a "situation at hand." That situation required multiple support units to be called in along with an Emergency Response team that included an armoured vehicle and multiple officers in tactical equipment.

Emergency response teams are tasked with resolving armed and barricaded persons incidents like this one.

Ditidaht First Nations’ chief councillor Judi Thomas told her community over social media that day that the RCMP had the situation under control and the police would be in the community for a couple more days as the investigation continued. Thomas also said details about the death would not be released yet, out of consideration for the family.

Her original post asked that day that, as a precaution, community members “stay indoors and keep their windows closed and allow the RCMP to carry out their duties to ensure the safety of everyone.”

During the incident, no one was allowed in or out of the small community. The temporary closure extended to certified Indigenous community support workers like Clinton Charlie, who was asked Saturday morning to go help deal with the trauma in Nitinat but then turned back around. Indigenous community support workers (CSWs) provide holistic, trauma-informed, strength and community-based aid to individuals and families in times of distress. Through facilitation and other methods, CSWs can help community members come together. They can connect members to additional resources and services that may be required in a situation like this one in a place where everyone knows everyone and is directly impacted by the events.

In adverse situations such as the one that arose on Saturday, culturally relevant supports are crucial to healing outcomes.

After a seven-hour interaction, Darien Tate, 24, was arrested “without further incident.” The police indicated that the death was an isolated incident. Tate has been charged with first degree murder—meaning the planned and deliberate death of another person.

A police statement on Oct. 1 said the investigation remains ongoing and no further information will be released at this time. Tate, now in custody, is a father to a four-year-old boy. He appeared via video in court on Oct. 1 and will appear again in court on Oct. 8.

“To hear about the news when we woke up was so devastating and emotional,” Cindy Daniels, Chief of Cowichan Tribes, said in an interview with reporters on Monday, "because that could be any of us because everyone of our reserves across Canada suffers from the intergenerational effects from Residential Schools.”

While the last residential schools closed 28 years ago (Tate, born 2000, is too young to have attended one), survivors and their descendants still cope with the legacies of trauma; loss of culture and language; and challenges to their emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The weekend of the tragedy was also that of the fourth annual Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which recognizes survivors of residential schools and honours those who died at them.

The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit has been called in to manage and investigate the death.

​​Thomas said the families involved in the incident are asking for “gentleness and kindness as [they] seek the truth, together as one.” In a notice of support and privacy, Thomas indicated community health support services that include the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) would be available over the next few days (after the 28th) to assist anyone in need.

A tragedy such as this will have a tremendous impact throughout the Nitinat community as grief and anger rend its fabric. Police remain in the community following the incident.