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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:28 pm
Métis group enters controversy over officer's gravesite
Last Updated: Thursday, June 26, 2008 | 4:51 PM CT Comments15Recommend10CBC News
A national Métis organization has taken out an ad in newspapers in Calgary and Regina asking the widow of RCMP Const. Leo Johnston to reconsider her plan to move his remains to the national RCMP cemetery in Regina from his hometown of Lac La Biche, Alta.
Johnston was one of four RCMP officers gunned down by James Roszko during a stakeout on Roszko's property near Mayerthorpe, Alta., in March 2005.
The advertisement contains a open letter to Kelly Johnston, signed by Clement Chartier, president of the Métis National Council.
This advertisement appeared in newspapers in Calgary and Regina on Thursday. (CBC)
"I hope you will reconsider your decision to have your husband disinterred and taken away from his people and his family," the letter says.
"His resting place is a place of honour, an enduring testament to his selfless sacrifice and an eternal memorial to his cherished place in the hearts of his family and the Métis Nation."
Johnston was of Métis descent.
The battle to keep Johnston's remains in Lac La Biche could now head to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Grace Johnston, mother of the slain constable, is planning to ask the court for leave to appeal a decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal. That decision, which was released last month, upheld a lower court ruling that allowed Kelly Johnson to move her husband's remains.
That decision said Johnston's widow has "first priority under common law … with respect to control of the deceased's body. No other person enjoyed an equivalent rank to her."
Kelly Johnston believes that having her husband buried at the RCMP cemetery is the best way to honour him, and is what he would have wanted.
With files from the Canadian Press
These people have absolutely no say in this matter whatsoever! They are merely sticking their noses into something just to raise some shit!
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