A 22-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and arson after the remains of a 26-year-old were found after a house fire New Year's Day in Gods Lake Narrows.
Sgt. Line Karpish, an RCMP media spokesperson in Winnipeg, said officers were called to the house on the God's Lake First Nation around 5 a.m. and found it fully engulfed in flames. Upon their arrival, they were told a resident was still inside the house but they were unable to attempt a rescue. After the fire was extinguished, officers found a body inside.
An autopsy was scheduled for Jan. 2 at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
Karpish said because the body was burned beyond recognition, it will take some time to determine a positive identification, including the sex.
Joey Okemow, 22, from Gods Lake Narrows, has been charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and arson with disregard for human life. He is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Thompson Jan. 5.
The reserve, about 224 kilometres by air southeast of Thompson, is a signatory to the 1909 adhesion Treaty No.5.
Gods Lake Narrows has two closely related but independent communities, which share the name except for an apostrophe. One is the God's Lake First Nation while the other is the non-treaty Métis community on nearby provincial Crown land. God's Lake First Nation has a seven-member band council consisting of Chief Gilbert Andrews and six councillors who are elected through band custom pursuant to the federal Indian Act.
