Family members are grieving the loss of a young father from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, whose death Thursday is being treated by police a homicide.
Swan River RCMP officers went to a home in the northern community at around 4:30 a.m., where they found an injured man.
The 25-year-old was taken to the Swan Valley Health Centre, but died from his injuries.
Members of the community identified the man as Poundmaker Sakayigun, a father of three.
"He was a family man," said Paula Campeau, who identified herself as Sakayigun's aunt. Campeau said the victim had a common-law wife, Germaine, and was father to a boy and two girls -- Little Wind, Andrea and Adara -- all around the age of seven or younger.
RCMP were not releasing details on the nature of the death Thursday.
One man has been arrested in connection with the death, and is being held in custody. No charges have yet been laid. An autopsy for the victim is expected today. The incident is being investigated by RCMP in Swan River, as well as RCMP major crime services and RCMP Dauphin's forensic identification services.
Sapotaweyak, formerly the Shoal River First Nation, is located on the northeast end of Lake Winnipegosis, 400 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
The tiny community has experienced a number of recent tragedies. In February, a 12-year-old girl from Sapotaweyak died in the province's first snowmobile fatality of the winter after her snowmobile hit a school bus.
Last summer, three people from the First Nation were killed and five others injured in a single-vehicle rollover north of Swan River.
lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca
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