Canada saw a horrific spree of stabbings on September 4, perpetrated by two individuals in the province of Saskatchewan which left at least 10 people dead and 15 people injured, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The attack is being called one of the deadliest mass killings in the history of Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has said that were 13 crime scenes where either deceased or injured people have been found. Mass killings in Canada are less common than in its neighbouring country, the United States.

Also Read: Canada mass stabbing: Timeline of events

Here are some of the deadliest stabbings in the history of Canada.

Buffalo Narrows axe murders (1969)

Despite not being a stabbing, the incident still counts as one of the grisliest incidents of violence in Canada. On January 30 1969, Frederick Moses McCallum broke into the home of the Pederson family with a fire axe and murdered seven people and injured one in Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan. He killed the father, mother, two sons, two daughters, a family friend and injured another son. The youngest murdered was 2-year-old Rhonda Beatrice Pederson. 

McCallum was arrested after confessing to a priest. During his trial, it was discovered that he had signs of schizophrenia and was sent to a psychiatric hospital before being returned to trial a year later and being sentenced to prison at the Prince Albert Penitentiary. Once more, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was sent to a psychiatric institution. He was released in 1989 on the condition that he never enter the Saskatchewan province again. 

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Brentwood Five Massacre (2014)

Matthew De Grood, the son of a police inspector methodically stabbed five people to death at a house party after experiencing a psychotic break in the city of Calgary, Alberta province. The incident was called the deadliest stabbing incident of Canada at the time. De Grood, an invited guest obtained a large knife from the kitchen and murdered the victims. He escaped on foot but was apprehended by police 40 minutes later, with the help of a K-9 unit. 

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He was charged with five counts of first degree murder and sent to psychiatric evaluation days before the trial in 2015. He was found to be mentally unfit. The trial was delayed to the next year. In 2016, a jury found him not criminally responsible on account of him having a mental disorder (schizophrenia), which caused the psychotic break. 

De Grood was institutionalised in a psychiatric institution but received periodic reviews on his behaviour. In 2019, he was allowed to have “unsupervised outings” though the review board said he remained a “significant risk” to public safety. 

Saskatchewan stabbings (2022)

The murders committed by 31-year-old Damien Sanderson and 30-year-old Myles Sanderson left at least 10 dead and 15 wounded in 13 locations in the James Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon in the Saskatchewan province. The death toll of the incident has surpassed the 2014 Calgary stabbing. 

The first stabbing occurred around 5:40 am CST, according to the RCMP, followed by the rest which were later reported via emergency calls. By midday, the police issued a warning that the suspects had been spotted in the city of Regina, 335 kilometres from where the stabbings occurred. 

The police have sent out an alert advising residents of the region to stay indoors, report any suspicious activity and not pick up hitch-hikers. Soon after, on the recommendation of the Saskatchewan RCMP, the alert was expanded to include the Alberta and Manitoba provinces.