Councillor rails against bail plan that sent woman charged with attempted murder to Colville Lake

A community leader in Colville Lake, N.W.T., wants to know why a young woman charged with attempted murder has been released to his community on bail. 

Hilah Rose McCauley, who was charged following a shooting in downtown Yellowknife this spring, was granted bail on Friday. She was released to stay in Colville Lake with a friend who signed as her surety. 

"This is a small community — we have no police here. So who's going to be watching that girl?" asked Alvin Orlias, a band councillor in Colville Lake. He said McCauley is in the community already.

Orlias and David Codzi, Colville Lake's assistant band manager, both said the community should have been consulted before the decision was made.

"They should be calling the community, advising that this is in the process … and it should be up to the community [to] say, well, no," said Orlias.

Tracy Marie Eddibar, who is McCauley's surety, told CBC News she understands why some people in her community might be concerned. She said she'd probably be worried, too, if someone she didn't know was released to Colville Lake on bail.

"[It would] be better to have cops come visit more often," she said. But when it comes to McCauley, a friend she's known for three or four years, Eddibar isn't concerned. 

"I know who she is, I've known her for awhile. She's a good person and she didn't do what they said she did."

The charges

McCauley, who is from Norman Wells, was arrested in May at the age of 19 after a shooting at an apartment in Yellowknife. The incident sent an 18-year-old to Edmonton by medevac. McCauley is charged with attempted murder using a restricted firearm, aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to harm and being an accessory to a crime. A 17-year-old is also facing charges. 

This summer, McCauley was let out on bail and released to a home in Yellowknife. She was re-arrested in August, however, for not returning to the home where she was supposed to be staying. 

According to the conditions of her new bail plan, McCauley must adhere to a curfew and stay away from drugs and alcohol. Orlias doesn't know who is going to make sure she sticks to those rules. He also fears Colville Lake is being put at risk, and is worried about what could happen if police are needed, since they'd have to fly in. 

Orlias said he wants to organize a band council meeting to talk about the situation, and he is trying to arrange a meeting with R.J. Simpson, the N.W.T.'s minister of justice, as well.

In a statement to CBC News, Simpson said he wouldn't comment on the issue because it's legal and personal. 

"Maybe we can write a letter and have her ejected out of the community," said Orlias.

His son, Tyrell Kochon, wants to see the band council and the courts address the problem. 

"Just letting people in like that, into town, and here [we] have to take care of it and it wasn't even our problem in the first place. It's a little bit upsetting." 

Yukon court pivots after community outcry

The situation is similar to what happened earlier this month in Old Crow, Yukon. A Justice of the Peace in Yukon issued a release order that would have sent a convicted sex offender from a jail in Whitehorse to his home community of Old Crow. 

The Vuntut Gwitchin Government promptly declared a state of emergency to make it illegal for the individual to set foot on its lands, and its chief accused the court of putting his community at risk and ignoring its wishes. 

The following week, a different judge agreed to bail conditions that would require the offender to stay at a home in Whitehorse instead. He said the court didn't have the relevant information before agreeing to the original plan, and there was also "no legal impediment" to sending the individual to Old Crow at the time. 

At least one more person on bail

McCauley is not the only person to be released on bail to Colville Lake. 

Sonny Gully, 23, was released to the community on Aug. 2 after pleading guilty to two counts of assault causing bodily harm.

Gully was initially charged with aggravated assault after an attack on a woman in Tsiigehtchic in January 2021, and was released back to that community three days later. Three months later, he was charged with contacting the alleged victim twice — a violation of his bail conditions — and he was re-arrested. 

Again, days later, he was released — but this time to Fort Good Hope. 

In December 2021, Gully was charged with aggravated assault and for having a knife after an attack on a woman in Fort Good Hope. He is also charged in connection with an attack on a man in Fort McPherson.

Gully was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday, but the hearing was adjourned until November and he was released to Colville Lake. 

CBC News asked Behdzi Ahda First Nation Chief Wilbert Kochon in Colville Lake to comment on the situation, but did not hear back.