CHRIS SUNDEVIC PHOTO
Dakota Hunter's sister, Tiara, and mother, Cynthia, were among the family and friends who got out of their cars in Dakota's funeral procession to "run" his body home, as he had done for others, Sept. 3, 2009.
Dakota Hunter gained fame for resisting the gang life of Northern native communities
Sep 05, 2009 04:30 AM
Petti Fong
Western Canada Bureau
NELSON HOUSE, MAN.Dakota Hunter's end came at the bottom of a gentle sloping hill, his clothes torn off and set alight on a dry patch of grass, his blood soaking the ground in front of his aunt's house.
It was a brutal, senseless end to a life that had just entered its 18th year. It marked the end for a young man who resisted constant bullying in this remote northern Manitoba community, first learning to defend himself, then striving to become a symbol of a more peaceful future, despite his young years.
National television
exposure had made him the
most famous resident of Nelson House.
Last Sunday morning's
murder makes him its
most famous victim of violence.
....
Rod Hunter, a cousin who considers himself a brother to Dakota, said he has seen increasing gang activity in his community where bootlegging, drug running and addiction all play a part in the perpetual violence among young men.
At the airport in Winnipeg en route to his cousin's funeral, Rod said he looked down and realized he had to change.
"I was wearing a baby blue colour T-shirt and had to change out of it when I got off the plane," said Rod, a student in Vancouver. "These are things I don't think about but being back home, you're aware of what colours you can wear and what colours send a message." When Dakota Hunter left his house that night, he was wearing his favourite sweater, a red one, which had been ripped off his body during his beating. It was burned.
Hunter's family remains puzzled about why his sweater and shoes were set on fire, but his sister suspects it may have been an initiation that her brother was trying to resist.
Among those friends and family gathered at the Hunter home over the past week, the
focus has been on forgiveness.
"There are three young men lost here," said Dakota's mother Cynthia as she paused in front of a memorial in the backyard. "We have to forgive them and find understanding." A fire keeper sleeps beside a bowl of loose tobacco in front of Dakota's photograph to make sure a burning flame isn't extinguished.
Thursday, the family travelled in a cavalcade of 20 cars to bring Dakota's body home.
Ralph Beardy, Dakota's father, was up north when he learned about his boy's death but made it back to Thompson in time to see his son's body loaded onto the back of an SUV. "It made me sick to hear what happened," said Beardy, clutching photos of his son.
With the family, Beardy followed the 80-kilometre journey to take Dakotaback to Nelson House.
Inside the young man's room after his death, his family found the reason why Dakota had been working so hard to make extra money. Secretly, he had purchased two rings for his girlfriend, a symbol of the hope he had for his future.
Outside the junction off the highway into the village, the procession stopped.
Out of respect, people in the village lined the side of the road, including relatives of the two young men charged in the death.
As
Dakota himself had done for others in his role as a runner, his family got out of their cars, and
surrounding the body, ran in unison towards home.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/691344
bless His heart 
