Emails show a specialized RCMP team was not immediately available to respond to a stabbing rampage and manhunt in Saskatchewan because of contract negotiations.

Eleven people were killed and 17 were injured as 32-year-old Myles Sanderson moved from home to home on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon just over a year ago.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show Ottawa’s Emergency Response Team-Special Activities Group was initially offered to help Saskatchewan Mounties.

But an email from Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, the commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, says the team was not available as it was “in between contracts.”

RCMP headquarters says in an email that the team was deployed at some point, but would not say how long it was delayed.

The National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP officers, says it cannot comment.

James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Burns says he still gets very emotional looking back on the mass killing.

He says it would be a travesty if there were any delay in resources that could have stopped the killer.