Shemick’s father, Richard, 66, was a self-employed painter and had recently retired. Dealing with arthritis, he had chosen to spend six months of the year in a warm climate and six months of the year in Canada with his children and grandchildren. On November 5, Richard was shot dead in the cottage he had built himself. “Two guys on a motorcycle pulled up to his property with a shotgun, exchanged words, got into a fight and shot him,” Semik said. “He called me while he was being rushed to the hospital. He was extremely weak and simply told me “They tried to kill me”. That’s basically the last I’ve heard of him.” The family has been told that the bullet hit a major artery in Richard’s leg and the hospital does not have enough blood to treat him. He has already undergone two rounds of surgery and his family is desperate to bring him back to Canada to receive medical care. The family reached out to Global Affairs Canada, but say they haven’t received much information in response and haven’t heard back since Thursday. Even if family members were to travel to South America, they would need help from the government to bring Matusiak home because of his condition. “Know that you’re begging your country to help get him home safe, at least on Canadian soil, so he can get what he needs (but) not hear back, or know for four days if he’s still alive, if it’s OK,” said Christina Ponder, Richard’s daughter-in-law. Global Affairs Canada released a statement to CTV News saying the department is “aware of a Canadian citizen in need of assistance in Paraguay. Consular officials are in contact with local authorities to obtain more information and are in contact with the family to provide consular assistance.” The department said no further information could be released for privacy reasons. The family has also been in touch with the office of the local MP, Sukh Dhaliwal. On Sunday, Dhaliwal told CTV News that his office would resume Global Affairs on Monday morning. “I’ll be in Ottawa tomorrow and I’ll make sure I have a word with the Minister personally as well,” Dhaliwal said.
