Toronto Star: When is this going to stop?
Two weeks ago the Calgary Police Service revealed that three of its members are under investigation by an outside agency for their treatment of an Indigenous man — Jon Wells — who died in a well-appointed hotel lobby.
This was the ninth such death across Canada in a month. It sounds shocking that so many Indigenous people would die after being involved with the police. Surely, if that had happened with any other group there would be angry calls for a public inquiry. But in Canada it doesn’t work that way. We accept these deaths as just the way it is.
All the deaths are being investigated by independent police oversight agencies so we will get the results in a few weeks. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is investigating Wells’s death.
But in the meantime grieving families wait for some kind of explanation of what happened.
According to ASIRT, city police were called to a respectable hotel in the city’s suburbs on Sept. 17 — staff wanted a man removed from their lobby. Citing body camera evidence, ASIRT said the man was attacked and Tasered by three policemen before he had been identified and told he was under arrest. He later died on the hotel lobby floor face down, bleeding from the mouth and vomiting. Wells was 42years-old and a well-respected member of the Kanai Nation in southern Alberta.
In another case, 15-year-old Hoss Lightning Saddleback was shot by RCMP on Aug. 30 after an altercation in Wetaskiwin, about an hour’s drive from the Maskwacis First Nation. His grandmother, Nadalie Lightning, still doesn’t understand what happened, according to Alberta journalist Brandi Morin writing for Al Jazeera.
The circumstances of the other deaths are varied: three individuals died in Saskatchewan; a man was hit by a police cruiser; another was shot during an armed standoff; and a man died after a police chase. A woman was killed in Manitoba by an RCMP police cruiser. A man in Windsor, was shot and killed by city police. Also in Ontario, a man died in hospital after being arrested by Ontario Provincial Police. And a man was shot by RCMP in the New Brunswick.
Indigenous people make up five per cent of the population but16 per cent of deaths involving police. The statistics for Indigenous persons imprisoned is just as alarming: 30 per cent of federal corrections population; and an average of 42 per cent of provincial corrections. Out of five provinces that provided data to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan and Alberta had the highest rate of Indigenous people in prison.
The relationship between the RCMP and Indigenous people has a long history. In the West, the RCMP is responsible for all policing outside of the large cities. Originally called the North West Mounted Police, the force was instrumental in establishing the settler population in what are now Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. When the NWMP evolved into what is now known as the RCMP it was charged with enforcing government policies, such as The Indian Act and the residential school system.
It’s been a complex relationship ever since as the RCMP was given responsibility for law enforcement on approximately 600 First Nations. It has been roundly criticized for its treatment of women, especially Indigenous women. In 2019, it was reprimanded for not taking seriously the disappearance or murder of Indigenous women and girls after a commission held hearings and issued a report.
We will eventually hear exactly what happened in all these recent cases. The results will be released as each investigation concludes.
But then what happens? Will there be some sort of investigation that links all the cases? Will we hear if the RCMP and municipal police forces need to change their attitude toward Indigenous people? Will there be any charges laid against police officers? Or will all these deaths be simply forgotten? After all, it is the Canadian way.
GILLIAN STEWARD
GILLIAN STEWARD IS A CALGARY WRITER AND JOURNALIST, AND FORMER MANAGING EDITOR OF THE CALGARY HERALD. SHE IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST FOR THE STAR.