Gitanyow leaders ‘outraged’ as latest move further delays Prince George constable’s sentencing for obstruction of justice
Content warning: This article contains details about police violence. Please read with care for your spirit.
Indiginews: Lawyers for a “Prince George” Mountie convicted of obstruction in the death of Dale Culver are calling for a stay of proceedings — a “legal maneuver” that has “outraged” Gitanyow leaders.
The 35-year-old Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en man died in police custody in 2017, sparking an investigation by the province’s police watchdog.
In July, a judge found Const. Arthur Dalman guilty of obstruction of justice for ordering bystanders to delete cellphone footage of Culver’s violent arrest.
It was the only guilty verdict in the case. But just three weeks later, Dalman’s lawyers applied for a stay of proceedings, arguing his Charter rights were breached, including the right to a trial within a reasonable time.
The B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirmed the Aug. 16 filing to IndigiNews, stating in an email that “this application, unfortunately, will delay the sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.”
According to the Supreme Court of B.C., 28 months is considered a “reasonable time” for a trial. Dalman’s case lasted more than 80 months, and his latest legal application won’t be heard until next spring, prosecutors noted.
The application has outraged Culver’s family.
“After seven long years, an officer was finally held accountable,” said Culver’s cousin Debbie Pierre, in a Gitanyow press release on Sept. 26. “He must not escape justice on a technicality.”
‘I can’t breathe’
On July 18, 2017, Prince George RCMP officers chased Culver for cycling without a helmet and refusing to stop, according to an April 5 document from BCPS, adding that officers had been looking for a “Caucasian” man “on foot looking in cars,” who they alleged “might have a partner on a bicycle.”
When approached by a police officer shortly after 10 p.m., Culver — who the BCPS noted was “visibly Indigenous,” not the Caucasian suspect — fled on his bicycle until the officer pulled him backwards off his bike, injuring Culver’s arm.
During his arrest, multiple officers punched, kicked and kneed him violently, including one who pepper-sprayed his own glove and “placed the glove over Mr. Culver’s mouth,” prosecutors said.
Within 30 minutes — after telling officers, “I can’t breathe” — Culver died.
Last year — six years after his death — the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of B.C. recommended manslaughter charges for Const. Paul Ste-Marie and Const. Jean Francois Monette, and obstruction of justice charges for Dalman, Sgt. Jon Eusebio Cruz, and Const. Clarence Alexander MacDonald.
All but Dalman’s charges were dropped, however.
The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, in a statement last week, called police a “racist institution” in need of a “fundamental overhaul” in the country.
“We are committed to holding the officers responsible for Dale’s death accountable,” said the group’s executive director Sk’a’nism Tsa ‘Win’Giit (Joel Starlund), “while also pushing for broader systemic changes to prevent further tragedies.”
Ongoing and disproportionate deaths
Dalman’s request for a stay of proceedings comes amidst increased scrutiny of a disproportionate number of Indigenous people’s deaths at police hands across the country.
Over just 11 days from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9, at least six Indigenous people — including one Youth — were killed by police or died in their custody across “Canada,” according to research by Jaad Gudgihljiwah (Michaela McGuire) for the Yellowhead Institute.
As a percentage of the country’s population, it’s the equivalent of 114 non-Indigenous people dying in the same timeframe.
“The dehumanization of Indigenous peoples is reflected in the indifference of Canadians today,” wrote McGuire, a Simon Fraser University criminology doctoral student and Haida Nation member. “So much so that our deaths become merely passing bylines.”
Starlund, with Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, said Culver’s death more than seven years ago is a reminder it’s “not just about one case,” but about “the ongoing injustices faced by Indigenous communities across the country.”
Since 2020, data collected by the IIO shows Indigenous people represent between 18 to 30 per cent of cases it investigated, despite making up only six per cent of the province’s population.
The provincial justice ministry created the IIO in 2012 as a civilian-led agency to investigate police incidents resulting in death or serious harm. A public inquiry called for the independent watchdog’s creation after RCMP officers’ 2007 killing of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport.
That inquiry’s final report also argued against the B.C. Prosecution Service — which is overseen by the province’s justice ministry — deciding on criminal charges against police, because of “pivotal concerns about conflict of interest, public distrust, and an undermining of public confidence in the police and in our justice system.”
In an earlier interview, the former IIO Chief Civilian Director, Ronald MacDonald, told IndigiNews the inquiry’s recommendation about who should approve charges against police was “important” and “something that I believe needs to change” — referring to the inquiry’s conclusion that “because prosecutors work with police every day, there is at least the appearance of conflict,” MacDonald said.
“It’s a critically important issue that we discuss whether oversight cases in this country are being properly handled by prosecutors,” he added.
‘We will not rest until justice is served’
After provincial prosecutors dropped all but Dalman’s charges over Culver’s death, B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee said Indigenous people are “still grappling with a system designed to maintain power and control and is deeply rooted in colonialism, discrimination and injustice,” according to a July 31 statement from the First Nations Leadership Council.
“First Nations are calling for a justice overhaul,” Teegee said, including a national strategy for First Nations justice — developed in collaboration with First Nations — to address the “systemic violence against racialized people in Canada.”
For Culver’s cousin Pierre, she’s fed up with what she described as the system protecting its own.
“We will not rest until justice is served for Dale and all Indigenous peoples who have lost their lives in police custody,” she said. “Canada must confront this crisis head-on, beginning with accountability for the officers responsible for Dale’s death.”