Top row, left, Jack Piché, Hoss Lightning Saddleback, Tammy Bateman. Centre left, Jason West, Daniel Knife, Steve Dedam. Lower left, Ronald Skunk, Jon Wells, lower right, Joseph Desjarlais. All were killed in police interactions.
APTN News: An Alberta MP is calling for a national inquiry into the recent spate of First Nations people dying during or after interactions with police across the country.
“I think we need a national inquiry into police conduct,” NDP MP Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach) told APTN News. “Whether it’s municipal police forces or provincial police forces or national police force. We’re seeing this taking place in a way of a pattern, there’s a real pattern, we can identify, we can see it.”
Desjarlais is from Fishing Lake First Nation and said he understands the fear that has rippled through Indigenous communities.
“It makes me scared personally because I know from growing up in an Indigenous community stories of being told to run when you see police when you’re growing up in a reserve home and you see them coming down the road, they tell the kids to run away,” Desjarlais said.
“Children like me who grew up at that time and I’m sure it’s the same today our families are still fearful of the police, the outcome with the consequences of police not being held accountable is mistrust and worse. It’s Injustice.”
Desjarlais said he’s calling for an inquiry after the police involved death of Jon Wells, 42, of Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe) at the hands of the Calgary police. He said he hasn’t spoken to the family yet.
According to Calgary police, Wells died after officers tried to “de-escalate” a situation with Wells who was “acting erratically” and “not cooperative” at a hotel in the city.
But the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), a provincial organization that investigates police when members of the public are injured or killed by them, issued a statement based on the body camera footage taken from the officers. It paints a very different picture of Wells’ death.
According to ASIRT, “At no point during the interaction had the male (Wells) been identified, nor was he ever told he was being detained or under arrest,” the ASIRT release said. Tasers were deployed by two of the officers and a third can be seen punching him in the head.
While lying face down and restrained, Wells is then observed bleeding from the mouth and vomiting. A spit mask is put over his head.
Emergency responders arrived and injected Wells with a sedative, the release says, about seven minutes after he was handcuffed.
“This is administered to the male while he is still lying face down. The male is then left face down in handcuffs, leg restraints and a spit mask for about another three minutes until it is noted that he is unresponsive. The male was then provided medical care but declared deceased at the scene,” ASIRT said.
Wells’ death is still under investigation. APTN reached out to ASIRT to ask if the body camera footage would be released and was told ‘no.’
The Wells family issued a statement on Friday.
“Jon was a loving father, son, grandson, brother, uncle, nephew and friend to many,” the statement said. “His dedication to his family and community was unwavering, and his impact on the youth he mentored was profound. Jon’s passion for horses and rodeo led him to become a well-known cowboy, travelling across Canada and the United States to compete in various events.
“Jon received his post secondary education and graduated from the Criminal Justice diploma program from the Lethbridge College, now Polytech in 2011, Jon was in the process of pursuing his degree in the Criminal Justice program.”
His burial took place this week according to social media posts by his family. The ceremony saw cowgirls and cowboys from the Blood Tribe Ag Society, where he was a well-respected past president, follow his procession.
Kainai Nation chief and council issued a statement Friday that said they would “pursue every path towards the administration of accountability.”
“In addition to other measures, we will be filing a formal complaint against the three officers involved,” the statement said, “and demand a thorough and transparent investigation.”
The three officers involved in the incident are on “standard” 30 day leave according to the Calgary police.
APTN reached out to Alberta Health Services to ask about paramedics and the administering of a sedative in this situation.
“AHS EMS responded to this call and provided onsite medical care,” wrote a spokesperson with AHS. “We are currently reviewing the details of this call and will assist ASIRT in their investigation.
“EMS treats each patient individually. As this case is under review, we cannot speak to individual treatment decisions at this time.”
AHS didn’t say whether the paramedics conduct is subject to review or whether they are on active duty.
Nine deaths of First Nations people
Since Aug. 29, nine First Nations people have died when coming in contact with either the RCMP – or municipal forces in Canada. Eight men and one woman. Two died while in control of police or in hospital later, five were shot, two were run over by police cruisers.
Assembly of First Nations Chief, Cindy Woodhouse-Nepinak met with federal Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc on Sept. 25 about the number of officer involved deaths, telling the minister First Nations families needed a commitment to systemic change to address the failures in the justice system that have led to the loss of lives.
“We appreciate the recognition of this critical issue, but words must now lead to action and reform,” Woodhouse said on Facebook. “First Nations require reforms including increased police accountability, de-escalation training, improved cultural sensitivity training, and greater First Nations involvement in policing and oversight agencies.”
Woodhouse urged collaboration with First Nations, something Leblanc agreed to.
“We recognize that recent officer-involved fatal incidents in Indigenous communities have been incredibly difficult for community members, and most of all the loved ones of the deceased. Our thoughts are with them,” said a spokesperson from Leblanc’s office.
“Since 2018, we have invested significantly to bolster the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP) to further increase access to dedicated, culturally responsive policing services in First Nations communities. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we will get there through ongoing collaboration and frank, open dialogue.
“The RCMP is fully cooperating with the independent police oversight bodies in all regions where the tragic incidents occurred and will keep me apprised of the events and the outcomes of this work.”
APTN reached out to Leblanc’s office and asked about holding a national inquiry but they wouldn’t comment.
The meeting between Woodhouse and Leblanc comes ten days after an emergency debate was held in the House of Commons at the request of NDP MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut), when the number of deaths stood at six. The debate saw discussion of Bill C-20, now before a Senate committee for consideration. The bill would establish a new Public Complaints and Review Commission for the RCMP.
Police watchdog agencies continue to investigate all incidents across the country. None have been finalized.
‘Where were they?
One First Nations advocate with knowledge of the inner workings of the Calgary Police Service is Marilyn North Peigan. She was the first First Nations person to serve on the Calgary Police Commission, leaving in 2022.
“One of the things that was worked on especially with the Calgary Police Service are the Indigenous mobilizers. In this situation that’s what those mobilizers were meant to actually do in this kind of crisis situation. And my question is, where were they when this was happening?”
According to the Calgary Police Service website, the Mobile Response Team (MRT) was expanded in 2020.
“The MRT provides CPS members consultation with mental health professionals to support decision-making with respect to mental health apprehensions. It also supports community partners in crisis response.” The MRT is said to be in operation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
North Peigan told APTN reform of policing practices poses a variety of challenges.
“They’re understaffed, the experience isn’t there, the turnover is quite high, especially in the upper ranks of the RCMP and Calgary Police Service. There is some inexperience there that we have to actually acknowledge.”
North Peigan says what is happening to Indigenous people through policing comes from the systems imposed on them.
“Especially here in the Calgary area through policing. And its just a reflection of that truth of why police forces were brought here to begin with, which was to take care of the ‘Indian problem.’
“We have to understand we’re still dealing with colonial systems which are based and rooted within that type of culture and mentality. So, can we truly reform systems that are built within that, or do we have to restructure the whole thing? This is just a prime example why we need to change the system entirely.”
‘If he was a white man…’
A recent analysis of race-based data shows Calgary police used a disproportionate amount of force against Indigenous and Black individuals in the city last year.
The Calgary Police Service made a commitment to collect and report on race-based data in 2020.
The findings, in two reports released at the Calgary Police Commission, showed that when it comes to use of force, Indigenous women and men along with Black males were overrepresented compared with their population totals.
Use of force includes stuns and strikes, dynamic takedowns, leg restraints, spit masks, restraint rings as well as the use of batons, pepper spray, conducted energy weapons, bean bag guns and firearms.
Brandon University Sociology professor, Chris Schneider said changing the system could be a tough sell to the general public.
“It’s sad and horrible, and I feel like a broken record, but unfortunately, we’re going to see more of this kind of stuff.”
“The evidence shows us, the data shows us that Indigenous people are disproportionately at the receiving end of police violence. We can speculate then based on evidence, or draw from that, if it was a white man, the likelihood of police using force and the person dying as a result of that probably would be less. If the guy was white, probably not, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and Jon Wells would be alive,” Schneider said.
Meanwhile, Marilyn North Peigan finds Jon Wells death especially difficult to accept.
“My heart really goes out to the Wells family because I’m from Piikani and we’re very closely connected with Kainai. I really felt this here,” she said.
With files from the Canadian Press