Stonechild book launch cancelled; pals relieved
Book aimed at clearing police was to launch on anniversary of teen’s death
SASKATOON — A local business has cancelled the launch of a book seeking to exonerate police officers implicated in the Neil Stonechild case after learning it would fall on the 25th anniversary of the teen’s freezing death.
“We were not aware of that. If we had been aware, we would not have allowed it,” McNally Robinson Booksellers general manager Helen MacPherson said Sunday. After speaking with her staff, she called back 20 minutes later to say they’d cancelled the event.
“Obviously this (timing) is totally inappropriate, and we have cancelled the event out of respect for his family and the community,” McNally events coordinator Marcy Hildebrand said.
Stonechild’s friends say author Candis McLean should have known launching on that day was extremely disrespectful and are grateful McNally Robinson has “done the right thing.” They’ve planned a traditional feast Wednesday to celebrate Stonechild’s life and hope it can now proceed without distraction.
“I really appreciate McNally seeing this for what it was,” said friend and feast organizer Jason Roy. “We just want to honour Neil. He’s gone, but his life made a difference to this city.”
Stonechild’s best friend, Jeff Crowe, agreed. “I’m glad they stopped it.”
Crowe and Roy began planning the feast a couple of months ago after receiving the blessing of Stonechild’s mother, Stella Bignell. Crowe said late November has become “pretty difficult for me and my family” as the images of Stonechild’s frozen, battered body come rushing back. He hopes the feast will create new memories.
The event takes place at St. Thomas Wesley Church on Avenue H and 20th Street Wednesday at approximately 5:30. There will be prayers and speakers sharing stories about the young man. They plan to serve elk, deer and moose soups, but also some of Stonechild’s favourite foods such as hash browns.
Anyone who is alcohol and drugfree and “comes with a good heart” will be welcome, Roy said.
Roy recently heard about the book — When Police Become Prey: the cold, hard facts of Neil Stonechild’s freezing death. It follows a documentary of the same name several years ago. He was saddened to hear the chosen timing of the launch. Despite the cancellation of the Wednesday book launch, a news conference appears to be going ahead Tuesday. It will be hosted by MacLean and Larry Hartwig, one of the officers found to have been with Stonechild before he died. Hartwig always denied having contact with Stonechild.
“I am afraid it is going to be very embarrassing for some,” Hartwig posted on Facebook over the weekend. “I really wish it didn’t turn out this way but now that the real story is starting to be told, I have no intention of being quiet anymore.”
Roy, who last saw Stonechild in the back of a police car yelling for help, said he has stopped hoping Hartwig and partner Brad Senger will take responsibility.
“If you won’t do that, then just be quiet. Let us move on,” Roy said. “This author, she’s breeding hate and division again in our community by bringing all this up.” He is sure McLean and Hartwig know the significance of the date, and said it’s offensive they’d try to use it to garner attention.
McLean said she didn’t know it was the 25th anniversary of Stonechild’s death and the timing was “coincidental.” She says she hoped to launch the book Nov. 12 — the 11th anniversary of Senger and Hartwig’s firings. It couldn’t happen that quickly so the new date was chosen.
She criticized Roy and others for trying to discredit her work. McLean said her goal “is to have two innocent men exonerated” and is calling for another independent investigation.
“What happened to this young kid is a terrible tragedy, but this is not about Neil Stonechild,” she said.
Hartwig and Senger were fired in 2004. A coroner’s inquest found they had the 17-year-old in their custody before he froze to death in 1990, even though they had not recorded the interaction in their log books. The inquest concluded that marks on the teen’s wrists and two parallel scratches on his nose could have been caused by a pair of handcuffs. The firings were upheld by a hearing officer and the Saskatchewan Police Commission.
The case of Stonechild and three aboriginal men who froze to death outside the city in 2000, as well as an archived newspaper column joking about the police practice of “starlight tours” provoked local protests and international outrage. Racial and class tensions increased. In the years since, sweeping changes to policing and other sectors have taken place. Roy and many others involved in the cases say there is still work to be done, but things have improved.