ROYAL COMMISSION
FSIN leaders push for changes to justice system
First Nations leaders in Saskatchewan say a royal commission is “urgently needed” to examine the inequalities Indigenous people face in the justice system.
Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) told reporters Friday in Saskatoon that the not guilty verdicts in the trial of Gerald Stanley in Battleford and Raymond Cormier in Winnipeg — each of whom was accused of murdering young Indigenous people — raise serious questions about the roles of the police, justice and child welfare systems.
The focus of a royal commission needs to be on decisions that were made within those systems in the handling of the deaths of Colten Boushie, 22, and Tina Fontaine, 15, and the non-Indigenous men accused of killing them — not on the Indigenous people, as if the problems laid with them, Cameron said.
“We’ve had inquiries, we’ve had royal commissions doing studies, but we’ve been studied to death,” he said.
As an example, Cameron noted that a Crown prosecutor asked witnesses to the Boushie killing who had gone swimming with him that day and whether it was a satisfying swim.
“What does that have to do with anything?” he said.
Such a commission needs to hear from First Nations people, their elders and leaders, who already know what the solutions are, Cameron said, adding that changes are needed sooner rather than later and Indigenous people need to have meaningful involvement in directing the change.
“It’s about First Nations inclusion. It’s about First Nations being at the table ... We have to be there. We represent close to 20 per cent of Saskatchewan’s population.”
A royal commission needs to look at the RCMP and the justice system, including peremptory challenges in jury selection, and needs to explore issues as diverse as policing, prosecutions, education, health care, mental health care and employment, to see how inequitable treatment and services lead toward high rates of Indigenous people ending up involved in the justice system, vice chief David Pratt said.
Pratt also pointed to Friday’s court hearing for the La Loche young man who shot and killed four people there two years ago, saying it “underscores the need for more mental health investment in the north.”
Having a mental health worker visit a northern community one day per week is not enough, he said.
“They need those investments.” Pratt said the Stanley verdict was “a catalyst” to communication with Premier Scott Moe and several cabinet ministers.
“We feel like there wasn’t much of a relationship under the previous leadership of Premier Wall in terms of engagement or working together or trying to advance the issues ... Now with Premier Moe and the new government, the cabinet ministers, there’s some good dialogue happening and I think we can find some ways forward,” Pratt said.
“We now have their personal phone numbers. We didn’t have that before. I was still waiting for (a meeting with a) minister for 110 days, but now we’re having those meetings.”