Letter to the editor: Call for change

Would you say we’re in a pickle? Social unrest, disease, financial hardship all hit marginalized groups the hardest. All of these have been present in our world for a long time, latent, beneath the surface. Largely ignored, except by those feeling the pain directly and consistently, having no voices nor the strength or means to cry out.

The big difference lately is that so much more of the population now surprisingly find themselves in the category of have-not-much. The nature of the margin is that few resources are there that would affect resilience. Where to next if it gets any worse? Off the page of course, where nothing here is any longer relevant. But to live constantly on the edge of extinction carries a price and we are paying now for those we have been leaving behind. We have been too slow in learning that we are all one, that we are each only one or two misfortunes away from life in the margins ourselves despite our best effort or intentions.

Current world events have put us all very in similar boats, forcing us to look for permanent and fair solutions. Social unrest is always expensive but especially now with other evils appearing at once, and we so unprepared despite the writing on the wall for centuries.

In our view police brutality based on race is not the problem so much as recruitment of bullies who of course target vulnerable individuals. Most police are not sufficiently trained to deal with persons being difficult and have short fuses. Some officers will not hesitate to weaponize the authority given for performing their work.

In my personal experience auditing government services in rural Alberta for inclusion in a national Aboriginal T & R (Truth and Reconciliation) study, I found the legal system in general was hardest on people who could not afford a lawyer and had no ability to speak for themselves. What chance do such have? Aboriginals, whose general world view clashes hardest with the indignities and dehumanizing effects of ALL systems, are very disadvantaged in such convoluted environments, ill-equipped and too poorly supported to navigate the contradictions and inconsistencies. The intimidation is real, the fear can have traumatizing permanent effects and usually does.

There are bad examples in every field of work. In my opinion the RCMP, due to challenges in recruiting, end up sending bad actors with repeat or serious complaints to the out-of-theway places, many of which are populated by Aboriginals. Here they have no oversight and all manner of abuses take place. Without consequences, moving perpetrators around without addressing the root patterns of behavior causes the issues to then become routine, unsolvable, and “systemic.” Important to note that few of the concerns, in my opinion, would likely be solved by body cameras.

Our research also showed there was quick study of loopholes around any rules. The more complaints, the more practiced and shrewder the subjects became. The RCMP complaint procedures leave much to be desired as evidenced by the head Alberta Mountie opining there was nothing wrong in the videorecorded procedure that the Chipewan chief was subjected to in Fort Mac. “Nothing to see here folks, move along.” That was a severe and unjustified attack that any child would recognize as wrong. To pass it off as anything other is telling about the attitude that pervades in the Mountie culture.

Pursuant to our research, because we are Metis, the Francois Bruneau Foundation for Fairness and Equality was the first Aboriginal group to suggest and act on forming a third-party National Registry for RCMP complaints by Aboriginals. To do so we are thrilled to be working with the Congress of Aboriginal People and the Assembly of First Nations and looking forward to helping return the RCMP to a police “SERVICE” rather than a police “force.”

Dallas Haywood President, Bruneau Foundation

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