‘Joke’ email by police fuels human rights complaint

Thunder Bay news release angers First Nations

It began with a “joke” news release, meant to be sent to only Thunder Bay police.

“Fresh Mouth Killer Captured!!” the subject line declared, with a half-written email below it, including a misspelled joke about “Scope.”

The email referenced a real investigation into a man’s slaying. Adam Yellowhead was found dead in an area frequented by people who use mouthwash to get drunk.

Then, the officer who wrote the release accidentally sent it to Thunder Bay media Sept. 1.

“It was disturbing,” said Johnny Yellowhead, chief of Nibinamik First Nation and a nephew of the slain man.

“My relatives were so upset. My aunts were asking, ‘How could they? Are they trying to hurt people?’ ”

Yellowhead and two other local chiefs, supported by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), have launched a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

The complaint names Det. John Read, who allegedly sent the fake release, deputy police chief Andy Hay, chief J.P. Levesque and the police services board as respondents.

Police not only reinforced harmful stereotypes about First Nations, the complaint alleges, they denied the email was racist in nature.

The fake release was retracted seconds later. Levesque said there would be an internal investigation into the “inappropriate” email. By no means, Levesque said, was this a “racial issue.”

Mayor Keith Hobbs, a member of the police services board, told media at the time the release had been “blown out of proportion.”

The lawyer for the complainants, Julian Falconer, said this response trivialized the family’s concerns.

“This could have played out very differently had the police leadership, in my view, not completely mishandled this,” he said.

NAN Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler questioned why this kind of humour would be acceptable within the police service.

“For a senior officer to put this on the news release template and circulate it, I think that speaks volumes,” he said. “(Police) are not expecting to be held accountable.”

But after announcing the complaint this week, Fiddler said he fears their concerns are still being dismissed.

Police executive officer Chris Adams on Tuesday called the complaint “insulting.”

In an interview Thursday, Adams said he was simply taken by surprise by the complaint. Police had apologized to NAN and the Yellowhead family, he said.

“I believed we were working towards a solution to resolve this thing,” he said, adding they take the complaint seriously.

The mayor said every workplace has its share of inappropriate emails. Hobbs, a former police association president, denied the email was making a joke of a man’s death.

“It was naming a suspected killer. Police worldwide, for years, have been giving handles to killers, like Jack the Ripper,” he said.

His concern at this point was mending the strained relationship between First Nations, the city and police, he said.

“I personally have done a lot to build relationships and bridges in the community,” he said.

“I don’t want to see that undone.”