Attack on Native youth called hate crime

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A weekend outing to a "Moist" rock concert in Kamloops ended in a violent assault on several Aboriginal teens from the Chase area that some local people see as a hate-crime.

On Nov. 30, six young Aboriginal people, ranging in age from 15 to 20 years old, say they were assaulted by two Caucasian males during a series of three altercations that eventually landed four of the youths in the Royal Inland Hospital. One of the youths was knocked unconscious after being kicked in the face and repeatedly kicked in the back of his head. The blows left him laying in a large pool of blood. The victims claim their assailants hurled a variety of racial slurs at them during the incident.

Police were told that two Caucasian males directed racial slurs at two of the youths who claim they were provoked into two fist fights near the CN Rail parking lot near the downtown area. Two of the young people were girls, aged 17 and 15. They say they were also pinned to the ground, beaten and punched.

One Aboriginal male was hospitalized overnight with a concussion and facial injuries. Another male youth suffered injuries to his groin, but left before the police arrived. At the time of the incident, police officers interviewed bouncers at the Juke Box Jive nightclub, a place the two alleged assailants were seen entering after the third and most severe of the fights.

Native people in the area are angry that no arrests have been made. They say the police were given a description of a car - complete with licence plate numbers - that was traced to Golden, a town near the British Columbia/Alberta border.

Doreen Manuel, aunt of one of the youths, said when she called the constable in charge, Cory Quewezance of the Kamloops RCMP detachment, "he immediately implied that the youth were lying, that their stories conflicted, and therefore he did not take statements from them at the hospital."

Concerned that police were not taking the complaint seriously and that important information would be forgotten or lost as time passed, Neskonlith band lawyer Barbara Morin conducted interviews with each of the teens. Morin said the teens' stories flowed and made sense to her.

Manuel took photos and ensured that all the Native youth involved were examined by physicians. Manuel said after a lot of prompting on her part "formal interviews with the youth took place with the RCMP on December 6 at the Neskonlith Indian Band office."

Morin and Manuel were present for interviews with three of the youths. The lawyer said she felt the interview was poorly handled and that the police forgot to turn over the audiotape of one interview. She also said the officers used forceful interrogative tactics on the youths that they felt were not warranted, making the teens feel like the perpetrators of the alleged assault.

After discussions with psychologists, Manuel opted to set up a healing circle for the teens since several of the teens appeared to have been shaken by the incident. The young people all come from rural reserves near the Chase area and they told Manuel they have lost faith in the judicial system. One of the older youths refused to participate in the interview on Dec. 6 and did not want anything to do with the police.

On behalf of the youths, Manuel has filed a verbal report to the hate-crime unit in Vancouver, demanding they investigate the incident. In addition Manuel is filing an RCMP complaint. These departments are waiting for the final police report before continuing the investigation.

"The incident qualifies under two sections of the hate-crime [legislation]," Manuel said. "Factoring in the racial slurs and race differences and the age difference of those involved - the assailants were considerably older - so it qualifies under both these sections."

A community healing circle was organized by the Neskonlith Indian Band on Dec. 10 to assist the youths. The band has also established a time line and direction for counselling for the teens. Constable Quewezance, a his own request, attended the healing circle although the teens said they felt uncomfortable with his presence.

Some people who attended the healing circle claim Quewezance told the community members and youths he apologized for the RCMP handling of the case, but he later denied he said that.

United Native Nations President Viola Thomas called on Rick McKenna, an employee of the hate-crime unit established in 1997 by Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, to address "the issue to bring positive closure on behalf of Aboriginal youth who have been traumatized by the incident."