Starlight cruises topic of new NFB documentary

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When former Saskatoon Police Chief Dave Scott held a press conference in February of 2000 to announce an investigation into allegations that police officers were driving Aboriginal men out of the city and dropping them off in freezing temperatures, Saskatoon film-maker Tasha Hubbard wasn't sure what would come of it, but decided to send a crew out to film the proceedings. That decision started Hubbard on a project that would be four years in the making, a documentary about the Saskatoon Police Service and questions about whether members of the force were linked to the freezing deaths of three Aboriginal men.

The story in Two Worlds Colliding begins in February 2000. The bodies of two young Aboriginal men had been found frozen near a power plant on the outskirts of the city. The body of 25-year-old Rodney Naistus was found Jan. 29. The body of 29-year-old Lawrence Wegner was found a few days later on Feb. 3.

Darrell Night believes he knows what happened to these two men because he nearly met the same fate. On Jan. 28 he had been picked up by police, driven out to the power plant and left to find his way back home in sub-zero temperatures. Night walked to the power plant and got the attention of a security guard. Naistus and Wegner had not been so lucky.

Hubbard's documentary charts the fall-out after Night came forward with his story-the investigations and court case that result in two Saskatchewan Police officers, constables Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson, being found guilty of unlawful confinement for their treatment of Night, and the subsequent firing of Scott. No charges were laid in the deaths of Wegner and Naistus due to insufficient evidence.

The film also follows the case of Neil Stonechild, a 17-year-old Aboriginal man who had died in November 1990 under similar circumstances. Stonechild was last seen alive by a friend on Nov. 24. His body was found five days later. At the time police concluded their investigation of the case in three days. An RCMP investigation into Stonechild's death and the police handling of the case was launched after the Night case focused attention on these drop-offs, which according to the new police Chief Russell Sabo had been going on since the 1970s.

Saskatchewan Justice convened a commission of inquiry. The final report from that inquiry was released just last month on Oct. 26 and, although the inquiry didn't have the authority to find anyone responsible for the death of Neil Stonechild, inquiry chief commissioner David Wright concluded that Stonechild had been in police custody on Nov. 24, that when he was found he had marks and injuries on his body that were likely caused by handcuffs, and that the initial investigation by the Saskatchewan Police into Stonechild's death was "superficial and totally inadequate."

Following the release of the inquiry report the two officers who had taken Stonechild into custody, constables Larry Hartwig and Bradley Senger, were suspended from Saskatoon Police Service.

Hubbard brings a unique perspective to the documentary-her own personal experiences with two worlds coming together. Hubbard is Cree, her mother is from Peepeekisis First Nation, her father from Thunderchild First Nation. But when she was three months old, she was adopted by a white family and didn't even meet her birth parents until she was 16.

She didn't have a clear idea of exactly what she wanted to accomplish with her film until she was nearing the end of filming, she said.

"I think it was just I felt compelled, because there wasn't really anyone doing anything long-term with the story. And not in depth ... and that was more or less the driving force, is that it needs to be done."

As time went on and it became apparent that the families of Lawrence Wegner and Rodney Naistus weren't going to get any answers, that became a focus of the film, Tasha Hubbard explained.

"They still don't know. And I cannot imagine what that would be like. And I don't wnt people to forget that they're still waiting for those answers. That there's still the suggestion, within the Aboriginal community, there's still the suggestion, even the belief that there's police involvement. You know, for the families to live with that, day by day. I want people to be thinking about them and I want the RCMP to be thinking about them so that there is some movement towards some kind of answer for them.

"And in terms of the overall picture, I just wanted people who are watching the film to really think. Because a lot of what the film speaks of to me is how people view each other. How people view Aboriginal people. And I just want the people that watch it to think about that, to think about what they think about Aboriginal people and how they came about to have those thoughts so people question and challenge themselves."

Hubbard hadn't originally intended to include the Stonechild inquiry in her film. In fact she'd wrapped up filming in March 2003 and had already begun the editing process.

"And then the realization of how big the Stonechild story was shaping up to be, my producers and I talked it over and say, 'OK, well we're going to need to film that too, and figure out a way to fit that into the story."

Once the inquiry began, it also became apparent to Hubbard that she needed to film Cst. Hartwig's testimony at the inquiry. Long before the Stonechild inquiry was even a part of the film, Hartwig already was. When police Chief Sabo had taken over the reigns of the department one of the things he did was to create 10 new community liaison positions as a way to reach out to the Aboriginal community. Hartwig was one of those 10 and had agreed to talk to Hubbard.

As an officer whose job involved working closely with the city's Aboriginal community, the words he spoke during that initial interview seem well meaning, even noble. But given his later implication in the death of Stonechild, they take on a much different tone.

In the flm, Hartwig talks to Hubbard about the amount of authority police officers have, and the great responsibility that comes with it to never abuse that authority.

"We have the authority," he says on camera, "to literally destroy lives."

While the documentary touches on the stories of Night, Wegner, Naistus and Stonechild, including an interview with Night about his experience, it focuses particularly on Lawrence Wegner. In the film, Wegner's parents talk about their son's life and death, their loss, and their feelings of frustration as their many questions about how their son died remain unanswered.

While making the documentary Hubbard spoke to a number of people who had had negative experiences with the police but who didn't want to go on camera.

"But they were willing to talk about what had happened and how it had affected them. And I guess in a way Darrell [Night] kind of symbolizes those people ... their lives are changed by those instances. And it is traumatic, and it's not something you just forget about and get over. However, there needs to be also the idea that because it happened to them doesn't mean it needs to keep happening. And that's really one of Darrell's messages that came through the strongest, and even just sitting and talking to him, is it stops here. It stops now. And that's his hope, that coming forward means that things will change."