Year starts with an 'uproar' in the Aboriginal community

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I have never seen anything like this in my life, everyday in the newspaper there has been something new and different that deals with the Aboriginal community.

Whether it's casinos, political debates on "racist hiring initiatives" or a major RCMP investigation, the non-Aboriginal media sure know how to make money off us. The media's portrayal of Native people in Saskatchewan has just been getting worse in the first two months of 2000. However, the media's portrayal of Native people is not the main reason why I'm writing this column. I thought we'd look at the most recent events which took place here in Saskatchewan.

First, Jim Pankiw, a Reform MP for the Saskatoon-Humbolt district, had the guts to make his views on Native people public. Pankiw wrote a letter (Dec. 6) to Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jack Hillson, and University of Saskatchewan President Peter McKinnon about their partnership agreement to increase the percentage of Aboriginal people employed at the U of S. In the letter, he calls the program a "racist hiring initiative" and compared people who would push such a program to "modern day Klansmen."

Pankiw obviously didn't know what he was getting into when he wrote the letter. Now he's the most hated politician by Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan. He recently debated Jack Hillson in front of 300 university students who all booed him off the stage like they would a bad performance from Chester Knight. Surprisingly, Pankiw continued to stand by his comments, which angered many people who were expecting an apology.

Now that Pankiw's story has died out, "The Big Freeze" - which is how the Brier, the national curling championship tournament, has been promoted - is the biggest thing people have been talking about here during the month of February. Considering the fury created by the discovery of the bodies of two Aboriginal men, Laurence Wagner and Rodney Naistus, who were found frozen near the Queen Elizabeth II Power Station on January 29 and February 3, the name "Big Freeze" takes on an ironic and sardonic meaning.

The chief of the Saskatoon police force, Dave Scott, called for an internal investigation into his own police department after an Aboriginal man, Darrell Knight, filed a complaint saying he was taken out of town by police officers, abandoned near the same power plant and told to walk back to the city. Knight's complaint came the same week the two bodies were found outside of the power plant.

Later, Scott would change his mind and have the Regina RCMP come in to investigate the case. Scott would also have the two police officers, Ken Munson and Daniel Hatchen (who drove Knight outside city limits) suspended for 30 days with pay.

Since then, Saskatoon has turned into a soap opera of its own . . . who says nothing ever happens in Saskatchewan? When Native leaders of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations were informed the RCMP were going to investigate the case, the FSIN called for a public inquiry instead of having a "police on police" investigation, or a possible cover up. The Assembly of First Nations has also called for a public inquiry, as have students of Saskatchewan Indian Federated College where Laurence Wagner attended.

Students from S.I.F.C. and the University of Saskatchewan held a peaceful vigil in remembrance of Rodney Naistus and their late student, Laurence Wagner, which attracted national attention.

They walked from the S.I.F.C. campus in Saskatoon to the Saskatoon police headquarters downtown; when they arrived everyone started rounddancing and blocking traffic on 4th Ave. Many people came carrying signs showing their emotions. One read, "I'm Scared to walk at Night." Another that caught a lot of attention said, "Two Dead Natives = 30 Day Holiday with Pay." Another read, "Racism Kills, Kill Racism."

Two weeks into the investigation, two more Aboriginal men were found dead, one in his apartment, and the other outside the apartment. This happened aftr the police threw then in the drunk tank the night before. Here's where it gets suspicious: the police gave the men cab fare to get back to the apartment the next day, and later that day, they were found dead by police. The other questions are, why wouldn't Chief Dave Scott release the names of Munson and Hatchen to the media at the time of their suspensions? Why did it take another police officer in the force, to release their names? It's not like they were teenage criminals under the Young Offenders Act.

Three weeks into the investigation, another case was re-opened, in the 1990 death of 17-year-old Neil Stonechild, who was found frozen to death in the north industrial area of Saskatoon. Witnesses last saw him in the custody of police. The fact that his frozen body was found on the outskirts of Saskatoon attracted little public attention. The police claim he was on his way to the correctional centre to turn himself in and lost his shoe and jacket on the way there and froze in -30 degree weather. This is outrageous, who is supposed to believe that? It's like robbing a corner store, and halfway home, your guilty conscience suddenly comes to mind, and you decide to go back to the store to return the money and surrender to police, to only find out you're not going to jail, but 10 miles out of town to freeze to death.

This whole drama is like a movie that is so predictable. Everybody has strong reason to believe that it was the two senior officers, Munson and Hatchen, who drove Wagner and Naistus out of town, their bodies were later found frozen to death. However, the police will always deny the fact that the deaths of Wagner and Naistus have any direct connection to the complaint filed by Darrel Knight, which told the exact same story. As for the two other Aboriginal men whose bodies were found at their apartment after being driven home from the police station...no one knows who to connect their deaths to.

Since the controversy began, every two weeks in Saskatoon thre has been a vigil by the Aboriginal community, calling for a public inquiry, and organizers won't stop the vigils until a public inquiry is held. My advice is to stop having vigils and start having riot. If not, hold a vigil on 8th Street and upset the thousands of non-Aboriginal drivers who are on their way to work. The Aboriginal community is calling for a public inquiry when the RCMP investigation is complete; without a public inquiry, Native leaders say, no one will be at fault for the deaths of the four Aboriginal men, including the 1990 death of Neil Stonechild.

Everyone has an opinion about the deaths of these Aboriginal men, and the possible common practice performed by the police to drive intoxicated Aboriginals out of town. My opinion is simple: the reason why they do this is so they won't have to waste their time on paper work. Of course it's common practice. I've interviewed many people who have been driven out of town and told to walk back, except this was in the summer time. You just can't expect an intoxicated Aboriginal man to survive in -40 weather walking 10 miles back into town.

One person whom I've interviewed works at the Salvation Army in Saskatoon, a shelter for the homeless. The source was not a person who was driven out of town, but one who has witnessed this happen many times. The source asked not to be named. One of the policies at the Salvation Army is not to let intoxicated people spend the night, but rather to call the cops and have them thrown in the drunk tank. Instead the source said, police would use the Salvation Army as a "pick up place" to take intoxicated Aboriginals and drive them out of town. "It's been going on for years and years," the source said.

The only thing I have left to say before next month's column (as the story unfolds) is that there are some good cops in the police force as well. One fine example is Constable Craig Nyirfa, the Aboriginal liaison officer for the Saskatoon City Police. Craig Nyirfa has earned th respect from the Aboriginal community with his positive initiatives for Aboriginal young offenders. Every summer he takes a group of kids on a camping trip that includes canoeing, swimming, sports and recreation. He says spending time with youth is better then sending them to the correctional centre, which is one thing the Aboriginal community respects him for. One last note, I would like to encourage all of you to call for a public inquiry, and continue pushing towards one, because it is the only way we can break through the thick blue wall and make people understand Aboriginal people are treated equally in society as well. Until next month keep it real.