Equal under the law? Not even.

Page 4

Editorial

A false rumor that a Native political activist was stockpiling guns led to the mobilization of a fully equipped tactical unit from an elite RCMP anti-terrorist squad on Vancouver Island in September. Less than a few weeks later, young non-Native people charged with a hate crime for shooting up a reserve school and homes have those charges under the Criminal Code of Canada reduced dramatically by the Attorney General of Alberta. What's wrong with this picture?

John Rampanen is a young family man who has had the courage to stand up for the rights of his people in a country where even government officials will admit (when the tape's not running) that Native people have been getting the short end of the stick for more than 130 years. He's not a criminal that we can see.

If convicted, the three non-Native teenagers who have been accused of driving onto the Blood reserve in Alberta and opening fire with paintball guns will be criminals. No doubt about that. Destruction of property is covered by the Criminal Code of Canada.

So who got the break? The non-Native people accused of a destructive rampage on a reserve, that's who. That doesn't add up.

Last month Native leaders in Toronto complained about the simultaneous under-policing and over-policing their people are subjected to. Under-policed in that their complaints to police often fall on deaf ears (don't ever forget the 911 calls in Winnipeg that went unanswered until two women were dead). Over-policed in that Native people can expect to be pulled over for DWI-driving while Indian-or questioned by police for just walking down the street.

A recent report shows that visible minorities are much more likely to come in contact with police in Toronto. If 13 people give statements to the police that they saw two uniformed police officers punching, kicking and stomping on someone who had apparently done nothing to provoke those actions, the least we'd expect would be an arrest or an announcement that the police had a legitimate reason to act that way that wasn't perhaps obvious to the observers. We wouldn't expect that it would take almost four months to lay charges or respond to the accusations of the eyewitnesses.

We know the two police officers have not been convicted, just charged. They, like the three teenagers charged with vandalism, are innocent until proven guilty.

But why, we must ask, can a false rumor circulated against a Native man trigger a hugely expensive raid by an elite police force with much better things to do when allegations against two non-Native police officers triggers a slow-as-molasses, reluctant-appearing investigation by a far less imposing and much less specialized collection of peace officers?

The unequal application of the force of the law always seems to work against Native people and it's time somebody said it out loud.

When is it going to stop? Who's going to take the lead and force change?

The Aboriginal Peoples Council of Toronto and the Blood Tribe chief and council have done their part. But shouldn't somebody in the government of Canada take the initiative and get to work on this problem?