Hate crime charges reduced

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Charges that three non-Native teenagers committed a hate crime when they allegedly opened fire on a school and six homes on the Blood reserve with paint-ball guns on Oct. 9 were reduced to 13 counts of vandalism by the Crown Attorney two weeks later.

The Blood Tribe chief and council are not happy with the decision.

"I still question why the charge was dropped. And a lot of council members are still of that opinion. We're trying to get our solicitors to look into it," said band councillor Jason Good Striker. "It seems to me that if any person, be they white, black, red or yellow, if anybody brings a toy gun onto a plane and raises hell, the new Canadian legislation towards terrorism is going to press regardless of race. This shouldn't be treated any different. It was an act of terrorism. They were going around our community with these weapons."

Good Striker couldn't verify if racial slurs were heard being uttered by the accused during the alleged incident, but he said name-calling and racist taunting is not unusual in southern Alberta.

At the time of the incident, Sgt. Brian Miller of the Blood Tribe Police Service told reporters that the crime the 17-year-old and two 16-year-olds were alleged to have committed fell under the definition of a hate crime because it was an act of hatred against an identifiable group.

Later, Blood Tribe Police Chief Alf Rudd explained that Sgt. Miller's interpretation of the Criminal Code of Canada was a bit off.

"On the merits of the case, the criteria for the charge isn't made out," he said.

The police chief said he had no problem with the decision to reduce the charges.

"We've got no problem. We've analyzed the thing and understand exactly what elements are required to make up that offense and that they weren't there in the initial instance and that, on reflection, conclusions were come to a little too hastily," he said. "The police here aren't disappointed. We're relieved we don't have that kind of thing going on."

Section 319 of the Criminal Code spells out what constitutes a hate crime. It states that "everyone who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group" is guilty of a hate crime. An "identifiable group" is defined in the Criminal Code to mean "any section of the public distinguished by color, race, religion or ethnic origin."

But the law also states that "no proceeding for an offence under this section shall be instituted without the consent of the attorney general."

Alf Rudd said his officers didn't get that consent.

"If you look at 319 subsection six, you have to have what's called a fiat from the attorney general of Alberta," the police chief said. "They found out about it on the news and were quite startled, knowing that proviso is there they thought, 'Why weren't we contacted?' When they got a look at the case, because the kid went to court, they said, 'Well it's not here anyway and when you make your application we're going to turn it down.'"

The Blood Police Chief sounded convinced the right decision had been made.

"First of all there's no statement communicated. That's the problem. There's not much communication in a paint splash is the point. There was no racial remarks, slurs, messages," he said.

He said his department's investigation, coupled with the RCMP investigation, had uncovered evidence that the accused may have been committing similar acts in various locales for several weeks.

"These three young fellows have been active for at least a month in the surrounding communities," he alleges. "They were doing the same thing. They had been carrying on in those communities," he said. "They're charged with 13 counts of vandalism that are still left on the information. And our ongoing investigation has identified a fourth suspect as well and we turned that information over to the RCMP."

The police chief sees the initial decision by his officers to be an error of enthusism.

"The guys misinterpreted it. And they know that now," he said.

The three young people, who cannot be named because of the provisions of the Young Offenders Act, appeared in court on Oct. 22 and heard formally that the hate crime charge had been dropped. They were remanded to Dec. 13.

The decision to drop the more serious charges was obviously not popular with some members of the Blood community. Outraged community members alerted this publication to this development, but none would speak on the record.

Principal Carolyn Weaselfat, whose Aahsaopi Elementary School was hit hardest in the attack, was in court. She confirmed that the charges had been dropped. The principal said she was "not authorized" to comment and suggested that Blood school superintendent Joyce Good Striker be contacted for comment. Good Striker was not available.