Indigenous lives matter too, reads statement on Lac-Simon death

A demonstration is being organized Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in Saint-Laurent (Montreal, Que.) in solidarity with the family of Sandy Michel and the community of Lac-Simon, Que.

Michel, 25, was shot by Anishnabe Nation Tribal Council police in Lac-Simon, near Val-d'or during the evening of April 6. Lac-Simon is located 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

The police were responding to a report of a man walking in the street with a knife or other bladed weapon. During the incident, a patrol car ran into Michel, after which shots were fired.

“It is an immense loss for his father Johnny, whose older son was also killed by the police in 2009,” reads notification of the demonstration from the group Solidarity with ANORW.

The Michel shooting comes less than two months after a member of the Anishnabe Takonewini Police Service was fatally shot on duty while responding to a domestic disturbance call. The shooter later committed suicide. Tensions between police and residents are growing.

The press statement compares its response to the Michel shooting to the Black Lives Matter movement, saying Indigenous lives matter too.

The release states the shooting is “an example of intolerant racism, where non-white lives are to be liquidated without any further trial.”

The release goes on to say that the population of Lac-Simon has been exasperated by years of “police harassment” and has assembled to ask police to “quit” their territory. It says the Sûreté du Québec has precluded media from entering the territory.

“This mediatic black-out is not innocent.” The group links the actions by police to the recent revelations of alleged sexual assaults against Aboriginal women by police to systemic violence by police against Aboriginal people.
Solidarity with ANORW has set up a Facebook page to communicate about the demonstration event at https://www.facebook.com/events/779765878822640/