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Solutions and Recommendation on Justice
If we go back to the Stony Mountain inmate survey that clearly indicates that alcohol and drugs play a huge part in putting First Nation people in jail, a large part of the answer then has to be prevention of alcohol and drug abuse.
The 1996 census reported that there are a total of 95,113 First Nation people (treaty Indians) in Manitoba. Metis and non-status Indians could possibly double that number. Numbers themselves do not dictate trends just as poverty in itself does not create criminals. Hopelessness and anger in a jobless First Nation youth will however create the climate for unrest. This leads to clashes with police.
The Winnipeg police have a major problem. In a nutshell, the Winnipeg police association has tons of money and the services of many of Winnipeg top lawyers to protect the rank and file members from disciplinary action. The Law Enforcement Review Agency has literally hundreds of complaints against police but the system is slow and toothless. First Nation youth must be protected from police brutality.
An independent First Nation agency must begin to collect files on police brutality complaints. Profiles of police officers who are consistently named in the complaints must be dealt with by civil process. Manitoba court judges routinely dismiss testimony from First Nation people if the police officer insists the First Nation person was drunk. Research into these dismissals by the courts and statistics on the judges who made the decisions will have to be compiled.
L.E.R.A. is a government-funded agency with a limited mandate. They cannot publish much of their findings and they cannot lobby internationally to stop police brutality. They cannot take any action to embarrass the governments they work for. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs can and should if they are armed with creditable research. Civil lawsuits can be filed where criminal charges may fail. It would take only a few successful civil lawsuits with some large monetary compensation to change the attitude of governments on the issue of police brutality.
On the issue of the Manitoba Warriors, the Assembly should be clear it does not support criminal activity but that it will also not support a system where there is obviously one law for whites and one law for First Nations people.
The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Report and its recommendations are gathering dust and have been for a decade. Waiting for the Province to implement the recommendations is futile, First Nations must take action on the recommendations. The large generation of First Nation children who are now growing up must be saved from a life of prisons, police brutality and intolerant judges.
On the issue of justice we have enough evidence to embarrass Canada and take the evidence to the international community. Even some police officers who witnessed brutality are angered by the conduct of some of their rank and file.
Nothing in this report should be construed as painting all police officers with the same brush. There are many Winnipeg police officers and R.C.M.P. who recognize that some people should never have the power of being a police officer. A gun in the hands of a racist whether that person is a police officer or not, should never be tolerated.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs owns the study Shocking Truth about Indians in Textbooks. That study should be republished. The purpose is to help adults review the racism they may not know they were taught in grade school. If police officers, judges, crown attorneys, teachers, etc are made aware that there is a problem in how they see First Nation people, that is half the battle.
The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Report concluded a decade ago.
We have investigated the administration of justice in Manitoba and have come to the conclusion that it does not deliver justice to Manitoba's aboriginal people.
In almost every aspect of our legal system, the treatment of Aboriginal people is tragic. We marvel at the degree to which Aboriginal people have endured, and continue to endure what the justice system is doing to them. However, they have paid the price of high rates of alcoholism, crime and family abuse.
The time to act is at hand. ……government can begin to build a new relationship with Aboriginal people based upon respect, understanding and good will.
With greater self-determination in their own territories, Aboriginal people can begin to feel they are being dealt with fairly. With their own justice system, they can assume responsibility and once again deal with their own problems in their own culturally appropriate manner.
We have suggested what we believe has to be done and we have indicated how governments and agencies can bring about the necessary changes. We have completed our assignment. Government and others must now accept the responsibility to make the changes that cry out for action.
Canada's treatment of its first citizens has been an international disgrace. To fail to take every needed step to redress this lingering injustice will continue to bring tragedy and suffering to Aboriginal people, and to blacken our country's name throughout the world. By acting now, governments can give positive expression to the public support and good will we have encountered from Manitobans during the past three years.
First Nations never embarrassed the government of Manitoba with the evidence of the Manitoba Aboriginal Inquiry Report in the international arena. There was no concerted effort to "blacken" the country's name throughout the world.
The time to act is at hand. |
