Canadian Blog Entry

The following was found on a police Blog from the UK. I post it on our blog with a mixture of anger and sadness. Anger at the callous and demeaning attitude of, presumably, some type of Canadian law enforcement officer; anger that I have heard and read the same type of commentary from law enforcement officials in the U.S. while speaking of Indian Country; anger that we as Native people have come to accept horrendous and tragic events without screaming at the top of our lungs everyday demanding the resources to create change; anger that substance abuse, child abuse, domestic violence, violent crime, traffic accidents, steal Native lives everyday; sadness that the beauty our Native culture and the accomplishments of our people are too often overlooked; sadness that government decision makers can't seem to understand; sadness knowing that the prayers of our ancestors have gone unanswered; sadness that our elders and children continue to be subjected to unspeakable tragedy.

Monday, December 01, 2008

TONTO NEED GOOD LAWYER KEMO SABE

When I first heard that Norfolk Police were introducing “sentencing circles” as a way of processing young people through the criminal justice system, my first thought was, surely things can’t be that bad.

Peter Merry, head of criminal justice for the force, said, “We have been looking at a system which is based on the traditions of aboriginal tribes, but in a more modern context has been widely used in Canada.” Note the striking absence of the word “successfully” between the words “used” and “in”. I can only imagine that Peter got the idea after watching Disney’s Pocahontas because he can’t have actually met anyone from our aboriginal tribes. Helpfully, the Daily Mail has published a photo of Chief Aatsista-Mahkan of the Siksika First Nation tribe. Things have gone downhill since the photograph was taken: in 2005 during a family argument on the reserve (east of Calgary) a 14 month old child was shot in the head.

Throughout Canada there are a number of Indian reserves where different tribes (or bands) live. Quite why these reserves are full of drugs, guns and alcohol is open to question, but broadly speaking there are two arguments:
1. Native people are still suffering from years of discrimination and cruelty at the hands of white settlers; their lands and way of life have been taken from them and they are not able to adjust to this new modern way of life that has been thrust upon them.
2. Government policy, in the form of vast amounts of federal funds, has made native people wards of the state. Consequently they no-longer have to take responsibility for their own actions and can act like children. Children with guns, drugs and booze.

Locally, places like Hobbema (pop. 12,000) have been keeping the Mounties busy for a while. The town is south of Edmonton and home to four colorfully named local bands: Samson Cree Nation, Ermineskin Tribe, Montana First Nation and Louis Bull Tribe. But if you are coming to visit and want to experience native culture first hand then it’s also worth bearing in mind that Hobbema averages 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and in April this year made the national news when one such drive-by resulted in the shooting of 23-month old Asa Saddleback. The town is also an excellent recruiting ground for violent native gangs including Redd Alert, Indian Posse and Alberta Warriors.

In January this year, in the Yellow Quill Indian Reserve in North Saskatchewan, local man Christopher Pauchay got drunk and decided to take his two daughters aged 3 and 16 months for a walk. It was -50 degrees outside and the girls were only wearing diapers and T-Shirts. Pauchay managed to find his way to a neighbour’s house suffering from hypothermia but the two girls weren’t so lucky and were found frozen to death the following day. By an amazing coincidence the children’s mother, Tracey Jimmy, was also drunk on the night her children were killed.

Pauchay was arrested for criminal negligence and in a break from the naïve, pastoral, idyllic, rural life he had hitherto enjoyed, enlisted the services of top defence lawyer Ron Piche. On the advice of Piche, and facing the probability of doing some jail time for killing his two children, Pauchay decided to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of his own First Nation sentencing circle back at the rez*. Naturally, Piche is saying his client is a new man and the sentencing circle will recognize the fact that he’s remorseful and really sorry. Pauchay is saying he prefers the sentencing circle option because it means he won’t have to relate the traumatic deaths of his own two children, he can also be pretty sure that he won’t do any jail time. In a triumph of hope over experience, Tracey and Christopher have had another child.

I’m sure that if the Norfolk town of East Dereham (pop. 15,000) was averaging 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and was suffering epidemic levels of alcoholism and child neglect, then Norfolk Police might have more to worry about that trying to introduce a sentencing circle.

Special treatment for minorities, alternative justice systems and sparing people from the consequences of their actions are not just Canadian issues of course, but it’s interesting to see how the solutions are much the same wherever you go.