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Vol.64/No.13      April 3, 2000 
 
 
400 protest cop violence in Canada  
 
 
BY ANNETTE KOURI  
VANCOUVER, Canada--Four hundred people marched in Saskatchewan February 17 to demand justice in a series of deaths of First Nations men after encounters with the police.

Rodney Naistus and Lawrence Wegner were found within days of each other, both outside of Saskatoon near the Queen Elizabeth Power Plant. Wegner, found on February 3, was last seen being forced into a police cruiser. The next day Darrell Night, also an Aboriginal, filed a complaint against two Saskatoon policemen, saying they drove him to the power plant, took his coat, and told him to walk home. Winter temperatures in Saskatchewan are normally well below freezing.

The Saskatoon police force suspended with pay the two officers identified by Night. They soon called on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to continue the investigation.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) demands a public inquiry. FSIN Chief Perry Bellegarde said that an investigation into the Saskatoon Police Service has led to more than a hundred complaints by First Nations people who experienced similar abuse by police.

"This is not an isolated case. We have to get to the bottom of this," Lawrence Joseph, vice chief of the FSIN, stated in an interview.

The February 17 march included many students and Aboriginals. They began with a vigil at the Saskatchewan Federated College (SIFC), where Wegner had been a student and then marched to the police station. "People are questioning how this could happen. It hits so close to home. One day he's in class and the next his death is all over the news," said Joy Joachim, vice president of the SIFC student association.

More police-related Aboriginal deaths in the Saskatoon area have come to light, including of Lloyd Dustyhorn, found January 19 frozen outside his apartment building hours after his release from police custody, and Darcy Ironchild, found dead in his bed February 19 after being released by police.

Neil Stonechild, 17 years old, was found frozen to death in a field on the edge of Saskatoon in November 1990. A 16-year-old friend of Stonechild's was the last to see him alive, five days before his body was found in the back of a police cruiser screaming: "They're going to kill me! They're going to kill me!" The family has been demanding justice for Stonechild since.

On February 22 Clem Chartier, president of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, and Gerald Morin, president of the Metis National Council, called for an independent judicial inquiry into the provincial justice system.

Phil Fontaine, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that the case is likely the "tip of the iceberg" and could lead to revelations of widespread police racism across Canada.  
 
 
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