Emergency Debate Held in House of Commons –Deaths of First Nations People by Police

The speaker of the House of Commons has granted a request by the NDP MP for Nunavut for an emergency debate on the recent deaths of six First Nations people after they had an interaction with police.

"The lack of media coverage of these tragedies shows that systemic violence and deaths of Indigenous Peoples in Canada is normal and expected," said Lori Idlout in a letter sent to Speaker Greg Fergus on Monday.

"After years of hearing about police reforms in the wake of Black Lives Matter, the government's commitment to community policing in Northern, rural and remote areas, and a commitment to pass a First Nations Policing Act, Indigenous Peoples are owed answers by this government as to why Indigenous people continue to be victims of violence carried out by the government."

The debate took place on Monday, September 16th.

According to statements from various police departments and police watchdog organizations, six First Nations people – five men and one woman – have died during interactions with police across the country since Aug. 29.

Jack Piché, 31, of Clearwater Dené Nation, some 500 kilometers northwest of Saskatoon, was killed just before 2 a.m. on Aug. 29. He was struck by an RCMP vehicle in what Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team called foggy conditions near the junction of two remote highways about 50 kilometres southeast of the First Nation.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 30, Hoss Lightning-Saddleback, 15, of Samson Cree Nation in Alberta, was shot dead in Wetaskiwin, 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, by RCMP responding to a 911 call. The preliminary report by Alberta's Serious Incident Response Team said Lightning called 911 at 12:28 a.m. and said he was being "followed by people who wanted to harm him." Police said he was located by an officer and disarmed. According to police, he was initially cooperative before fleeing into a field. Another officer who arrived shot Lightning.

On Sept 2, Tammy Bateman, 32, from Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba, died in Winnipeg after being hit by a police cruiser as police were returning a man to a homeless camp on River Avenue.

On Sept. 6, Jason West, 57, was killed by Windsor police. The Special Investigations Unit said at approximately 10 a.m., officers responded to a report of a person with a weapon and the suspect in possession of the weapon was shot by police.

On Sept. 8, Steven Dedam, 33, was shot dead at his home in Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick. According to the province's Special Incident Response Team, or SIRT, RCMP were conducting a "wellness check." In an unusual move, the RCMP released a statement saying the police were not conducting a wellness check.

On the same day, RCMP in Saskatchewan responded to a call in Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, 160 kilometers north of Saskatoon, that a woman had been assaulted with a machete. A 32-second video sent to APTN News shows the fatal encounter with Daniel Knife.

Idlout says parliamentarians should show leadership on the issue.

"People across Canada must know their Parliament is addressing the institutional violence in their communities as a critical and immediate priority," the MP wrote in a letter, a copy of which was obtained by APTN.

"There is a clear, urgent interest for Parliament to debate this disturbing pattern so that parliamentarians can discuss immediate measures that can be taken to save Indigenous lives, today."

In a recent interview with APTN News, a criminal justice expert said there needs to be a broader discussion on how transgressions are responded to in society.

Kevin Walby, professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg said he believes more funding should go to community-led approaches to fostering safety.

"Where maybe you meet people where they're at, you meet people with different kinds of teams-street nurses, people with skills in conflict resolution who can cool off a situation, who can mitigate something before it gets to a level where police are called in and someone is shot or tasered," he said.

Walby called the RCMP a 150-year-old colonial institution and said its model of policing is no longer working.

"We know now, very definitively a few things about it. It's not reducing transgression. Transgression is going up and down basically in relation to social and economic conditions," Walby said.

"Police don't really do anything about it at all. What they do is cause more harm through violent arrests and through criminalization to families and whole neighborhoods."

All six incidents are currently under investigation.

While all parties are likely to participate in the debate, the government isn't beholden to any decisions or recommendations from the proceeding.