Current Problems: Justice (25-42)
Exploring Theme: "Systemic Racism"
Updates on this page: 52
April 12, 2024
An Indigenous Woman Was Found Dying on a Sidewalk. What Happened?
An advocate is calling for transparency in the Vancouver police investigation. The Tyee: Flowers marked the spot where a 37-year-old Indigenous woman was found dying on a Vancouver sidewalk just before dawn on March 30. Despite first responders’ efforts, she died at the scene. Two weeks after her death, an advocate for abused women is...
April 4, 2024
First Nations men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg murder sue over ‘cruel and unusual treatment’
Crown, police colluded against Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, suit against 3 levels of government alleges CBC Indigenous: Two First Nations men who were recently acquitted for the 1973 murder of a Winnipeg man are now taking all three levels of government to court, saying police officers and a Crown prosecutor colluded against them to...
March 25, 2024
Dozens show up to protest comedy troupe’s show in Vancouver
APTN News: People stand outside a gym in Vancouver on Sunday pushing against the booking of a comedy troupe known as the Danger Cats. The show was kept secret – for a spell – until word got out. The trio has made headlines across the country after several shows were cancelled. “This isn’t a joke,...
March 21, 2024
Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare and Ontario First Nations Leadership Express Fear Surrounding Lack of First Nations Law and By-Law Enforcement
NationTalk: Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare and First Nations Leadership from across Ontario have released the following statement: Yesterday, First Nations in Ontario warned provincial lawmakers that police will no longer be able to keep First Nations communities safe once Ontario’s new policing legislation comes into effect on April 1, 2024. “Criminals are getting more...
February 27, 2024
Man convicted of manslaughter in the death of two Métis hunters granted unescorted absences from prison
RCMP says in parole documents that approving UTA will ‘display holes in the justice system.’ Sarah Sansom by family and supporters after the verdict on Anthony Bilodeau. Photo: APTN file. APTN News: The parole board of Canada has granted Roger Bilodeau, one of the men convicted of killing two Métis hunters in Alberta unescorted temporary...
February 12, 2024
First Nations man charged with five counts of first-degree murder
Ryan Howard Manoakeesick is accused of killing his young family and a relative in rural Manitoba on Sunday Warning: This story contains distressing details APTN News: A 29-year-old man accused of killing his wife, their three young children and a female relative in a crime spree on Sunday is charged with five counts of first-degree...
January 24, 2024
Winnipeg hotel that zip-tied First Nations woman ‘Out of Order’
APTN News: A hotel in downtown Winnipeg that was the focus of a protest on Sunday is now closed to the public. Signs posted on the front doors of the Marlborough Hotel say “Due to maintenance – Hotel is out of order.” It’s not clear if the hotel has been cleared of paying guests –...
January 22, 2024
Video of First Nations woman restrained by hotel staff sparks outrage
Christmas Day video shows woman with her hands tied behind her back. The Marlborough Hotel in Winnipeg was flooded with angry protesters on Sunday after a video surfaced of a First Nations woman whose hands were tied behind her back. APTN News: The incident occurred on Christmas Day at the hotel which is located downtown....
December 18, 2023
First Nations leaders say Thunder Bay police handling of missing teen was ‘unacceptable’
Mackenzie Moonias, 14, was last scene on Dec. 13 in Thunder Bay. APTN News: First Nations leaders in northern Ontario are questioning the missing persons reporting process in Thunder Bay after the discovery of a teen’s body near the city’s waterfront. According to police, Mackenzie Moonias, 14, was last seen on Dec. 13. Thunder Bay police sent...
November 14, 2023
‘So much work to do’: Indigenous women vastly overrepresented in federal penitentiaries and provincial jails in Sask.
National Vice-Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Kim Beaudin is calling for Indigenous involvement in oversight of the correctional system. NationTalk: Regina Leader-Post – Eighty-eight per cent of women held in federal custody in Saskatchewan are Indigenous, according to new data. Last week, federal correctional investigator Ivan Zinger released updated findings to his annual report dated June...
November 13, 2023
Disturbing reality about our prisons
“Life, on the instalment plan.” Toronto Star: That’s the way some Indigenous inmates characterize their prison sentences. They believe they’ll be released, but they also expect to be back — again and again, for the rest of their lives. And all too often, their expectations are fulfilled. Something is therefore very wrong with our prison...
November 9, 2023
Video of alleged police assault of Mohawk man raises questions about delay in watchdog’s probe
Ontario’s SIU took 13 months to open an investigation, eventually leading to charges Warning: Some details in this story are distressing CBC News: Ontario’s police watchdog initially balked at investigating an alleged police assault of a Mohawk man that was captured on camera and eventually led to charges against officers from Belleville, Ont., according to...
November 7, 2023
Feds say Indigenous staff have no right to sue over alleged racism, toxicity at oil and gas agency
Internal mechanisms ‘are the preferable procedure’: Indigenous Services Canada CBC Indigenous: The Canadian government says Indigenous staff have no right to sue over alleged racial discrimination, chronic toxicity and systemic bullying, harassment and intimidation at a federal on-reserve oil and gas agency in Alberta. Two Blackfoot women have launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against Indian...
October 23, 2023
‘I’m very emotional’: Family of Clarence Woodhouse reacts to bail release
A judge in Winnipeg released Clarence Woodhouse, 72, on bail Monday pending a ministerial review of his 1974 murder conviction. “I’m very emotional and really happy,” said Woodhouse’s sister Linda Anderson after the hearing. “It’s good to see my brother come back home.” Woodhouse, from Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba, was serving a prison sentence...
October 19, 2023
Death of Tyrone Blind triggers concerns over mental health support in prisons
By Danielle Paradis | Chris Stewart APTN News: The family of Tyrone Blind, a man who died by suicide in a federal prison in Edmonton, says more needs to be done to provide mental health services in Canada’s penitentiaries. Blind, 31, a First Nations man from Saskatchewan, died in the Edmonton Institution on Feb. 1, 2018, according to the...
October 18, 2023
Sask. asks court to penalize Anishinabe man over published jail videos experts say show torture
Province says information in CBC News report came from confidential material disclosed as part of lawsuit CBC News: Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s government is asking the provincial court to penalize an Anishinabe man for allegedly breaching court rules following the publication of information and video from inside a youth jail showing staff immobilizing him with a full...
October 6, 2023
People accused of killing Indigenous women less likely to be charged with first-degree murder: study
Several factors from funding to distrust of colonial systems may contribute to the sentencing decisions APTN News: A report from Statistics Canada shows that there’s a disparity in the way homicide cases involving Indigenous women and girls are handled in the Canadian legal system. Data between 2009 and 2021 indicated that first-degree murder charges, the...
October 4, 2023
Years after scathing report into mistreatment of Indigenous people in Quebec, few calls to action imposed
1st update on commission published Wednesday CBC Indigenous: Nearly four years after Quebec’s Viens report documented the mistreatment of Indigenous people, less than a third of the calls to action laid out in the commission have been implemented or are progressing as expected. Quebec’s ombudsman, Marc-André Dowd, published the first update on the commission Wednesday,...
September 19, 2023
Barbara Kentner has been failed again, says family after Brayden Bushby gets day parole in trailer-hitch death
First Nation victim’s family says they weren’t told man convicted in her Thunder Bay death was up for parole WARNING: This story contains disturbing details of violence against Indigenous women. CBC Indigenous: Melissa Kentner is angry. The man convicted of manslaughter in the death of her sister, Barbara Kentner, has been released from prison on day...
September 13, 2023
How biased courts and police support business by trampling Indigenous rights
The case of a convicted Indigenous elder who was performing a pipe ceremony inspired the play The Judge’s Daughter. Screen grab from Vancouver Fringe Festival website Canada’s National Observer:On July 25, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled on a historic case that has been winding through the court system for more than three years. It...
September 9, 2023
Headingley inmate said ‘I can’t breathe’ more than 20 times while restrained by guards, video shows
Court shown video of February 2021 altercation between officers and William Ahmo, who later died in hospital WARNING: This story contains disturbing video and details. CBC News: originally posted Sept. 8 – William Ahmo uttered the words “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times while officers swarmed and restrained him in a Manitoba jail, video...
September 7, 2023
Man convicted in killing of Métis hunters begins appeal
Defence lawyer argues jury did not receive proper instructions APTN News: Roger Bilodeau, the Alberta man convicted of two counts of manslaughter for the slayings of two Métis hunters in March 2020, had a hearing for the appeal of his 10-year sentence Thursday. Bilodeau was convicted of two counts of manslaughter for the fatal shootings...
September 5, 2023
‘I can’t breathe’: Court sees video of guards overpowering inmate William Ahmo
Paramedic says there was no sense of ‘urgency’ when he arrived to help. A screen shot from a video played in a Winnipeg courtroom of William Ahmo confronting the jail’s riot police. APTN News: His mother’s sobs could be heard in a Winnipeg courtroom Tuesday as she watched video of a group of correctional officers...
August 23, 2023
Hospital worker fired after Indigenous woman’s death should be reinstated: arbitrator
The arbitrator said that while the nurse made inappropriate comments toward Joyce Echaquan, she was not responsible for the bulk of the poor treatment the woman received prior to her death. When asked if the mother of seven would still be alive if she were a white woman, Quebec’s coroner replied: “I think so.” An...
July 20, 2023
Indigenous people 17.7% more likely to be incarcerated in Sask.
Non-Indigenous people charged with crimes are more likely to receive bail than Indigenous people Jeremy Appel / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter / Alberta Native News Jul 20, 2023 10:00 PM NationTalk: Saskatoon Today: ALBERTA NATIVE NEWS — Saskatchewan has Canada’s highest rate of Indigenous over-representation in provincial custody, with Alberta in second place, according to new data...
July 19, 2023
Innocence Canada calls for review of decades-old Manitoba murder convictions following acquittals
Lawyers say all murder cases involving Indigenous offenders in last 50 years should be reviewed CBC News: Lawyers with Innocence Canada are calling for a review of several decades’ worth of murder cases involving Indigenous offenders after two First Nations men were acquitted of a murder that happened half a century ago. On Tuesday, Justice...
July 19, 2023
Two men wrongfully convicted 50 years ago speak out about justice system
‘The justice system needs to change,’ says Allan Woodhouse APTN News: After 50 years of being sentenced for a murder they didn’t commit Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse are free. Now they are speaking out about being wrongfully convicted. “The justice system needs to change,” Woodhouse told reporters at a press conference outside the Canadian Museum...
July 18, 2023
Two Indigenous men acquitted of murder after 50 years
It’s the first double acquittal for Innocence Canada, a national organization that work to overturn wrongful convictions. APTN News: Two Indigenous men were acquitted of 50-year-old murder convictions Tuesday with the help of Innocence Canada and Manitoba’s top judge. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal told a packed courtroom in Winnipeg that Brian Anderson and Allan (A.J.) Woodhouse were...
July 10, 2023
Influx of supporters join landfill blockade after ‘act of hate’ at MMIWG mural
‘I can’t see the blockade going down’: supporter CBC News: Protesters blocking the Brady Road landfill south of Winnipeg say their resolve is even stronger after a man shovelled a truckload of soil and debris onto an MMIWG mural near the blockade Sunday. The blockade went up last week after the province refused to fund a search...
July 5, 2023
Manitoba grand chief shocked after province says it won’t help pay to search landfill for remains
AMC’s Cathy Merrick says province’s concerns about searchers’ safety are addressed in feasibility report CBC News: The leader of the group pushing to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women says she doesn’t buy the Manitoba government’s explanation that it won’t provide funding for the initiative because of safety concerns for those...
June 7, 2023
Halifax rally calls for public inquiry into the deaths of 2 Mi’kmaw people in custody
APTN News: About 80 people marched in Halifax demanding a “Mi’kmaw led” inquiry into the deaths of two people from the Eskasoni First Nation who died in the local jail. “I hope somebody hears and comes to the table and they talk about what needs to be done,” said Kathy Denny, mother of Sarah Denny...
May 29, 2023
First Nations man says racial profiling led to assault by security guard at Regina Canadian Tire
‘I didn’t think it would happen to me twice in my lifetime,’ says Ezekial Bigknife Warning: this story contains distressing content. CBC News: First posted on May 26, Updated on May 29 Five years ago, Ezekial Bigknife was racially profiled while shopping at a store in Regina. Now he says it has happened to him...
May 28, 2023
Isolation cells in women’s prisons used almost exclusively for Indigenous prisoners, panel finds
The Globe and Mail: Isolation cells in federal women’s prisons are being used almost exclusively for Indigenous prisoners, according to statistics collated by a government-appointed panel that show Indigenous peoples are seriously disadvantaged by a prisoner segregation regimen introduced in 2019. The government established Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) after courts in B.C. and Ontario ruled that a...
May 26, 2023
After spending 7 years detained in Turkey, Charman Smith is now home
Carcross/Tagish First Nation citizen Charman Smith denies she had any knowledge of the illegal substance found in her possession. A First Nations woman from Yukon charged with drug trafficking in Turkey has returned home after being detained there for seven years. Charman Smith, a Carcross/Tagish First Nation citizen, was greeted by loved ones at the Whitehorse airport...
April 25, 2023
Indigenous girls overrepresented as victims of violence in Vancouver
Sgt. Val Spicer: “It’s not a trend that you can change overnight.” NationTalk: Vancouver is Awesome – Indigenous girls under 18 years old were the most overrepresented victims of violence in Vancouver over the past 12 months, according to new data compiled by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). The next two groups of victims based...
April 24, 2023
Dawn Walker, First Nations woman accused of fleeing with child, to argue she was trying to escape alleged abuse
The Globe and Mail: A First Nations author and former political candidate accused of faking her death and fleeing to the United States with her child will argue at her criminal trial that she did so out of necessity to protect her child from alleged abuse when the authorities would not. The details of Dawn...
April 21, 2023
Report calls on feds to strip $1B from Correctional Service of Canada budget
Prisoner’s Legal Services says money should be shifted towards community healing. APTN: A prisoner advocacy organization in British Columbia says the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) should have a third of its budget stripped away and that money should be diverted towards Indigenous governments and organizations. In its report, Decarceration through Self-Determination, Prisoner’s Legal Services argues...
April 14, 2023
Family of Cindy Gladue says province has ‘misplaced’ her remains
Gladue’s partial, preserved remains were brought into the courtroom by the crown prosecutor Cindy Gladue was a mother of three when she died in June 2011. Photo: APTN file APTN: The family of Cindy Gladue says that Alberta Justice has lost her remains. A part of Gladue’s preserved remains were brought into the court room...
April 6, 2023
Lawyers want abduction charges stayed against Sask. woman, citing alleged human rights violations
Law professor says justice system continues to discriminate against Indigenous women CBC News: Lawyers for a Saskatchewan woman want the abduction and other charges against her to be stayed, citing alleged human rights violations including unnecessary strip searches and denial of medical care. In a court application, they list alleged individual violations against Dawn Walker, but say these...
March 29, 2023
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Expresses Concern Over First Nations Over-Incarceration Rates
NationTalk: Treaty One Territory, MB – The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) issues the following statement on the over-incarceration of First Nations Citizens in Manitoba. On March 17, 2023, the Winnipeg Free Press published an article about Ethan Wildcat, a First Nation man who was handed a harsher sentence then a non-First Nations man facing...
March 8, 2023
Alberta’s mandatory oath of allegiance is systemic discrimination
The government should amend the Legal Profession Act to remove it or to make it optional. First Peoples Law report: The Canadian Bar Association – In April 2022, the Law Society of Alberta acknowledged that systemic discrimination exists in the province’s justice system and legal profession. Two months later, a Sikh articling student launched a lawsuit, challenging...
February 13, 2023
‘These are real people’: NDP MP slams Correctional Service Canada over systemic racism
Canada’s National Observer: On Thursday, the NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach spoke at a public accounts committee meeting after the release of an auditor general’s report on systemic barriers facing prisoners in federal jails. “(Correctional Service Canada) acknowledged in November 2020 that systemic racism is present in the correctional system; it’s long overdue that CSC remove the...
February 13, 2023
Mother files lawsuit alleging racist treatment led to beating death of Anishinaabe son at Headingley jail
Court filing alleges a dozen Manitoba corrections officers beat William Ahmo, shot objects at him WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: A Winnipeg mother is suing the province of Manitoba and corrections officers, claiming racist treatment and excessive force after she says the Anishinaabe father was shot at with objects and beaten by...
January 30, 2023
Mandatory Indigenous course at risk after group of lawyers aim to change Law Society rule
Vote to take place Monday and 11,100 Alberta lawyers eligible to register CBC News: The fate of a required Indigenous course for Alberta lawyers is at risk after a group petitioned the Law Society of Alberta (LSA) to remove a rule that allows the regulator to mandate legal education. Currently, all Alberta lawyers are required...
January 6, 2023
Alberta man who killed Métis hunters sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years
Maurice Cardinal and Jacob Sansom were killed on March 27, 2020, in rural Alberta An Alberta man was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole eligibility for 13 years in the second-degree murder of Métis hunter Maurice Cardinal. Anthony Bilodeau was also sentenced to eight years for the manslaughter death of Jacob Sansom. The sentences will be...
December 16, 2022
Systemic racism report calls for N.B. task force, not the inquiry sought by First Nations
Indigenous leaders say a public inquiry into systemic racism against Indigenous peoples is still needed CBC News: The province’s commissioner of systemic racism is calling for “a task force focused on dismantling systemic racism in New Brunswick policing” and more education for senior government officials and politicians “on the meaning of systemic racism.” But Commissioner Manju...
December 6, 2022
Race and Gender Discrimination Fuel Violence against Indigenous Women
NationTalk: Thunder Bay, ON – The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (White Ribbon Day) is a Canadian movement of men and boys working to end violence against women and girls, promote gender equity, healthy relationships and a new vision of masculinity. Indigenous women have the right to a future free from...
December 5, 2022
Native women’s association calls out Canada for doing little to stop genocide following killing of four women in Winnipeg
Canada’s National Observer: The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is not mincing words following the killing of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg at the hands of one man. “Let’s be clear, these crimes are part of the genocide that was declared in 2019 by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and...
December 2, 2022
Alleged Winnipeg serial killer Jeremy Skibicki’s case will go straight to trial, without preliminary hearing
NationTalk: CBC: Treaty One Territory, Manitoba – The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Regional Office is saddened by the announcement that accused serial killer Jeremy Skibicki is being charged for the murder of two more First Nations women and one yet unidentified woman. In May 2022, the body of...
November 24, 2022
‘We’re survivors’: Quewezance sisters reunite at Saskatchewan court
APTN News: Despite the shackles on her wrists and ankles, Nerissa Quewezance leaned into her older sister’s arms Thursday. It was their first hug in 18 years. “My sister,” Odelia Quewezance said soothingly as she embraced Nerissa in front of the Yorkton, Sask., courthouse. The lone RCMP officer who transported Nerissa, 48, to Yorkton from...
November 22, 2022
SCO Launches new survey seeking Citizen Input on Reforming Justice System
NationTalk: ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB — Today, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is launching a new online survey with the goal of seeking input that will assist SCO in advocating for the creation of an effective, equitable, and safe justice system from a First Nations perspective. “One of my principal mandates is to reduce...
November 13, 2022
Statement from Premier Heather Stefanson and Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations Minister Alan Lagimodiere on the Anniversary of the Death of Helen Betty Osborne
Today marks the anniversary of the tragic death of Helen Betty Osborne. Osborne was a 19-year-old student from Norway House Cree Nation who had dreams of becoming a teacher. A survivor of Guy Hill Residential School, Osborne chose to further her education through attending high school in The Pas. On the morning of Nov. 13,...
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