And now, the Canadian police misconduct thread

[Guy Profumo]

Did this one sneak under the radar?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53027704


Another police force "riven" with systemic racism, and violent criminal officers, it would seem.

(2020-06-13)

[Amor de Cosmos]

Not here it didn't. But these type of incidents are so endemic they get tuned out most of the time. This one got somewhat more exposure because Allan Adam is a chief. Visitors to Canada are frequently shocked by the treatment of First Nations people, but too many of us who live here just become numb to it.

[WOM]

Read '7 Fallen Feathers' for much more on first nations, the police and systemic racism.

[Guy Profumo]

Not here it didn't. But these type of incidents are so endemic they get tuned out most of the time. This one got somewhat more exposure because Allan Adam is a chief. Visitors to Canada are frequently shocked by the treatment of First Nations people, but too many of us who live here just become numb to it.

But you are a marvellous welcoming country.

And as for those Mounties, what's not to like?


Seriously, this comes as a shock, I did think as a nation you were better than that.

[ursus arctos]

It's entirely down to lack of coverage.

As Amor notes, it has been happening for the better part of a century, but is virtually unreported outside of Canada (and tuned out therein).

[Nocturnal Submission]

"Starlight tours": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon_freezing_deaths

[WOM]

...but is virtually unreported outside of Canada (and tuned out therein).

You're indoctrinated from birth to believe that First Nations people are feckless drunks who can't manage their own affairs. That they need to fall in line with white, modern Canada or be relegated to reserves in 3rd world conditions. It's appalling.

[Gangster Octopus]

Reminds me of the way Australians* refer to the indigenous population.

*NAA

[Tactical Genius]

This reminds me of the WWE hardcore championship era back in the day where innocuous events woul;d spiral into random acts of violence.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Seriously, this comes as a shock, I did think as a nation you were better than that.

As a nation we pay lip service to believing that. But on an emotional level every time someone sees a drunk native person staggering down the street the stereotypes are likely to kick in.

[Hot Pepsi]

In most of the eastern US, we're mainly indoctrinated to see native people as people who lived only in the past - the way Europeans might imagine the Ostrogoths or the Spartans. We spent most of third grade studying "the Indians," but I don't recall learning about reservations or any contemporary issues. We read a few books by Scott O'Dell.

I don't know about Canada, but on this side of the border, alcoholism is a severe problem in native communities. So is suicide. Diseases of despair, innit?
I don't know enough about it to imagine how it's going to get better, but more representation in the police probably couldn't hurt.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I doubt recruiting would go particularly well, even if there was any impetus on the RCMP's part.

The reserves are partially self-policed, the RCMP have to be "invited" to enter. Often that's only in the case of murder or something equally heinous. Despair is absolutely correct.

[Amor de Cosmos]

BTW for an excellent and extremely well written social history (though he wouldn't like it called that) of the interaction of North American native peoples with the dominant culture, I highly recommend Thomas King's The Inconvenient Indian. King is a Cherokee born in the US but has lived in Canada for around forty years.* He's an academic and mystery writer (author of the 'DreadfulWater' series, well worth reading on their own account. TII is by turns stiletto sharp and softly tongue in cheek. For example King's wife Helen, pops up with a pithy comment now and again: on how Indians were treated legally: "It's true we weren't property, like slaves. We were more like furniture." Very apt.

* From a native perspective King broadly sees little difference between how the two countries treat their indigenous peoples.

[WOM]

King is one of my wife's favourite writers, and she foists TII on anyone who'll listen.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Good on her. I discovered him reasonably recently via the DreadfulWater books. But I'm guessing The Inconvenient Indian is what he'll primarily be remembered for.