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Allegations
of police abuse put Saskatoon on Amnesty list | Pay up: gov't to offenders: Justice
ponders special unit to go after $20 million in uncollected fines,
May 31, 2000 | Native numbers double: Saskatoon has
highest ratio of aboriginals among major cities, May 30, 2001 | City police under fire for donation to
Ecuador, June 22, 01 | Police return
to city's race relations committee, June 25, 2001 | RCMP
accuse FSIN | Saskatoon gets
a new chief |
injusticebusters
webeditorial,
May 31, 2001
Three stories from Saskatoon
this week are part of the same story. Native people were rarely
seen off reserves until the 70s as farming moved into the hands
of agribusiness and uranium became an important part of the economy.
As the money left the province, so did many people. Saskatchewan
"leaders" have bragged for decades that we are the
cradle of medicare and other important social programs.
If there was an organization
called Hypocrisy International, we might be at the top of the
list.
Amnesty International report
June 22, the same day Mayor
Maddin fired Chief Dave Scott we read in the paper that the
police service sent used bulletproof vests to the cops in Ecuador,
where Amnesty International has noted police in its two major
cities have tortured citizens.
Ecuador has been a staunch
ally of the American "war on drugs," going so far as
to imprison an American citizen for "money laundering."
Ecuador has also been in the
news recently because of a
homophobic group hellbent on "social cleansing"
of gay, lesbian, bi and transexuals who are perhaps also in tune
with police policy. The announcement of the vest donation from
Saskatoon was made the same week-end as the Gay Pride march.
Another aspect of Saskatoon police cover-ups has been assaults
on gays by police or police looking the other way when others
did the bashing.
This will also come out when
the clean-up of corruption and cover-up in this city gets underway.
Hypocrisy International
Saskatoon girl
displays bruise inflicted by city cop
Jim Williams,
U.S. citizen held for 8 years without due process in Ecuador
prison
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Sep. 2001: Apparently Jonathan
is in the correctional centre having been picked up on a weapons
charge while he was sleeping at his cousin's place.
The weapons are not his.
There are a thousand Jonathans
revolving through the doors of the so-called justice system,
sing their names to papers so thousands of others will be paid
to strip them of all hope.We repeat the story of Jonathan Poundmaker
(right) who was mistakenly identified by Constable Gardipie --
one of the few Native constables -- from a fuzzy security video
- and picked off the street on Thursday night before Easter in
1997. He was held for five days without any explanation. He was
acquitted at trial. It turned out the "offence" was
the theft of a $20 video taken by an unrelated Poundmaker and
returned to the store the morning after it was taken. During
the time he was released, awaiting trial, he managed to breach
his undertaking (by breaking his curfew) and chalked up a few
fines. He had been doing well in school, but by missing his Tuesday
morning class (while in police custody for the crime he didn't
commit) he fell behind and shortly afterwards dropped out of
school and moved to Swift Current. He had an easy claim against
the police but ran out of time to file it. There are a thousand
stories like this in our naked province.
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The Foster Parent story
would not have been on fifth estate
if we had not put it on the internet, defying the gag orders
given us by the band of hypocrites who make the rules in this
place and enforce them with authoritarian fervor -- selectively
and harshly.
The poor of Saskatchewan (of
which Natives are forming an increasing per centage) have been
living in Third World conditions for a couple decades. People
on Social Assistance (often two or three generations) receive
cheques to give their landlords (for slum housing) and a guarantee
that their utilities will be paid. The actual cash they receive
is not enough to live on by any standards. Is it any wonder,
then, that many young people are selling sex and/or breaking
into the homes of people who actually have homes? Is it any wonder
that so many people drink and use illegal drugs? Guess who owes
that $20M in uncollected fines.
Everyone should try and arrange
to drop into Courtroom 1 at Saskatoon Provincial Court at 9.30
on a Monday morning, or, even better on Tuesday after a long
week-end.
What about the privileged classes
in this Third World territory? There are lots of SUVs on the
decaying roads, ski machines in the winter ditches and boats
and water toys in the increasingly polluted waters. The university
keeps churning out lawyers who attend all the classes on how
to make money and skip the classes on social justice. The university
also graduates several thousand other people a year. The social
workers who often tell the police what to do (so Dueck told us
was his excuse for allowing the Ross incest to continue for 43
months) and who, like Hilga of the SS, make their clients jump
through paper-work hoops and endless appointments to get their
monthly pittance -- many of them were "trained" at
our universities.
Apart from telemarketing depots
the biggest growth industry in Saskatchewan is the "justice"
system. Brash young grade twelve graduates are being recruited,
trained and put to work to push other people around. They receive
no training in the liberal arts, which are the target of continual
cutbacks at the university.
Canada has a strong reputation
for contributing education and resources to developing countries.
We should continue to do so. Saskatchewan should go on the list
of needy recipients.
Much of the deterioration of
this province occurred on the watch of Premier Roy Romanow, who's
name has been bandied about for international diplomatic service
after he "fixes" medicare for the country. Remember
the part about Hypocrisy International? He could be the first
individual recipient. Chris Axworthy would
be second.
Allegations of police
abuse put Saskatoon on Amnesty list
By Jason Warick, of The
StarPhoenix, May 31, 2000
Saskatoon appears in Amnesty
International's annual list of human rights abuses, a list that
chronicles torture, killings and persecution around the world.
The allegations that Saskatoon
police dumped three Native men outside of the city last winter
are described in detail in the 300-page report, compiled by Amnesty's
head office in London, England, and released worldwide Wednesday.
"We take this concern
raised by Amnesty International pretty seriously. This is not
the kind of international image you want to convey. It's a pretty
serious matter," said Justice Minister Chris Axworthy. "Our
hope, of course, is that next year there will be a different
story as we begin some kind of reform-oriented process."
The report outlines the allegations
of "patterns of police abuse against First Nation men in
Saskatoon." Darrell Night says he was driven by police to
a field near the Queen Elizabeth power plant and abandoned in
freezing conditions. It's also suspected the same thing happened
to aboriginal men Rodney Naistus and Lawrence Wegner, whose bodies
were found in the area on Jan. 29 and Feb. 3. Neither of the
men were wearing jackets.
These cases were included in
the Canadian section of the 300-page report, which also included
sections on slavery in Sudan, torture in the former Yugoslavia
and abuse of women in Afghanistan.
Alex Neve, secretary-general
of Amnesty's Canadian branch, said this doesn't mean Saskatoon
has as many or as severe abuses as other places mentioned.
"It's a situation which
does raise serious and important human rights questions, and
it's a situation which we think needs to be resolved. That's
why the Saskatoon case is there," Neve said.
"It remains an open file
(for Amnesty). I'm sure it will continue to receive attention."
Amnesty wrote to Axworthy last
April shortly after the allegations surfaced supporting an independent
inquiry, and Neve still believes that is what is needed.
"There needs to an expert
independent eye to get to the heart of the matter. We still think
that's what's needed," he said.
Neve said Amnesty pays special
attention when it sees a potential pattern developing, rather
than isolated reports. Alex Neve also noted the report is researched
and written by Amnesty's London office, which decides which abuses
merit attention.
Lawrence Joseph, a vice-chief
with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, said he isn't
surprised by Saskatoon's inclusion on the list.
"It's saying shame on
you Saskatoon, shame on you Saskatchewan, and shame on you Canada,"
said Joseph, an outspoken critic of the way Indian people are
treated by police and the justice system. "Certainly, it's
telling the world that Saskatoon and Saskatchewan needs to do
something about these realities."
Joseph said United Nations
studies continually show Canada has the highest standard of living
in the world, but the living conditions of its aboriginal people
rank just 63rd. All issues, from justice to socio-economic conditions,
must be addressed immediately.
"If any politician thinks
they are just going to walk away from this, it's not going to
happen," he said. "The indifference is rampant in the
treatment of First Nations people in this province."
Saskatoon Police Service Chief
Dave Scott was not in Wednesday. Police spokesperson Const. Grant
Little said he couldn't comment on the Amnesty report because
of the pending RCMP investigation into the alleged incidents.
Amnesty International,
celebrating its 40th year,
has campaigned against more than 45,000 cases of human rights
violations around the world.
Pay up: gov't to offenders
Justice
ponders special unit to go after $20 million in uncollected fines
By Dan Zakreski, Senior
Reporter
Saskatchewan News Network, May 31, 2000
Justice Department officials
are looking at creating a special internal unit with sweeping
powers to collect $20 million in unpaid fines levied against
offenders across the province.
These powers include garnisheeing
wages and carrying out civil actions to collect the money. Officials
are also studying the possibility of deducting the money owed
from federal income tax refunds.
The government contracts out
fine collection to private agencies. As of April 30 this year,
however, the collection agencies had recouped only $4 million
of $24 million in fines accrued since 1993.
"At the end of the day,
there are just some people that will never pay their fines,"
said Barb Hookenson of the Justice Department's court services
division.
Up until September 1996, individuals
could face a jail term for not paying court-ordered fines. That
changed when the federal government passed Bill C-41.
"We can't throw people
in jail, we have to use every other means possible." Prior
to 1996, almost eight per cent of fines ordered resulted in jail
time. Since then, less than one per cent of people fined end
up behind bars.
The average for unpaid fines
is $110, and the offences are mostly traffic related. Earlier
this year, the government began holding back the renewal of driver's
licences in cases where the person faced an unpaid fine.
"If they don't pay and
they decide that perhaps they'll just drive without a licence,
or just nor worry about getting a licence, then the next step
is a demand letter indicating the fines are going to a collection
agency," Hookenson said.
The collection agencies, though,
are working with limited powers. "The powers that they have
are the phone calls and letters. They don't have any abilities
to take anyone to court," said Bohach.
"There are certain points
where they may collect some money, but then the cost of collecting
it becomes higher than the fine. At that point, the collection
agency may contact us and let us know that's the case. We'll
keep the judgment registered, but there's not much we can do
about it after that." Hookenson said officials are now engaged
in an analysis of whether creating a special fine collection
unit makes financial sense.
"We're now doing the analysis
of the costs-benefits associated with this - what is outstanding
on fines, what we might be able to achieve if we set up an internal
unit," she said.
"We intend to have all
our analysis and proposals together by this fall." Tapping
into income tax refunds "could make some improvements in
our fine collection system," she added.
The government began turning
over the unpaid fines to collection agencies in 1997.
The backlog of fines dates
to 1993.
Native numbers double
Saskatoon
has highest ratio of aboriginals among major cities
By Jason Warick of The StarPhoenix,
May 30, 2001
Saskatoon's aboriginal population
has more than doubled during the past 12 years while general
population numbers have stagnated, according to a City of Saskatoon
publication.
Saskatoon now has a higher
proportion of aboriginal people than any other major Canadian
city, at 7.5 per cent.
In order for aboriginal people
to become full members of the community more has to be done on
issues such as affordable housing, education and business opportunities,
said Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief George Lafond and city Coun.
Owen Fortosky.
"Are we doing enough?
I don't think we are," Lafond said.
More than 12,000 registered
Indians lived in Saskatoon in 1999, a 122 per cent increase since
1987, according to the spring 2001 issue of Populace, a bi-annual
magazine examining demographic information that is published
by the city.
The main reasons cited in the
magazine are high birth rates, net in-migration from rural reserves
and a general trend among First Nations people toward moving
to cities.
During the same period, the
population of non-aboriginal people in Saskatoon increased by
only 10 per cent.
There will also be vastly different
demographic shifts within the populations. The aboriginal population
is far younger, with 40 per cent under age 15. This compares
to 22 per cent of non-aboriginals in that age group. This will
mean challenges for the city and other service providers, who
will have to find ways to serve young aboriginals and an older
non-aboriginal population.
Lafond said institutions such
as Wanuskewin Heritage Park, the Native survival school and the
recently opened recreation and cultural facility on 20th Street
have helped aboriginal people carve out their place in Saskatoon.
"These are all wonderful
projects. I think we've come a long way, but the point is that
we are still behind and trying to catch up," he said.
Lafond said many aboriginal
people still do not feel they are true citizens of Saskatoon
in the way most non-aboriginal people do.
Eighty per cent of Saskatoon's
aboriginal people live on the west side of the city. Neighbourhoods
with the highest proportions of aboriginal people are Pleasant
Hill (30.7 per cent), Riversdale (27.6), Confederation Suburban
Centre (26.9), and Massey Place (18.2).
Fortosky, who represents most
of these areas, said adequate housing is the first priority to
ensure a good quality of life for aboriginal people in Saskatoon.
"Good quality housing
is a necessity. I think we can do a lot better," he said.
Lafond said he'd like predominantly
aboriginal neighborhoods to be associated with culture and vibrancy,
much like Chinatowns in other cities.
Regina's aboriginal community
makes up 7.1 per cent of that city, while the percentages are
lower in Winnipeg (6.9), Edmonton (3.8), Calgary (1.9), Vancouver
(1.7) and Toronto (0.4).
Aboriginal people comprise
11.4 per cent of Saskatchewan's population, but just three per
cent nationally.
City police under fire
for donation to Ecuador
Amnesty International concerned
police giving bulletproof vests to nation known for rights abuses
By Kim McNairn
of The StarPhoenix, June 22, 01
The Saskatoon Police Service
will donate dozens of used bulletproof vests to police in Ecuador
- a country where the national law enforcement agency has come
under fire from Amnesty International for allegations of torture
and human rights abuses.
The Saskatoon Board of Police
Commissioners approved Thursday the donation requested by the
Consulate of Ecuador in Canada and National Police of Ecuador.
The decision was made with
no debate at the committee table - and that concerns Amnesty
International's John Tackaberry.
"It is crucial that people
who are engaged in these certain kinds of dialogues be informed
about what is going on on the ground," said Tackaberry,
a spokesperson for Amnesty International in Montreal.
Mayor Jim Maddin, chair of
the commission, said in an interview he was unaware of the concerns
over the police in Ecuador. But he stood by the commission's
decision, and noted the issue would be different if the police
were donating used assault rifles.
"It's police officer helping
a police officer - they likely don't look at the politics or
the rest of it," said Maddin.
"To be honest with you
I didn't check about it or research it. I would think it is a
real feel-good initiative among police agencies with other police
agencies for their protection."
Ecuador ranks among the 149
countries on Amnesty International's 2001 report on human rights
abuses around the world. According to the report, abuse by police
is widespread even after attempts by the government to reform
the national force.
"Methods of torture and
ill-treatment included kicking in the face, stamping on feet,
burning, and electric shocks on genitals, tongue and chest, as
well as beatings," stated the report.
The National Police of Ecuador
are associated with the former criminal investigation service
that was shut down in 1991 after a commission concluded members
systematically used torture as part of investigations, and were
responsible for the disappearance and death of two teenage brothers
in 1998.
Tackaberry said Amnesty International
advises organizations to use caution in donating equipment to
other countries. The agency opposes the transfer of any equipment
that can assist people or organizations violating human rights.
Bulletproof vests, said Tackaberry, are in a grey area.
"It is essentially passive
equipment, and it can be protection for good or for ill depending
upon what the situation is. It is not necessarily opposed by
Amnesty International. But we do have serious concerns about
the types of human rights violations that are continuing to occur,"
said Tackaberry.
Police Chief Dave Scott said
the department only wants to help out fellow officers in Ecuador
who have limited resources to protect themselves in the line
of duty.
Since 1998, the capital Quito
and city of Guayaquil have experienced a general increase in
criminal activity, especially robberies, assaults and carjackings.
Police also contend with drug traffickers and organized crime.
Police return to
city's race relations committee
Saskatoon Police Service
withdrew in '98 due to lack of funding
By Kim McNairn
of The StarPhoenix,June 25, 2001
The Saskatoon Police Service
will return to the city's race relations committee table after
a nearly three-year absence, police Chief Dave Scott said Thursday.
Scott told the Saskatoon Board
of Police Commissioners he will direct an officer to sit on the
committee as a voting member starting in the fall.
He said he made the decision
after reviewing the issue in the context of a reorganization
of community services offered by the police. Also factoring into
the decision, he said, is the audit currently under way of the
committee.
That audit will identify appropriate
operation of the committee and roles of individual members.
"As soon as the audit
is finished, and if we can get resources back to it, we will
(return)," said Scott.
The race relations committee
advises city council on ways to minimize racial tension and promote
racial harmony in Saskatoon.
In the summer of 1998, the
police withdrew from the committee largely due to a shortage
in resources. Since then, an officer has been available at the
request of the committee to provide information.
The news Thursday was welcome
to commission chair Mayor Jim Maddin, who for three years has
been calling for the police to come back to the race relations
table. The return will mean increased police input into race
relation activities, he said, and another avenue for improving
awareness of police department of cultural issues.
"I believe our police
services are some of our front-line civic employees. They interact
on the street all the time with people of all creeds and colours,
all races, all ethnicity and cultures," said Maddin, a former
member of the committee.
The current membership includes
city councillors Lenore Swystun and Owen Fortosky, and officials
from the school boards, Saskatoon District Health, Saskatchewan
Intercultural Association, Social Services, Indian and Metis
groups, and the public at large.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
