Report submitted to Ottawa highlights police abuse against Indigenous women

Sheila Tataquason, right, with supporters outside the provincial courthouse on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. She is suing Saskatoon police for damages she suffered when she was attacked by a police dog and arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. Greg Pender / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

by Tavia Grant, The Globe and Mail, June 19, 2017

Degrading strip searches and groping by male officers. Slamming a woman’s head on the sidewalk during an arrest. Unwillingness to report crimes due to fears of police harassment. Threats. Intimidation. Racial discrimination. Fears of retaliation.

These are just some of the accounts in a Human Rights Watch submission to the federal government to be released Monday that focuses on police treatment of Indigenous women in Saskatchewan. The organization documented 64 alleged cases, since 2014, of police abuse against aboriginal women in the province.

Thunder Bay had almost one-third of Canada’s reported anti-Indigenous hate crimes in 2015: StatsCan

CBC News, June 13, 2017

Almost one third of reported hate crimes in Canada in 2015 where Indigenous people were the victim occurred in Thunder Bay, Ont., according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The federal agency released its latest report on police-reported hate crime in Canada on Tuesday.  In 2015, Thunder Bay had the highest rate of hate crime reported to statisticians by police among the country’s census metropolitan areas with 22.3 per 100,000 people.

Arrest Made in Murder of 20-Year-Old Quinault Tribal Member Jimmy Smith-Kramer

Jimmy Smith Kramer, 20, was killed when a pickup truck backed into him at a campground next to Donkey Creek near Hoquiam, Wash., May 27, 2017.

King 5 News, May 31, 2017

A 31-year-old Hoquiam man was arrested Tuesday evening in connection to a hit-and-run at a Grays Harbor County campground that killed one man and injured another Saturday. The suspect has been booked into the Grays Harbor County Corrections Facility for second-degree homicide.

Evidence from First Nation student who survived Thunder Bay river attack resurfaces following eye-witness claim

A coroner’s inquest was held into the deaths of students (clockwise from top): Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Paul Panacheese, Robyn Harper, Reggie Bushie, Kyle Morriseau and Jordan Wabasse. Graphic: APTN

by Jorge Berrara, APTN National News, May 31, 2017

His name was never revealed during the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of seven First Nation high school students in Thunder Bay, but his story raised the chilling spectre that something more sinister lurks behind the “epidemic” of tragedies that led First Nation leaders Wednesday to call for an RCMP investigation.

Quinault Nation Responds to Apparent Hate Crime that leaves One Dead, One in Critical Condition

James Kramer

Last Real Indians, May 28, 2017

TAHOLAH, WA – The Quinault Indian Nation is responding to an apparent hate crime attack on two Quinault tribal members this weekend that killed one and seriously injured another.

Sick, diabetic man says Greyhound bus driver left him stranded on highway

Barry Spence was kicked off a Greyhound bus because the driver believed he was drunk.

Barry Spence says he was accused of being drunk, told to walk to next town — 200 kilometres away

CBC News, May 29, 2017

A diabetic Manitoba man says he was left stranded at the side of a dark highway, hundreds of kilometres from home, by a Greyhound bus driver.

Barry Spence, 41, travels from his home in Thompson, Man., to Winnipeg every week for dialysis due to kidney failure from Type 2 diabetes. He started feeling sick as he was heading back home on the bus May 20.

Time to acknowledge hate crimes against Indigenous people as reality, says legal expert

Barbara Kentner, left, was struck by a trailer hitch thrown from a moving car in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Jan. 29. Her sister, Melissa Kentner, right, witnessed the assault and believes it was a hate crime. (Jody Porter/CBC)

Decade-old recommendation to adopt Aboriginal hate crimes strategy in Ontario never adopted

CBC News, Feb 07, 2017

The assault of an Indigenous woman in Thunder Bay, Ont. who was hit by a trailer hitch thrown from a passing car is evidence that the time for governments, and individuals to address hate motivated crimes against Indigenous people in Ontario is long overdue, says one legal expert. 

First Nation shocked by vehement reaction to proposed reserve

Vandals show their displeasure with a proposed First Nation reserve for York Road, tagging the road near the TimberWest lands sold to the Tlowitsis First Nation for a reservation. / Contributed to Campbell River Mirror

By Kristen Douglas, Campbell River Mirror, April 12, 2016

The Tlowitsis First Nation says it’s “disappointed” by the reaction of Area D residents to its proposal to establish a reservation on York Road.

Thomas Smith, economic development officer with the Tlowitsis, was reacting to ‘No Rez’ messages spray painted on signs marking the proposed development site as well as on the road nearby.

Vans Removes ‘Drunken Indian’ T-Shirt From Shelves After Canadian Petition

Vans “wizard totem” t-shirt design.

By Jesse Ferreras, The Huffington Post, June 22, 2015

The Vans clothing company has stopped selling a T-shirt that shows a totem pole made out of beer cans over concerns that it promotes a “drunken Indian” stereotype.

Chad Girardin, a Métis man from Vancouver, launched a Change.org petition calling on the retailer to remove the “Wizard Totem” shirt.

He is also seeking an official apology from the company. “This imagery is uncalled for and very hurtful,” Girardin wrote.