Traffic was rerouted on Vanier Parkway as dozens of students and community members marched in memory of Indigenous victims of violence and to demand change in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) administration of justice.
The walk and rally, held on March 9, occurred in the shadow of two recent verdicts that fueled a national conversation about how the Canadian justice system treats Indigenous victims. It was spearheaded by Carleton students to express solidarity with victims and their families.
Last month, Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley was found not guilty of fatally shooting Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man from Red Pheasant Cree First Nation. In a separate case, Raymond Cormier was acquitted of the murder of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old Sagkeeng First Nations girl also from Saskatchewan.
The group also marched for Brady Francis, a 22-year-old man from Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick, who was killed in a hit-and-run on Feb. 24. The RCMP is currently investigating this case.
Carolyn Simon, a second-year psychology student also from Elsipogtog First Nation, said she organized the march to call out injustice and for her own healing process.
“I know the [Francis] family very well and they’re hurting,” she said.
The Elsipogtog community is also grieving the lack of restitution given to Fontaine and Boushie, she added.
“They don’t want [Francis’ investigation] to play out in the same way,” Simon said.
On behalf of Francis’ family, Simon demanded the RCMP treat this case fairly, confront racism in policing and its effects on marginalized communities, and acknowledge the institution and the country it works for operate on unceded Indigenous land.
The Canadian justice system is quick to label Indigenous people as villains, Simon said.
“In most cases, they paint the Indigenous person to look like some addict or some bad person and criminal and somehow that justifies murder, which it doesn’t,” she said.
“We’re going to help bring their voices to the forefront,” Jocelyn Wabano-Iahtail, an Ininew Eeyou Eskwayow activist from the Cree community of Attawapiskat, told the gathering of around 70 people standing in a unified circle in the University Centre atrium before the march began.
“They deserved to be respected and honoured and loved and visible while they were here,” he added. [tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”33″]
Before the march, students and community members alike expressed sorrow and tiredness regarding Canada’s colonial history. Outside the University Centre, participants stood in a circle once again and were smudged by an Algonquin elder. Wabano-Iahtail sang a song in honour of the victims; her voice and the wind were the only sounds among those silent in remembrance.
During the eight-kilometre walk that lasted more than an hour, Indigenous peoples led the way while allies followed behind. This was symbolic of breaking the pattern of Indigenous peoples being treated as second-class citizens for centuries, Simon said.
The walk “is a metaphor for the great lengths we’re willing to go to call for justice,” she said.
According to Simon, the group made a circle in the street at the intersection of Vanier and Coventry Road. Wabano-Iahtail and Simon demanded an RCMP officer read their demands, which he did only after Wabano-Iahtail began to throw words at him in Cree.
Sheldon Paul, a second-year public affairs student, participated as an ally in solidarity with his friends, he said.
“Though I may be just a guest on their land, I’m more than willing to take part in its liberation,” Paul said.
While the walk on its own won’t tackle the structural bias inherent in a colonial project such as the RCMP, Paul said, “the more we remind everyone in this country that these are issues we can’t ignore anymore . . . It’s got value to it.”
Simon said she plans to follow up with the RCMP to see if the demands are being met.
Photos by Aaron Hemens
