A dark shadow hovered over Truth and Reconciliation Day in Calgary on Monday.
The fine words and grand promises did nothing whatever for Jon Wells, a Blood Tribe man who died after an altercation with police less than two weeks ago.
In the Carriage House hotel lobby at 1 a.m. on Sept. 17, Wells was unarmed as he faced police. He repeated, “I don’t want to die.”
He was Tasered, tackled, punched in the head, placed face down in a mask and injected, according to a statement from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.
Three officers involved are still on the job, doing non-police work pending investigation.
This case is genuinely tragic. The poor man’s worst fear came true. But the use of police force against Indigenous people is by no means unusual.
Community leaders say the entire Canadian policing system owes a general, national apology.
Apologies are easy, though. They don’t mean much when such incidents continue.
Two other Alberta cases show how Indigenous people can be accosted in the blink of an eye, for no apparent reason except being who they are.
On March 10, 2020, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and his wife were in the parking lot outside a Fort McMurray casino.
Their vehicle apparently had an expired plate. An RCMP officer approached. Adam asked........