Siksika postpones Black Lives Matter solidarity rally after worker on First Nation tests positive for COVID-19

The Siksika First Nation abruptly called off a planned solidarity walk Monday after a worker on the southern Alberta reserve tested positive for COVID-19.

Cars were lined up and ready for the day of solidarity with the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement when Siksika Chief Ouray Crowfoot said he received a phone call.

The worker does not live on the Siksika First Nation but may have come into contact with members, he said. Out of an abundance of caution, everyone in the employee's office building will be tested for the novel coronavirus.

The march was postponed, as well.

"We've been through a lot here in Siksika, but you know, we are a resilient people," Crowfoot said. "We have overcome a lot and will overcome this pandemic."

The solidarity march was not worth risking safety, Crowfoot said, adding that many participants would have been elderly members of the nation.

The nation has had no COVID-19 cases among its membership so far.

But if the pandemic does reach the nation, leaders have set up temporary housing to facilitate quarantine.

"There's a lot of unknowns and the unknown is what is scary, " Crowfoot said.

'There comes a time when you say, that's enough'

Both Crowfoot and elder Butch Wolfleg, who organized the Siksika Solidarity Day, said they want to see the march go ahead another day.

Wolfleg said it's important people know that Siksika Nation stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, even if the rally was postponed. 

He said his community has dealt with police brutality and systemic racism for a long time, and that's caused Siksika to be careful when interacting with neighbouring white communities.

"It can get quite volatile at times and so we've just learned to live with it," Wolfleg said. "But there comes a time when you say, that's enough."

He said he's been encouraged to see the variety of people taking part in the ongoing protests across the United States and Canada.

He said Indigenous and Black people have long protested and spoken up about systemic racism and police brutality but without "backing from the white population."

"I'm really thankful for the messages that are being given out there, especially from the white people who are responding to this," Wolfleg said. "They're saying, we need to take a look at ourselves, we need to be aware and begin to change our behaviour."

He said his hope is that his grandchildren will one day see a police officer as someone to turn to for protection, that they'll interact with white people "without having feelings of being less than," and will have power to make change.

Crowfoot said he was also concerned about Alberta's Bill 1, which would stop rail blockade protesters in the province.

Across Alberta, thousands have marched over the past week to protest police brutality and systemic racism.

On Monday, Alberta prosecutors charged two police officers with criminal negligence in a fatal 2018 shooting.

The Crown's office is also investigating an arrest in August 2019 when a police officer drove his knee into a handcuffed man's upper back. A witness captured the arrest on video.

A Calgary woman also has filed a complaint alleging excessive use of force by police. She has a video that shows two officers holding her to the ground during an arrest last fall.

In the video, one officer is shown holding a knee to her back or neck as she repeatedly says, "I can't breathe."