Sadness, anger and questions follow RCMP shooting of Elsipogtog man

A Mi'kmaw lawyer and researcher says she is sad and angry after police shot and killed a man in Elsipogtog last weekend.

"It hits you right in the gut," said Pam Palmater, who is from Ugpi'Ganjig First Nation, also known as Eel River Bar, and a professor and chair in Indigenous governance at Toronto Metropolitan University.

It's devastating for the family and the community, she said, and frustrating because of previous similar incidents.

"The rest of the world thinks that things are getting better on the Indigenous front. … But in fact, when it comes to things that cause our death … substandard health care, putting our kids into foster care, where they're abused or they'll die, or shootings — killings — by law enforcement, that's still happening at the same rate and in some years much higher," said Palmater.

A release from the Serious Incident Response Team said based on preliminary information, officers had been called to a home late Sunday night because a man was allegedly threatening to harm himself.

"Two officers responded and were approached by a male carrying weapons," said the release.

One officer tried to use a Taser on the man, but it didn't work, and the man was then shot by another officer on the scene, it said.

Palmater said it's problematic to assume that because police were involved, there must have been criminality.

She drew parallels to two other deaths of Indigenous people at the hands of police in New Brunswick a few years ago.

Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi were both fatally shot by police officers in June 2020.

"There is a common factor here that we cannot ignore," said Michael Boudreau, a criminologist at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.

One of the important recommendations after inquests into the deaths of Moore and Levi was that people from local Indigenous communities should be included in responding to emergency calls in which mental health is a suspected factor, he said.

In Elsipogtog, a group called Indige-Watch launched last year, offering this type of support, as well as other services.

Boudreau wondered whether the RCMP notified Indige-Watch on Sunday night and if not, why not.

"Clearly this is not working," he said.

More resources and closer working relationships between police and First Nations may be needed, he said.

He also wondered what efforts police made to try to de-escalate the situation, whether anyone else was at risk and what kind of a weapon the individual who was shot had.

He said he hopes the Serious Incident Response Team, which is investigating, will reach out to the community to get perspectives on how something like this can be prevented in the future.

The presence of "an arbiter of violence," is crucial, said Palmater.

"There's got to be people who intervene and say, 'Look, we need to provide support for him,'" she said.

A long list of reports have found anti-Indigenous racism is widespread within law enforcement, said Palmater.

Information Morning - Moncton12:20Mi'kmaw lawyer says it's past time for a national and provincial inquiry into the way police interact with Indigenous people

Pam Palmater is Professor and Chair in Indigenous Governance at Toronto Metropolitan University 

She would like to see an inquiry into the RCMP as well as a provincial inquiry into anti-First Nation racism in policing in New Brunswick.

An inquiry would be able to find out, for example, how many times complaints have been made against particular officers for things like violence or sexual harassment without them facing consequences, she said.

"Then we could make evidence based recommendations and shine a light on who is responsible and who needs to do what," she said.

Information Morning - Moncton8:35Fatal police shooting at Elsipogtog raises questions about policing in First Nations communities

Michael Boudreau is a Professor of Criminology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.