'I've experienced that fear': Building trust between Indigenous youth, police

Darian Lonechild is new to advocacy work, but has already proven herself a natural.

In her short time on the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Youth Councils, she has met with Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett and worked with the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) on bridging the gap between Indigenous youth and police.

She balances all that with a full-time university schedule. She's currently in her fourth year of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and plans to apply to law school. 

Lonechild said she started her work with police because of experiences in her own life. 

"As a young person, I've experienced that fear and distrust. Just seeing police officers, I feel like I can be also racially targeted," she said.

Lonechild said that the relationship between Indigenous people — especially youth — and police in Saskatoon needs work. She cited the Starlight Tours. 

"To avoid any cases like that in the future, it's important to come together and to strategize and to be honest," she said.

Despite the distrust she sometimes feels, Lonechild said she is hopeful for the future. 

"What gives me hope is the level of commitment that our police chief has to working alongside FSIN youth because there hasn't been a relationship historically between the FSIN youth representatives and Saskatoon city police," she said.

Lonechild said she felt compelled to do something after the death of Jordan Lafond.

"I thought this was a good time to write a letter to the Saskatoon city police on questioning [if they are] going to be taking body cameras on," she said. 

"And if so, could they kind of explain to FSIN youth what it's gonna look like and what the timeline is."

She said police were responsive and "very committed" to hearing what she had to say.

'Life-changing and heartbreaking'

Lonechild was elected to her FSIN position in March. She said she saw the job as an opportunity to talk to youth around the province and make a real difference. Her time so far has been "life-changing and heartbreaking," she said. 

"I can honestly say that it's very emotional to listen to stories of the kind of suffering that goes on in the Indigenous community due to being impoverished, due to violence and due to racism," she said.

"The treatment of Indigenous peoples in this country, it's heartbreaking but I can also say that it provides me hope as well when I talk to young people and I see that they persevere."

Being in a public position as a young person can be hard, Lonechild said.

"It may not look perfect to other people, but I can say that I've always been authentically myself I would want all young people to do the same," she said.

"I would say there definitely is pressure, but I try to be as gentle and understanding with myself as I would expect to how I should treat another young person."

What's next

In addition to her work with SPS, Lonechild and other youth representatives are planning a national youth summit on climate change for 2019. The AFN Youth Council stated in July it opposed the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

"As young people we understand that this land is foundational to who we are," she said.