A seven-year-old Aboriginal child was assaulted by a teacher's aide at McKellar Park Central Public School in Thunder Bay, Ontario. And the local Crown Attorney claims it would not be in the "public interest" to prosecute. (Video)I'm a member of the public. The Crown doesn't speak for me.
Northwestern Lad has the full story--and all the right questions--here. But it's worth underlining the fact that the Crown once again has acted as the enemy, not the friend, of the First Nations. The resonances of the residential school system--that instrument of torture used by the Crown to "kill the Indian and save the child"--are almost palpable in this case. And even white man's law, in this case the Criminal Code, makes plain that what was done to this child was assault:
265. (1) A person commits an assault when
(a) without the consent of another person, he applies force intentionally to that other person, directly or indirectly;
---
(3) For the purposes of this section, no consent is obtained where the complainant submits or does not resist by reason of
--(d) the exercise of authority.
On the face of it, the Crown Attorney who made the decision not to prosecute seems to be wilfully ignoring the very law that he is sworn to uphold. Why is that, do you think?
2 comments:
I completely agree with you and think this is horrible. It is because of behavior like this that such a stigma between the two cultures continues to exists. I am very tired of the abuse that I see around me, but at the same time I am terrified for myself and my family just to go for a walk sometimes. The crime in our streets is rampant and we have to recognize as a whole that it affects us all. Some of the cases of domestic abuse here in Thunder Bay are absolutely appalling, and yet, I'm very sorry to say, but the "white laws" (in most cases), cant protect the victims of these crimes because they are "protected" by aboriginal laws. I'm sorry, but does anyone else see the irony here? Think about it for a second, and remember that nothing, NOTHING, will ever get done, EVER, unless somebody somewhere stands to make a profit from it. Did you know that recent studies were done in the province of Ontario and here in Thunder Bay, that show a higher retail spending rate than other provinces (per-capita), and yet we have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country! There are new stores opening here all the time!! And where are the unemployed getting all this money to spend? Ontario Works welfare payments and Aboriginal payouts. Do you think that the Ontario government doesn't know what many, many of the misguided aboriginal youth will be spending this on? Number one is Alcohol (government controlled), then we have retail purchases, feeding the "growing" economy, and lastly we have drugs, illegal or otherwise. I'll let you do the math on that one. Yet despite all of the contributing factors I have mentioned, the biggest problem that we face is ourselves. Our hatred and fear of one another is palpable wherever you go. It is in the streets and the bars (that do so well in our town). It is at the mall or the grocery store. It is at our schools, our church's, our tribal meetings, our jobs and at home. The hatred is in our hearts and minds, and it can never leave. We cannot fix things for ourselves, the wound is too deep. But God Damn us if we don't try to save these poor children in our own home! We all see the abuse, from many sides, and maybe it does have to be a white person abusing them for us to HOLD SOMEBODY ACCOUNTABLE!!! I truly apologize if I have offended anyone, but you know this to be true. We must act now on these issues, so that they can at least die with us. Thank you.
I agree. Thunder Bay Crown Attorney David MacKenzie is a racist and should be fired.
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