Aboriginal Activists Lose their Tongues over Killing of White Man under Supervision of Aboriginal Cop

Photo: Corporal Benjamin 'Monty' Robinson (center)

When an aboriginal man, Frank Paul, was dragged into an alley by Vancouver Police where he died, aboriginal activists didn't let anybody forget it. For years, they held media events to raise awareness about this death and the police misconduct that led to it. And rightly so.

But when an aboriginal man, RCMP Corporal Benjamin 'Monty' Robinson, supervised what would prove to be the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski -- his mother prefers the term 'murder' -- at Vancouver Airport, aboriginal activists lost their tongues.  Not a peep out of them after it happened.  And not a peep out of them during last week's Braidwood Inquiry -- even though these activists are generally media microphone hounds.  They didn't ask any questions about why a fellow aboriginal would think it was ok to shoot a man five times with a taser gun, even though the first shot left him on the ground writhing in agony.  Long before I noticed that the cop supervising these shots was aboriginal -- he looks Cree to me -- I thought the videotaped shooting resembled the killing of a moose.  Even the ending where Robinson mounts the shot man lying on the floor, pressing his knee against his throat, seemed like a hunter in the finale of a moose hunt.  

I didn't expect aboriginal activists to go all out and hold street marches and demonstrations for Dziekanski the way they did for Frank Paul. But in a case that has become Canada's Rodney King with the videotape being viewed around the world, they could have at least made a brief statement.  

Actually one aboriginal man did make a brief statement, a volunteer dishwasher at Carnegie who tops up his welfare cheque with the 80 cents an hour that white povertarians pay him. This aboriginal man spoke up in the cafeteria line-up at Carnegie last week; he said that aboriginal cop should buck up and tell the truth -- lawyers demonstrated Robinson to be a liar at the Inquiry -- and give the victim's mother a sincere apology.  But he's not an activist.  He's a dishwasher, not a spin doctor maximizing cash flow from the Indian Industry.

Robinson was accused at the Inquiry of doing little to help Dziekanski survive after the excessive tasering.  This is not the first time Robinson's been accused of neglecting the medical needs of a non-aboriginal.  An assault victim and former pizza restaurant operator, Greg Garley, alleged in 2005 that Cpl. Robinson and another officer failed to respond to his medical needs. Garley got himself to a hospital for treatment.  Garley's lawyer, Robert Levin, says the allegation against Cpl. Robinson amounted to "neglect." The matter has been settled but the terms have not been disclosed.  And you can bet aboriginal activists as high up as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, who has repeatedly made public statements about police indifference that has led to aboriginal deaths, won't be delving into this one.  

From now on when I hear aboriginals on the Downtown Eastside ending made-for-media events with their prayer for "All my relations", I will be thinking of Robert Dziekanski taking it like a moose.

RCMP Taser Elderly Stroke Survivor

Did you hear the one about the RCMP shooting the stroke survivor with a taser gun? It's true.

John Peters, 68, suffered a stroke in 1990. He is blind in one eye, hard of hearing, and has neurological problems which affect his speech. But the RCMP added to his problems last Monday by shooting him with a Taser gun in Kelowna, B.C. Like Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died at Vancouver airport, Peters was tasered twice.

But unlike Dziekanski, Peters survived to talk about it. In fact, seeing Dziekanski dying on video after being tasered prompted Peters and his wife Ann to speak to CHBC Television in Kelowna (the interview aired on Nov. 16, 2007 on the Vancouver sister station, Global TV) about their experience. The 5'6", 145 lbs. Peters still has nightmares about the tasering and doesn't ever expect to entirely get over it. "This is probably going to haunt me for the rest of my life", he said.

Guess what Peters had done to deserve to get tased twice? He and his wife, Ann Peters, had just finished their paper route -- they deliver a Kelowna newspaper three mornings a week -- and he was picking her up at a coffee shop in downtown Kelowna when he double parked. An RCMP officer was writing him a ticket when Peters objected and drove off. Less than a block away, Peters realized he had made a mistake and stopped his car.

But the Mounties know how to deal with a double parking bandit. An RCMP officer approached Peters in his car and punched him on the side of the head. "I felt a punch...and then the next thing I knew, I was staring at a Taser. And then I got tased."

Ann Peters recalled seeing the officer "with his Taser out" and hearing him say, "I'm going to Taser him."

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

It happened quick, she says, "Just like that, I mean, there was no hesitation." Her husband had not even gotten out of the car yet, she pointed out.

To add insult to injury, literally, the RCMP charged Peters with assaulting a police officer, obstructing justice, and resisting arrest. But Peters says he never hit the officer. The couple doubt they will ever regain their trust in the RCMP

John Peters believes that what these officers need to develop is "people skills". Ann Peters agrees, "Not Taser first, ask questions later."

Think John Peters experience is unusual? Think again. Canadian Press reviewed 563 cases of taser use by the RCMP over a 3 year period and found that in 3 out of 4 cases, the suspects tasered had been unarmed. Canadian Press obtained the data, according to CTV News on Nov. 18, 2007, from reviewing partially censored documents from the RCMP. Their conclusion was that tasers are being used by the RCMP as a weapon of choice and that they are quick to use them on low risk suspects.

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Farnworth Teary Over Tasering

Mike Farnsworth was teary-eyed on Wednesday night on the 11 o'clock news in Vancouver. It was when Global television was asking people for comments on the just released video of the taser gun death of polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, at the Vancouver airport.

First a Global reporter showed the video to Vancouver lawyer, Cameron Ward. Ward looked momentarily shaken after watching the video but he went on to comment. He pointed out that police – there were four RCMP officers standing with the victim when he was tasered -- seem to be using tasers to subdue people without having to touch them.

Then a reporter turned up at the office of Mike Farnsworth, NDP public safety critic, and played the video for him. After watching it, Farnsworth was so shaken that he had difficulty commenting; he couldn't seem to get the words out. Tears were leaking out and he was trying to hold them back. The camera crew left. But they continued to point their camera through the plate glass window of his office. As Farnsworth turned away, he could be seen putting his thumb and forefinger over his tear ducts, the way people do when they are trying to stem the flow of tears and don’t want to be seen crying.

"He’s a feeling person," I thought. He had watched a man being killed in front of his eyes and it bothered him. It was then that I moved closer to the television to read his name in the caption, "Mike Farnworth, NDP Public Safety critic".

The American therapist Arthur Janov has commented on the importance of electing officials who have not lost their ability to feel. A friend of mine, who has read everything Janov's ever written, explained his view that optimal intelligence involves the intellect working in conjunction with the feeling side of the person. Operating on intellect alone, having "fled to your head", won't cut it. If a politician has lost his ability to feel, if he's making decisions but unable to feel empathy with the people affected, Janov says, we're in trouble.

A quick example of people in positions of authority who have lost their ability to feel: the RCMP officers standing with Dziekanski when he was shot with a taser gun. Dziekanski was writhing on the floor in agony, clutching his chest, obviously not going anywhere, and one of the officers orders, "Hit him again!" Another officer shoots him again.

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