A full deck of race cards was played in a bizarre street theatre press conference held by a half dozen First Nations organizations, in front of 788 Simcoe Street today.
While some leaders made statements that attempted to balance the families' grief and a search for truth into what led to the shooting of 26 year old Craig McDougall, other militants chose to selectively disclose the accounts of "credible witnesses" to smear police as enjoying "a killing spree" and to threaten the public peace.
According to the leaders, Winnipeg police were responding to a single call for assistance from the house after a fight between two girls. They claim McDougall, who they admitted had a criminal record, was walking home and was on a cellphone with his girlfriend, standing inside the yard, when 6 cops came up to the short fence and gate.
Among the statements made by Chief Jerry Knott of Wasagamack where the family are members:
* "Deadly force was not necessary"
* "If the taser malfunctioned is the use of deadly force legitimate"
* (The family was) "treated like criminals"
* "We recognize the need for policing ...we want the officers to apologize to the family."
A statement was read by the father of the deceased Brian, who complained he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed mere feet from where his son was bleeding from his wounds, "if he had a knife I did not see it", and "we are afraid for other aboriginal youth."
Chief David Harper of Garden Hill asked, "What was the danger to the 6 police that stood behind the fence... are we sure there was a weapon?" and tastelessly raised the takedown of Vince Li in last weeks' Greyhound Bus decapitation murder of Tim McLean Jr.
He then ratcheted up the heat on police Chief Keith McCaskill, saying the chiefs want a representative in the investigation team and they were "challenging his leadership", ending with the first of many orchestrated calls for a full public inquiry into the Police Service.
Next, Chief Robert Flett of St. Theresa Point went down the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry road, demanding the AJI recommendations be implemented including an Aboriginal Police Commission, an independant police complaints agency, and the establishment of an "Aboriginal Justice College".
Flett also announced that Don Worme, the lawyer most recently seen depicting police as racists at the Matthew Dumas inquest, had been retained as well as a Private Investigator. He demanded a full inquiry "given recent increases in complaints and incidents" involving police, offering no proof of his assertions, while adding that a Human Rights Commission complaint and a complaint to the United Nations was being filed.
After a nearly incomprehensible speech by MKO head Dr. Sydney Garrioch, acting Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Billy Jo Delaronde took the mic.
He firstly thanked Chief McCaskill for briefing him after the weekend shooting, but said "our youth do not feel safe" and they have "a severe lack of trust with Winnipeg police".
He echoed the call for an inquiry reminding the media of Mayor Katz' past comment that it was "a broken police service", and said that they would be making a presentation to an August 27th public forum into the police.
The final speaker was Morris Swan-Shannacapo of the Southern Chiefs Organization, who ignored the facts and instead immediately claimed that the death of Matthew Dumas was parallel to that of JJ Harper in 1988, and then refered to the police-involved deaths of B and E artist Michael Langan two weeks ago and of McDougall.
Using imagery directly lifted from the playbook of terror mastermind Yassir Arafat, Shannecapo bellowed "again and again and again and again, we extend an olive branch (to the police)" and demanded an inquiry into "the killing sprees that seem to be enjoyed by the Winnipeg Police Service", as he harkened to the book about the JJ Harper killing "Cowboys and Indians", by nowhere to be seen Gordon Sinclair Jr.
"Is this the 5th chapter, the tenth chapter? I hope it is the final chapter!" Swan thundered to applause from the native onlookers.
In the question and answer that followed, it took over a minute for the group to confirm the police were responding to a call for help from the house.
The next question was about how was McDougall related to JJ Harper (dad's brothers wifes' brother, or an uncle in law once removed).
Alleged details of the incident and aftermath came out of the next questions.
The father called police because a fight broke out, "a credible witness said he was talking to his girlfriend"-- the girlfriend herself; an uncle who had a badly swollen black left eye was pointed out as a victim of police brutality in the takedown of the house; and that the girlfriend heard 4 shots, and that McDougall's last words were "goodbye".
Then a reporter from an aboriginal publication asked, how close are we to civil disobedience or to a race riot?"
He was told "ask the general public, we are really really close", but then Delaronde let fly, saying First Nations youth are "very very close to taking things into their own hands... we're at one minute to 12".
Then when another reporter asked for clarification of the alleged fight between the two girls, a diversionary bombshell was dropped.
It is now being claimed that on his birthday, June 20th, Craig McDougall was taken to the outskirts of the city, beaten by police and had to walk back to the city. There was no explanation about why the MKO, SCO, or any other advocacy group had waited until the end of the press conference to make the allegation or what proof there was beyond hearsay.
The moderator took one last question, and nodded in our direction.
We asked if the witnesses say anything about whether police had given direction to McDougall when they approached the fence to put his hands in the air or whatever, and if he complied with their order.
Delaronde took the microphone again, and instead of answering the question, he brought up yet another 20 year old police shooting, that involved a relative of his who luckily survived. What a shooting on November 15, 1988 has to do with the Craig McDougall incident remains a mystery, as does whether he complied with police orders Saturday morning or not, because...
After insisting their witnesses are credible and trumpeting their version of events to paint Winnipeg police as trigger happy, the Acting Chief of the AMC told the media, they want to see what Chief McCaskill put in writing about what went down, and only then would the Chiefs reveal what their witnesses say they heard before the fatal shots were fired.
Also left unmentioned at the press conference were:
- any details about the frequent loud parties complained about by neighbours,
- reports the fight was between a man and a woman and that police were responding to an attempted break-in,
- the sound of broken glass and of a car screeching away shortly before the cops arrived, or
- specifics of McDougalls' admitted criminal record.
More today at 4 PM. on the show.
