Article 10: Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

​by Allison McLeod

There is an abundance of controversy that surrounds Aboriginal deaths in custody. Only recently the issue has been getting more attention; however, Aboriginal deaths in custody continue to be often overlooked. Deaths in custody can happen in multiple locations other than just prison; they can occur in hospitals, fields, highways and streets (Razack, 2015, p. 199). Furthermore, the deaths in custody can constitute under a number of different possibilities such as suicide, or police-involved deaths such as excessive use of force, shootings, taser/pepper spray incidents, “freezing deaths, and deaths resulting from restraint” (Razack, 2015, p. 199). The focus of this paper, is to recognize the failure of the justice system in handling Aboriginal cases and to analyze these failures in dealing with deaths in custody. In addition, the paper will explore the idea that deaths in custody often reflect the negative outcomes of colonization rather than the alternative explanation: as being a direct result of overrepresentation of Aboriginals in prison. Based on case studies, this paper will discuss the true purpose of inquests and inquiries into Aboriginal deaths under police custody.

Quantitative Data of Aboriginals in the Justice System
When analyzing data regarding the overrepresentation of the Aboriginal population in the Criminal Justice System, it is important to keep in mind the small percentage the Aboriginal population represents when compared to the Canadian population. Frideres and Gadacz (2001) emphasize these concerns, stating that although Aboriginal people “represent less than 3 percent of the population” of the whole country, they make up “17 percent of the prison population” (p. 130). These disproportionately high statistics remain true when concerning the number of Aboriginal women versus the number of non-Aboriginal women incarcerated (Mooney, Knox, Schacht, & Holmes, 2012, p. 127). Furthermore, although Aboriginals constitute approximately 10-13 percent of the population in a federal prison, the numbers are much higher in a provincial prison; “Saskatchewan is nearly 25 times higher than the overall average” and “Manitoba is nearly 10 times higher” (Frideres et al., 2001, p. 130). These statistics only begin to illustrate the unjustifiable inequity within the Criminal Justice System.

There have been a number of reasons brought forth that may contribute to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the judicial system. Mooney et al, (2012) argue that the following factors that may have contributed to these rates include:
“differential treatment by the criminal justice system — being discriminated against by the police, the courts, etc.; differential commission of crime and differential offence patterns — committing crimes that are more detectable — more serious or more visible — than those committed by non-Aboriginal people; the socio-structural deprivation of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples; the decline of informal mechanisms of social control within Aboriginal communities; and systemic racism.” (p. 127)

There is not one single explanation for the overrepresentation, and all factors should always be taken into consideration. Furthermore, these factors can be separated into two groups: those that could indirectly or directly contribute such as “socioeconomic disadvantage, family dissolution, unemployment, and substance abuse” and those that are considered as systemic bias such as “the decision by police about how to respond to an alleged offence” (Weatherburn, Fitzgerald, & Hua, 2003, p. 66). Although there is a higher number of Aboriginal inmates vs non-Aboriginal inmates, they often shared similarities such as “drug and alcohol addiction problems, poor upbringing/poverty, abuse and violence in their lives, lack of education, and were similar in the types of offences committed” (Frideres et al., 2001, p. 131). In a sociological perspective, this could be contributed to the higher class in marginalizing the minorities.

Quantitative Data Regarding Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Sherene Razack (2015) recalls that one of the most common reactions when researching for Dying from improvement: Inquests and inquiries into Indigenous deaths in custody, was “Surely there can’t be that many Aboriginal people dying in police custody” (p. 192)! While the numbers may not be ‘astonishingly’ high, there is a face and a story behind each number of Aboriginal deaths in custody. For example, the Native Court Workers and Counselling Association of British Columbia found that “between 1971 and 2003, at least nineteen Aboriginal people died in police custody or were shot by police” and 60 percent did not occur in prison but under the care of police (Razack, 2015, p. 195). Furthermore, the British Columbia Coroners Service “has a record of 267 police-involved deaths for the period of 1992 to 2007” with approximately 10-28 percent Aboriginal (Razack, 2015, p. 195). In another study, an examination of “eighty-two reported suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths in prison from 2001 to 2005” found that Aboriginal people “accounted for more than one fifth of the deaths in custody” (Razack, 2015, p. 197). Razack (2015) carefully calculates that Aboriginals make up approximately 40-50 percent of the 116 deaths in custody that occurred between 1995 to 2013 in Saskatchewan alone (p. 199). These rates vary across Canada, and are generally higher in provinces with a stronger Aboriginal presence.

Reasoning and Contributing Factors
A common explanation for Aboriginal deaths in custody is blamed on the disproportionately high rate of Aboriginal people in custody. This reasoning has showed up side by side with the “phenomena of Aboriginal overrepresentation in criminal justice systems internationally” such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States (Cuneen, 2006, p. 37). However, Razack argues that colonialism has more to do with the issue at hand. Colonization is often a concept that is referred to as something that occurred in the past, however, the legacy of colonization still exists today. When discussing any issues regarding Aboriginal people, we have to take into account that “concurrent substance abuse and mental health issues, poverty and homelessness among Aboriginal peoples cannot be separated from historic racism and inequities Aboriginal people have experienced” (Razack, 2015, p. 36). However, even with the efforts of “Indigenous and some non-Indigenous scholars to show that colonialism is a central explanation for these statistics, the plight of Indigenous people in Canada is seldom officially connected to colonialism” (Razack, 2015, p. 30). It was only recently that the federal government officially acknowledged its controversial part in Aboriginal history. Perhaps now, the realization of the colonial connection will gradually become more recognized.
An explanation that goes hand in hand with the previous one, argues that if there is an Aboriginal death in custody it cannot be determined if it was because of his/her race. The commissioner involved in the death of Frank Paul, which we will analyze further along, had stated “whether his Aboriginal status is the governing reason why he died cannot be known on the evidence. What we do know is that it was his Aboriginal status that put him in a place of vulnerability” (Razack, 2015, p. 34). Nonetheless, Razack (2011) argues that “Aboriginal death becomes a timely death rather than an untimely death, the only thing we can expect from a disappearing race” (p. 352). The most common argument, is that an Aboriginal person suffering from an addiction was inevitably going to die anyways, whether they were under police custody or not. Furthermore, Razack (2011) presents information that insists that the Aboriginal body is “considered to be beyond help… they are in a sense, already dead” (p. 352). With this idea in mind, a member of the police force may unknowingly act adjacent with these preconceptions and could otherwise be classified as attributing aspects of cognitive dissonance.

The Cycle of Oppression
When analyzing the information regarding Aboriginal deaths in custody, we have to consider the ideas of the oppression category. Elizabeth McGibbon (2012) states that oppression can “include genocide, cultural genocide, policy-created poverty… and numerous actions and inactions that create and maintain systems of dominance. At the heart of oppression is structural power” (p. 24). Therefore, Aboriginal deaths in custody are not due to the victims fault and the overrepresentation of Aboriginals in custody but it is more related to systemic racism and oppression. Furthermore, each individual involved in discrimination contributes to structural oppression. McGibbon (2012) goes on to note the following:
oppression refers to ‘the vast and deep injustices some groups suffer as a consequence of often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary integrations, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms — in short, the normal processes of everyday
life. (p. 24)

As noted earlier, well-meaning police officers or medical professionals can contribute to the death of an Aboriginal person in custody simply due to indifference. Razack (2015) also highlights indifference between Aboriginals and white settlers as it “occurs within intense, often daily, encounters between state officials (police and health-care professionals) and Indigenous populations in the city” (p. 30). As we can see, an inaction can be just as adverse as a direct action and the ignorance of indifference can produce a negative outcome.

Although McGibbons (2012) uses the ‘Cycle of Oppression’ to describe how oppression is a social determinant of health, the ‘Cycle of Oppression’ can easily be applied when referring to Aboriginal deaths in custody. McGibbons (2012) presents an illustration of the ‘Cycle of Oppression’ which is constructed in a circle with four different sections: “1. Biased information leads to stereotyping; 2. Prejudice; 3. Discrimination; 4. Oppression” (p. 27). This applies to Aboriginal deaths in custody because the systemic racism that has been caused by oppression initially begins with the stereotypes that plague the Aboriginal people. McGibbons (2012) points out that oppression stems from stereotypes “while [oppression] is a systematic force, [it] is activated and perpetuated through human relationships — the collective ways that we treat each other as individuals, communities and nations” (p. 27). When we analyze some of the examples of Aboriginal deaths in custody, it will become clear that the system has failed to interpret the death in custody for Aboriginal people.

Inquests and Inquiries
When involving deaths in custody, inquests do not provide a criminal trial and “families who expect the inquest to provide them with information about who is responsible for the death of their loved ones are often bitterly disappointed” (Razack, 2011, p. 354). The inquest is a “legal process conducted by a coroner” and it’s purpose “is to identify what would prevent death from happening under the same circumstance” (Razack, 2015, p. 6). Furthermore, scholars have argued that the purpose of inquests is to “exonerate the police and other state professionals through ‘the effective building of negative reputations of the deceased’” (Razack, 2011, p. 354). In other words, it re-victimizes the ‘victim’ and their families, while wiping their hands clean. Razack (2015) argues that both “inquests and inquiries instruct us in the pathologies of Indigenous people” and therefore, “states provide themselves with alibis not only for inaction but also for crimes of overt violence” (p. 5). Aboriginal deaths in custody show that “negligence and lack of care remain an endemic” and “the systemic disadvantage in a society that has largely marginalized its indigenous people” (Cunneen, 2006, p. 49). Individual case studies might help to better understand unfair treatment the Aboriginal people receive in their custody. With the information provided thus far, this paper will present enough examples regarding Aboriginals dying in custody.

The Case of Frank Paul
In December of 1998, Frank Paul was taken into custody for being drunk in public and was released immediately. However, later that day he was taken into custody again for the same reason (Razack, 2015, p. 29). Although Paul was so inebriated he could not appear to walk and his clothes were soaking wet, Sergeant Sanderson ordered Constable Instant to take Frank Paul to the area he hung around (Razack, 2015, p. 29). Video surveillance shows police dragging Paul out of the cell; after loading Paul into the vehicle, the police involved decided to leave Paul in an alleyway near a detox centre (Razack, 2015, p. 29). Frank Paul was found dead only a few hours later, and his death was “attributed to hypothermia due to acute alcohol intoxication” (Razack, 2015, p. 30). In 2007 a public inquiry was called, which did not result in any arrests and the officers involved during the time of Paul’s death only received a “one-two day suspension” (Razack, 2015, p. 30).

Perhaps the police officers involved may have thought they were doing Paul a favour by leaving him near a detox centre. Nonetheless, the careless act of leaving him in an alley way rather than taking him into the actual detox centre could have made a tremendous difference in preserving Frank Paul’s life. Furthermore, the inquest into Paul’s death only states the cause of death as caused by hypothermia due to acute alcohol intoxication, rather than focusing on the negligent actions that the police officers took while Paul was in custody. In the case of Frank Paul, these negligent actions may have stemmed from the preconceptions that Paul was just another Aboriginal with alcoholism that would find himself in the drunk tank again. The decisions that the police officers made exhibit the indifference caused by systemic racism and the oppression of Aboriginal people.

The Case of Paul Alphonse
A 67 year old residential school survivor was picked up for being drunk in public, while in police custody Alphonse suffered a fall and was taken to the hospital and found to have no injuries (Razack, 2011, p. 358). Paul Alphonse was returned to the cells, where he later complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital again when it was “determined that he had several fractured ribs” (Razack, 2011, p. 358). Alphonse died in the hospital eight days after he was admitted; the hospital “records state that Alphonse died of pneumonia and alcohol withdrawal” while “a pathologist concluded that a significant contributing factor to his death was that he had been stomped on so hard there was a boot print on his chest and several ribs were broken” (Razack, 2015, p. 82). When an inquest into his death took place, several details were excluded such as the boot print on his chest which curiously came from his own boot and the fact that Alphonse’s family was not contacted “while he was in the hospital” (Razack, 2011, p. 358). The death of Paul Alphonse is a stark example of injustice and illustrates how an inquest can exonerate the police in such cases. Furthermore, the failure to properly investigate Alphonse’s death re-victimizes the family involved.

The Case of Neil Stonechild and the Starlight Tours
In 1990, 17 year old Neil Stonechild was found froze to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon with “strange marks on his wrists and face” (Razack, 2015, p. 164). Although the marks on his wrists were assumed by family members to be from handcuffs, the police concluded there was no foul play indicated. An officer involved in Stonechild’s case is alleged as saying “the kid went out, got drunk, went for a walk and froze to death” (Razack, 2015, p. 164). Only until a decade after Stonechild’s death a proper investigation took place, when Rodney Naistus and Lawrence Wegner were found dead “under similar circumstances” and a man named Darryl Night had survived to tell the tale of what had become known as ‘Starlight Tours’ (Razack, 2015, p. 165). The treatment of Aboriginal people under police custody regarding the Starlight Tours is absolutely appalling and it shows the complete disregard for an Aboriginal personal life.

These Starlight Tours are an ‘old’ police practice that involved driving an “Indian who was inebriated or mad” to the outskirts of town and leaving them there to fend for themselves even in the dead of winter (Razack, 2015, p. 164). Although an inquiry was called in 2003 to investigate the death of Neil Stonechild, only recommendations were made and the police officers involved were not charged (Zakreski, 2016, p. 1). Furthermore, important information regarding the Stonechild investigation was destroyed in 1998; however, an Aboriginal police officer had come forth with copies he made before they were destroyed (Razack, 2015, p. 176). More recently, a student in Saskatoon had been doing a project on police brutality; while researching the Star Light tours he noticed that the information had been deleted from the Wikipedia page; the student traced the IP address and found that a computer from the Saskatoon Police department had made the deletion multiple times (Zakreski, 2016, p. 1). Based upon these findings it is apparent, if not obvious, that parties within the system have worked towards preserving itself and has failed in protecting Aboriginal people.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the overrepresentation of Aboriginals in custody is not the root cause of their deaths in custody. The criminal justice system has obviously discriminated against Aboriginal people, a people who have been continuously marginalized and oppressed through colonization and re-colonization. While every day interactions can contribute to an Aboriginal death in custody, such as indifference from police officers or medical professionals; the stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, have all lead to the oppression and systemic racism that plagues Aboriginal people. Even in situations when the people involved have had good intentions; through systemic racism and pathology regarding Aboriginals, they have become a body that is considered to be a “timely death rather than untimely death” (Razack, 2011, p. 352). A failure in recognizing these aspects of the issue at hand only contributes more to the on-going problem.
 
References
Cunneen, C. (2006). Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: A Continuing Systematic Abuse. Social Justice, 33(4), 37-51. Retrieved
March 18, 2016, from http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/archive/106_33_4/106_03Cunneen.pdf
Frideres, J. S., & Gadacz, R. R. (2001). Aboriginal People and the Canadian Justice System. In Aboriginal peoples in Canada:
contemporary conflicts (6th ed., pp. 125-142). Toronto:
Pearson Education. McGibbon, E. A. (2012). Introduction to Oppression and the Social Determinants of Health. In Oppression: A
social determinant of health (pp. 16-31). Winnipeg: Fernwood.
Mooney, L. A., Knox, D., Schacht, C., & Holmes, M. M. (2012). Crime and Violence. In Understanding social problems (4th ed.,
pp. 104-142). Toronto: Nelson Education.
Razack, S. (2015). Dying from improvement: Inquests and inquiries into Indigenous deaths in custody. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press.
Razack, S. (2011). Timely Deaths: Medicalizing the Deaths of Aboriginal People in Police Custody. Law, Culture and the
Humanities, 9(2), 352-374. doi: 10.1177/1743872111407022
Weatherburn, D., Fitzgerald, J., & Hua, J. (2003). Reducing Aboriginal Over-representation in Prison. Australian Journal of
Public Administration, 62(3), 65-73. doi:10.1046/j. 1467-8500.2003.00338.x
Zakreski, D. (2016, March 31). Saskatoon police removed ‘starlight tours’ section from Wikipedia, student says. CBC
News. Retrieved April 3, 2016, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-police-starlight-tours-wikipedia-delete
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About the Author: Allison McLeod is a Bachelor of Arts graduate of UCN with the ambition of pursuing a Bachelor of Education degree in hopes of becoming a teacher. As a member of the Cree Nation, she desires to support and expand Indigenous education to others. Thus, she took courses related with Indigenous Affairs. In her last year at UCN, she took the course of Crime and Society. In her research paper, she uses individual cases to look into the unfair treatment the Aboriginals received in their custody to address the overlooked issues. In addition to her academic pursuit, Allison has a strong passion for the outdoors, music, and surfing.

Instructor’s Remarks: Allison McLeod was my student in two of my literature courses. She produced excellent papers in literary analysis. After she successfully completed the course of Crime and Society. She showed me her research paper for that course. I could see that she had grasped the main ideas and concepts. With her sharp senses she could find out the contributing factors to the Aboriginal deaths in custody such as such as indifference from police officers or medical professionals; the stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination. But it was not as persuasive enough for readers to see the tragedies involved from colonization and post-colonial systemic racism. With my instruction, she revised the paper and added case studies of the mistreated Aboriginal in custody. This paper would help readers better understand the issues of Aboriginal deaths in custody. (Dr. Ying Kong)