<Disclaimer: The goal of this thread is not political, but if that's the way it goes, then obviously, let it be locked or deleted.>
As most of you know, I'm in law school. This year I'm taking a seminar on "Topics in Human Rights" and we watched an interesting video today put out by the National Film Board of Canada regarding the practices of the Saskatoon Police Department when dealing with the Aboriginal population of Saskatoon.
The gist of it is (and this happens all over the place in one form or another with all sorts of people)...the police take 'undesirables' (in the case of Saskatoon, Aboriginals...usually in a state of inebriation or possibly high) and drop them off outside of town and let them make their own way home. The problem with doing this in Saskatoon in the middle of winter is that it's -30*C and people thus die.
Having a relatively small Aboriginal population in BC, I do find the racial tensions that this type of treatment creates hard to relate to. In Vancouver, the police tend to take our relatively high population of drug users (we have what is recognized as one of the worst "skid rows" in North America) and drop them off in a local park or another part of the city and let them make their way back to the area that they frequent. This is not as dangerous in a city that rarely dips below 0*C.
In any event, I am curious as to what the firsthand experience of someone privy to those tensions is like. Has the problem of police mistreatment generally been curbed, at least to some degree, as the film suggested? If so, has this eased tensions? Does the city/province make efforst to ameliorate the conditions of such a disadvantaged group?
Rock, you're probably able to chime in as well, although I'm not sure if the situation is quite the same in Regina. I could be mistaken, but I believe that Saskatoon has a higher percentage of Aborinals peoples that live there. My professor told us today that by 2010, Saskatchewan as a province is likely to have a population over 30% Aboriginal.
In any event, it's an issue that is relatively unique to Canada. For the Americans, you can probably think it best analagous to the situation of African Americans. In Canada, Aboriginals highly overpopulate the prison system, so much so that in Saskatchewan, an Aboriginal male is more likely to end up in jail than to complete high school. There is also higher rates of illiteracy, substance abuse, etc.
I just thought it an interesting issue well worthy of discussion, whilst still avoiding "politics".
So...?
As most of you know, I'm in law school. This year I'm taking a seminar on "Topics in Human Rights" and we watched an interesting video today put out by the National Film Board of Canada regarding the practices of the Saskatoon Police Department when dealing with the Aboriginal population of Saskatoon.
The gist of it is (and this happens all over the place in one form or another with all sorts of people)...the police take 'undesirables' (in the case of Saskatoon, Aboriginals...usually in a state of inebriation or possibly high) and drop them off outside of town and let them make their own way home. The problem with doing this in Saskatoon in the middle of winter is that it's -30*C and people thus die.
Having a relatively small Aboriginal population in BC, I do find the racial tensions that this type of treatment creates hard to relate to. In Vancouver, the police tend to take our relatively high population of drug users (we have what is recognized as one of the worst "skid rows" in North America) and drop them off in a local park or another part of the city and let them make their way back to the area that they frequent. This is not as dangerous in a city that rarely dips below 0*C.
In any event, I am curious as to what the firsthand experience of someone privy to those tensions is like. Has the problem of police mistreatment generally been curbed, at least to some degree, as the film suggested? If so, has this eased tensions? Does the city/province make efforst to ameliorate the conditions of such a disadvantaged group?
Rock, you're probably able to chime in as well, although I'm not sure if the situation is quite the same in Regina. I could be mistaken, but I believe that Saskatoon has a higher percentage of Aborinals peoples that live there. My professor told us today that by 2010, Saskatchewan as a province is likely to have a population over 30% Aboriginal.
In any event, it's an issue that is relatively unique to Canada. For the Americans, you can probably think it best analagous to the situation of African Americans. In Canada, Aboriginals highly overpopulate the prison system, so much so that in Saskatchewan, an Aboriginal male is more likely to end up in jail than to complete high school. There is also higher rates of illiteracy, substance abuse, etc.
I just thought it an interesting issue well worthy of discussion, whilst still avoiding "politics".
So...?