Our Saskatchewan Justice System is Rotten to the Core |
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By Mario deSantis, February 19, 2000 |
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people |
Our Justice system is racist to the very core of our Ministry of Justice, and it percolates down to |
every institution, our police, and our legal community. It is scary, it is true, and people are dying | |
because of it. The RCMP is investigating allegations that policemen of the City of Saskatoon | |
would drive aboriginal people at the outskirt of the city, would take off their clothes, and would | |
abandon them to walk back to the city in sub zero temperature weather(1). Again, this police | |
brutality is disconcerting but true. | |
racism is a |
On July 17, 1998 Justice Ron Barclay stated "that racism is a grim reality in Canada and in |
Saskatchewan. It exists openly and blatantly in attitudes and actions of individuals. It exists | |
in the fears, in the prejudices and stereotypes held by many people and it exists in our | |
institutions in the criminal justice system(2)" At this time, John White, Deputy Minister of | |
Justice, stated that Justice Barclay was "dead wrong" and that his ministry was working hard | |
to get rid of the social stigma of racism by spending $350,000 to help Aboriginal organizations | |
deal with family violence(3). | |
racism is not fought with money |
Again, our hypocritical leaders use numbers to show how hard they work, without realizing |
that the texturing problem of racism is not fought with money but--as I wrote in one of my | |
previous article-- by looking "inwardly and take actions to get rid of outdated mental models | |
and cultural biases against Aboriginal people" | |
Today, Deputy Minister John Whyte, referring to the RCMP investigation affecting the | |
a social |
allegations of police brutality against Aboriginal people, has stated that he wants "to find the |
truth, and to do what we can do to restore public confidence in the administration of justice | |
(4)" The truth of a social textured problem such as racism is not found by conducting only | |
one investigation by the RCMP. And Perry Bellegarde, Chief of the Federation of | |
Saskatchewan Indian Nations, has stated rightly that an inquiry is needed "There's got to be | |
an independent public inquiry starting immediately looking at policing, corrections, the court | |
system, looking at everything, a comprehensive review(5)." | |
more |
Mr. Premier Romanow is "dead wrong" in wanting to cure our social unrest and prejudices |
by adding more policemen in Saskatoon and Regina(6). Mr. Premier Romanow's | |
"Rule of Law(7)" should have no place today in Saskatchewan, in fact his "Rule of Law" | |
should be shelved along with all the Rule of Law of the past and present communist and | |
dictatorial regimes we have come to know very well. | |
-----------------Endnotes: | |
General reference: Articles by Mario deSantis published by North Central Internet News http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/authors/desantis.html | |
Witness recalls Native man struggling with police, by Dan Zakreski, The StarPhoenix, February 18, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
Judgment dated July 17, 1998 in the Queen's Bench Judicial Centre of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, by Justice Barclay J. | |
NEED OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES IN SASKATCHEWAN: Fight Against Racism and a New Worldview, by Mario deSantis, October 7, 1998 | |
Police chief under siege, by Dan Zakreski, The StarPhoenix, February 17, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
A third frozen death; Saskatoon police give information to RCMP investigators http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Feb 18 2000 9:48 PM EST | |
Saskatchewan Troubled Children: 40% of our school children, by Mario deSantis, January 14, 2000 | |
Premier Romanow: Reinventing The Rule Of Law And Becoming Above The Law, by Mario deSantis, September 2, 1999 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-ReinvenLaw-Sept02-99.htm |