Aboriginal, metis leaders meet with RCMP
'We all put our two cents in. I don't know if anything's going to come of it'
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Monday, September 26, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
More than a week after meeting with acting detachment commander RCMP Cpl. Mark Phillips, and a sergeant out of Yellowknife, local leaders said they are still waiting for a followup from the Mounties.
The meeting included Fort Simpson Metis President Danny Peterson, village Mayor Darlene Sibbeston, Liidlii Kue Chief Jerry Antoine and elder David Moses.
Peterson says there has been no followup from RCMP after the meeting, something he says is necessary in order for leaders to feel that their concerns were heard.
"We haven't heard anything back from them - we don't know what's going to happen," he said.
The subject of the meeting was the Sept. 9 lunch-hour arrest of Daryl Sibbeston. The man was reportedly intoxicated at the time but witnesses allege arresting officer Const. Akira Currier used excessive force during the arrest, tripping Sibbeston and causing his head to "bounce (off the pavement)," according to witness Josanne Tanche.
Sibbeston suffered a black eye and a cut above his eye that required stitches. He is a brother to Darlene Sibbeston and a cousin to Peterson.
Antoine said on Sept. 14 that he was disappointed in the meeting.
"People in positions of trust need to do better," he said.
While Peterson said he personally felt the meeting went well, he said the lack of followup makes him wonder if leaders' concerns were really heard.
"We all put our two cents in. I don't know if anything's going to come of it," he said.
"I hope something does come of it, because I don't want to see stuff like that."
Peterson said he wants to see RCMP officers engage in on-the-land training, similar to what schoolteachers currently participate in at Fort Simpson. That includes involvement in cultural activities.
He said he had been informed that cultural training is optional for RCMP officers. However, RCMP spokesperson Marie York-Condon stated in an e-mail the RCMP run a mandatory online Aboriginal Awareness course for officers serving in the Northwest Territories.
That course is delivered through the RCMP's internal education system, she added.
"If there is cross-cultural training offered in the local community, Supt. Mike LeSage, acting division commanding officer, advises he would fully support all members to take this in addition to the Aboriginal Awareness training," she stated.
"Cross-cultural training would be specific to local communities and offered by the host community.
Peterson said he also wants to see officers take more of an interest in the community. Not all the relationships are bad, he noted, recalling a summer luncheon the Fort Simpson Metis Nation put on where he had the chance to meet two officers he had never met before.
"The one member I met was actually into stuff like I do - fishing, hunting, boating. He loves the land," he said.
But given the altercation with Sibbeston, he said, he wants to see the officer responsible removed from the community. RCMP have since opened an internal investigation into the incident.
"It's not right to be doing stuff like that," he said.
"I'm hoping some recommendations come out of Yellowknife."
As she was travelling, Mayor Sibbeston could not respond to an interview request by press time.
