Tag Archives: RCMP

Indigenous Nations, Justice

RCMP do not agree to abide by Gitxsan chiefs’ ban on ‘militarized squadron’

By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The B.C. RCMP will not respect a ban from the Gitxsan hereditary chiefs which prohibits the police force’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from entering their traditional territories.

In an email to Black Press Media, Sgt. Kris Clark wrote that while the B.C. RCMP will “do everything possible” to respect the ban, they have obligations and responsibilities to enforce court injunctions and maintain public safety.

The C-IRG unit is “uniquely situated” to do these tasks through specific training and resources, Clark stated.

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Indigenous Nations

Nuu-chah-nulth continue to be ‘100 per cent affected’ by MMIWG, says family support worker

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Since 1992, women have been gathering on Valentines Day in the Downtown Eastside for the women’s memorial walk in honor and remembrance of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse peoples (MMIWG2S+).

According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, British Columbia holds the highest number of MMIWG2S+ cases. Of the 582 missing or murdered cases that the NWAC gathered, 160 were in British Columbia, making up 27 per cent of the organization’s database as of 2010.

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Environment, Indigenous Nations

‘We should avoid monitoring’: feds quietly backed off while Coastal GasLink pipeline work killed fish

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

On a dreary gray day in late October, passers by gawked at a scene outside a hotel in Smithers, B.C. The charred remnants of several trucks sat in the parking lot in the wake of what police described as a “targeted attack” in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. 

Among the blackened wreckage were four police cruisers — marked and unmarked vehicles with the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group, a special task force assigned to police opposition to industrial projects. The controversial RCMP unit maintains a constant presence on Wet’suwet’en yintah (territory) where Coastal GasLink (CGL) is building a pipeline without the consent of the nation’s Hereditary Chiefs. 

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Justice

RCMP investigating after woman was found dead on Quadra Island, say it was ‘targeted,’ but ‘isolated’

By Louis Belcourt, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

An investigation has begun on Quadra Island after a 39-year-old woman was found dead inside her home.

RCMP were conducting a wellness check on Jan. 16 when they found her inside her home, according to press release Feb. 1.

Police have confirmed that the death is criminal based on evidence forensic investigators have collected and believe it was a targeted killing.

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Disaster

January 18 Press Conference for Campbell River Mudslide

There was a mudslide in Campbell River during the evening of January 17. Two of the apartment buildings along the foreshore, on South Island Highway, had to be evacuated and the residents are still not able to return to their homes. The following day, Wednesday Jan 18, the Strathcona Regional District and city of Campbell River held two press conferences. Cortes Currents attended the virtual conference for reporters who could not go to Campbell River. 

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