Mi’kmaq death: First Nation wants Indigenous representation on N.B. police watchdog

In a statement issued Wednesday, the chiefs said they were also joining Mi’kmaq chiefs in calling for an inquiry into systemic racism within the province's justice system.

Interactions between Indigenous people and law enforcement “too frequently” end in violence or death, say the six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick in reaction to the recent killing of a Mi’kmaq man by a Mountie conducting a wellness check.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the chiefs said they were also joining Mi’kmaq chiefs in calling for an inquiry into systemic racism within the province’s justice system.

The death of Steve “Iggy” Dedam is the result of systemic racism, Chief Ross Perley of the Tobique First Nation, which is part of the Wolastoqey Nation, said in an interview Wednesday. Perley noted that two Indigenous people were killed by New Brunswick police in 2020 — 48-year-old Rodney Levi and 26-year-old Chantel Moore.

“It’s unacceptable for police to be taking that kind of force, especially when they’re called for a wellness check,” he said, referring to visits officers often make to ensure the well-being of someone.

RCMP have confirmed that two officers were dispatched on Sunday to the Elsipogtog First Nation in eastern New Brunswick where they confronted an armed man in mental distress in his home. After failing to subdue him with a stun gun, one of the officers shot and killed the man. New Brunswick’s Liberal leader, the Wolastoqey Nation chiefs and others have identified the victim as Dedam, but calls to the Elsipogtog First Nation have not been returned.

“I think these officers need to be prosecuted and not left off the hook,” Perley said.

“The chiefs feel that it’s a systemic racism problem that needs to be addressed by both levels of government …. I’ve been in leadership 18 years now, and I don’t recall an officer ever being killed by an Indigenous person in the province in New Brunswick,” Perley said. He and the other chiefs are calling on Premier Blaine Higgs to launch an inquiry into systemic racism in New Brunswick but they haven’t heard from him.

“(Higgs) doesn’t have the same views as we do, obviously, because he’s isn’t Indigenous and he doesn’t take our position seriously,” Perley said. “So I’m not sure what else we can do but keep calling on the provincial government to do an inquiry.”