July 29, 2014 Family Statement: Today, we are bringing Colton home to Piikani Nation. We are in the midst of dealing with the medical examiners office and funeral home. Funeral details will be released soon for all those who wish to pay their respects. Regarding the article published by Beacon News, an Independent online source on July 28 entitled “One Family Member Suspects Calgary Police Culpable in Colton Crowshoe Death.” The family has requested correction to some discrepancies in the article and expressed concerns over the documents released to the public without our expressed permission. During all the grief, and controversy we’re dealing with at the moment; I was sadden that this article has had a negative impact. I’ve come across some vicious, racist remarks on this page, where people are jumping to conclusions with half- truths and insulting my nephew Colton, even in death. He was not a known criminal; he was not in constant trouble with the law. However, we’re not surprised at the lack of civility and humility in this regard. These attacks further vindicate and exemplify our experience. Police justification and deflection thus far, with statements and claims such as “missing is not a crime” and “protocol was followed” are simply untrue. Upon speaking with detectives on July 22, and expressing our experience with the frontline police service we were justified. They admitted to us, that there were a few mistakes made by the CPS in our case, and they apologized for them. Admitting there is racism, and there are good cops and bad cops. They also brought to light, that the missing person unit is new, but is still lagging in areas. The homicide detective we spoke with on July 25, asked us, “Can you trust me, and not paint me with the same brush?” I replied, “I don’t know you, but I can trust in your education. Unlike, the frontline police we dealt with, where the education requirement is a high school diploma, clearly as a detective you’re required to have a higher level of education. So we can trust in that.” Upon being asked if I believed race played a contributing factor here to the lack of help we received, I responded, absolutely. To reiterate, the lack of empathy and action by police and mainstream media exemplifies and is proof of the preamble, “…that not only are First Nations overrepresented and over-policed in the Criminal justice system as accused persons, but under-policed as victims as well. Police often see First Nations as less worthy victims and as a result, requests for assistance are often ignored and downplayed as in this case with my nephew. Under-policing and over- policing are two sides of the same coin.” It’s not my job to educate the ignorant that are attacking us online and in the media for speaking out with claims that we are playing the “race” card. However, I must thank them for vindicating our experience thus far with each racist comment being made. We must remember police are regular people too. Thus, some share a similar racist worldview. Hence, the facts and statistics of First Nations in the Canadian criminal justice system is proof enough in our regard. Satezewich and Liodakis contend (2013), “...the white gaze is a refusal to recognize the reality of racism and a refusal on the part of white people to recognize that they are disproportionate beneficiaries of the way the world is organized, at least in the west” (p. 58). The deflection and denial of any wrong doing by Staff Sergeant Doug Andrus proves Satezewich and Liodakis’s preamble. As a result, racism inevitably remains reinforced and justified.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:50:50 +0000