Camp at Old City Hall set up for Indigenous people impacted by justice system

A sit-in at Old City Hall has been set up for almost three weeks to raise awareness about how Indigenous peope are treated by Canada's justice system.

Thestar.com
March 21, 2018
By Julien Gignac

For almost three weeks, protesters have staged a sit-in outside Toronto's Old City Hall courthouse, hoping to raise awareness with what they say is the unfair treatment of Indigenous people by the Canadian justice system.

Several tents are set close to the courthouse's walls. Across a walkway are an arrangement of miniature crosses. Posters call out cases involving Indigenous people, the most recent of which is the acquittal of Raymond Cormier, charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old Indigenous girl from Manitoba whose lifeless body was removed from the Red River in Winnipeg over three years ago.

Illustrations of Colten Boushie are also found at the site. The 22-year-old from Red Pheasant First Nation was killed in 2016 by Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley, who was also acquitted of second-degree murder. Stanley is due back in court next month for gun possession charges.

While the verdicts concerning Fontaine and Boushie "sparked a fire" in co-organizer Ezra Seaborn, Soaring Eagle's Camp isn't limited to these two cases: it's intended for all Indigenous people.

"We know that there are so many others that go unnamed that you don't hear about," Seaborn said, who's also part of the Indigenous Youth Movement. "This isn't an issue of two children, this is an issue of colonization and patterns that have huge affects on our families and our abilities to survive."

Seaborn said she and Koryn John, the other co-ordinator of the camp, selected Old City Hall because it represents a long legacy of colonization.

"Old City Hall is a place where a lot of Indigenous folks have gone through the court system, have been criminalized and faced injustices themselves," she said. "It's important to have a space where we can have conversations with community," noting the sister camps that cropped up in other Canadian cities galvanized the move, as well.

The advocates behind a vigil that was set up outside Toronto's Indigenous and Northern Affairs office last summer provided guidance, Seaborn said.

For almost three weeks, protesters have staged a sit-in outside Toronto's Old City Hall courthouse, hoping to raise awareness with what they say is the unfair treatment of Indigenous people by the Canadian justice system.

Several tents are set close to the courthouse's walls. Across a walkway are an arrangement of miniature crosses. Posters call out cases involving Indigenous people, the most recent of which is the acquittal of Raymond Cormier, charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old Indigenous girl from Manitoba whose lifeless body was removed from the Red River in Winnipeg over three years ago.

Illustrations of Colten Boushie are also found at the site. The 22-year-old from Red Pheasant First Nation was killed in 2016 by Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley, who was also acquitted of second-degree murder. Stanley is due back in court next month for gun possession charges.

While the verdicts concerning Fontaine and Boushie "sparked a fire" in co-organizer Ezra Seaborn, Soaring Eagle's Camp isn't limited to these two cases: it's intended for all Indigenous people.

"We know that there are so many others that go unnamed that you don't hear about," Seaborn said, who's also part of the Indigenous Youth Movement. "This isn't an issue of two children, this is an issue of colonization and patterns that have huge affects on our families and our abilities to survive."

Seaborn said she and Koryn John, the other co-ordinator of the camp, selected Old City Hall because it represents a long legacy of colonization.

"Old City Hall is a place where a lot of Indigenous folks have gone through the court system, have been criminalized and faced injustices themselves," she said. "It's important to have a space where we can have conversations with community," noting the sister camps that cropped up in other Canadian cities galvanized the move, as well.

The advocates behind a vigil that was set up outside Toronto's Indigenous and Northern Affairs office last summer provided guidance, Seaborn said.