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Matthew Dumas
Native
leaders angry over 2nd police shooting
CBC News Feb. 2, 2005
WINNIPEG - Aboriginal leaders
in Manitoba want answers after police shot and killed a young
native man this week, the second such death within a month.
Matthew Dumas, 18, was fatally
injured Monday when police fired two shots during what they called
"a scuffle" with officers in Winnipeg. At least one
shot hit Dumas, who later died in hospital.
Police say Dumas was a robbery
suspect armed with an unspecified weapon.
The dead man's stepfather,
Leslie Dumas, wants to know why police were chasing him with
their weapons drawn, as witnesses have alleged.
"They chase somebody down,
you know, what are they going to do? Shoot first, ask questions
later, you know," he said. "They must be trained to
do something better than 'Bang! Ask 'em later.'"
Dumas was the second aboriginal
Manitoban to die in a police shooting within a month. An RCMP
officer shot and killed Dennis St. Paul in Norway House in early
January after trying to arrest him for parole violations.
"The last 24 hours shouldn't
have happened in the first place," Nahanni Fontaine of the
Manitoba Southern Chiefs' Organization said at a news conference
called in the wake of the latest shooting.
"If there was a concerted
and honest effort to improve aboriginal and police relations,
we wouldn't be here today."
Many aboriginal leaders say
the relationship between their community and the police continues
to be a fractured one.
They claim police and government
officials have not learned from the past specifically,
from J.J. Harper's death at the hands of police in 1988.
The young native leader's shooting
triggered the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which resulted in many
recommendations on improving police relations.
Fontaine says not enough of
the recommendations have been adopted.
"What needs to happen?
The [inquiry] needs to be seriously looked at, implemented and
resourced so that we're not here again in six months, a month,
a year."
Manitoba's Attorney General,
Gord Mackintosh, said most of the recommendations are either
being worked on or are completed.
"For example, we're moving
ahead, ensuring that aboriginal agencies do probation of aboriginal
offenders in Manitoba, that process is underway," he said.
"We've moved to aboriginal
child and welfare agencies in Manitoba. Those two examples don't
exist anywhere else that I'm aware of in North America."
Manitoba Justice has called
an independent inquest into Dumas's death, as required by the
Fatality Inquiries Act.
Copyright ©2005 Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Pepper spray protest painful
By ROSS ROMANIUK, SUN MEDIA,
Feb. 4, 2005
WINNIPEG -- Talk about a painful
way to make a point. Calling himself a modern-day warrior, Kevin
Arrow protested last Monday's police shooting death of aboriginal
teen Matthew Dumas by allowing his friend to pepper spray him
in the eyes at point-blank range in City Hall's courtyard.
Arrow, a 28-year-old aboriginal
man enrolled at the University of Winnipeg, performed the unusual
stunt as a means to argue there was no reason for cops to shoot
Dumas after pepper spraying him repeatedly.
"One educated aboriginal
on the street can do more damage than 10 aboriginals in jail
- OK, hit it!" he told pal Ryan Bruyere, who proceeded to
spray him. "Again, man! Do it again!"
Bruyere obeyed. And Arrow was
left standing with eyes closed in agony.
"Oh, man -- I can't see.
It freakin' burns!" Arrow shouted. "I can't see anything!"
In an effort to prove the officer
who confronted Dumas didn't need his firearm, Bruyere then used
a wooden staff - simulating a police baton - to throw his friend
to the ground a couple of times.
"Aw, my eyes!" he
shouted several times. "Aw, that burns, man!"
As Arrow winced in discomfort,
Bruyere continued the argument about "unnecessary deaths"
of aboriginals at the hands of police.
"In a sense they killed
part of our community," Bruyere said of Dumas, whom neither
he nor Arrow knew. "That's got to stop."
The ease with which Bruyere
controlled Arrow appeared to make a compelling case, but police
spokesman Const. Shelly Glover wasn't impressed.
Refusing to comment on the
Dumas incident itself, Glover pointed out the pepper spray purchased
by Bruyere at a local sporting goods store may not include the
same chemical concentration as that used by the city force.
"And pepper spray affects
people differently," Glover said.
"There are lots of factors
that affect how people react."
Shooting angers aboriginals
By CP
WINNIPEG -- An 18-year-old
aboriginal man who was shot and killed this week by a Winnipeg
police officer investigating a robbery complaint was buried yesterday.
Matthew Dumas' funeral was held the same day as a group of aboriginal
leaders renewed their cries of racism and police brutality during
a prayer vigil in the City Hall courtyard.
"We've been quiet for
too long," Roseau River Chief Terry Nelson told dozens of
protesters. "Some of our leaders have said cooler heads
should prevail. We've said that for too long."
Nelson promised an aboriginal-led
inquiry into the fatal shooting of the native teen by an officer
who was himself Metis.
Winnipeg's police chief is
slated to hold a news conference on the shooting Monday.
Matthew Dumas shooting
WINNIPEG - New information
is slowly emerging about a police shooting that killed a Winnipeg
teenager Monday afternoon.
The victim has been identified
as Matthew Dumas, an 18-year-old aboriginal man.
Police looking for suspects
in an Elmwood robbery came upon Dumas in a group of young men
around King Street and Dufferin Avenue around 3 p.m. Monday.
Officers say Dumas fled from police.
When officers caught up with
him, police say Dumas brandished some type of weapon and fought
with them. Although police initially said the suspect had a knife,
they will now only confirm that he had a weapon.
Police have also revised the
number of times they fired at Dumas. On Monday, they said a single
shot was fired; they now say it was two. At least one shot hit
Dumas, who died later in hospital.
Several witnesses have said
police had their pistols out when they were in pursuit of the
teen.
"I seen two police officers
chasing the kid down," says Stan Guimond, who lives in the
neighbourhood. "Whether he had a weapon, I can't see. But
I seen the two police officers, they had their guns drawn when
they were chasing him."
* Parents angry, stunned *
Meanwhile, Dumas' family is
looking for answers. His stepfather, Leslie Dumas, wants to know
why police had to shoot.
"They chase somebody down,
you know, what are they going to do? Shoot first, ask question
later, you know," he says. "They must be trained to
do something better than 'bang! ask 'em later.' There's got to
be something better than that."
Dumas' mother, Carol Chartrand, wants to know who her son was
with at the time of the encounter with police.
"Why does it seem that
Matthew had to get picked out of everybody that was there? There
was supposedly an adult there ... maybe I don't even want to
know who they are, to tell you the truth," she says.
"Maybe it just ... I hope
you guys are feeling just as bad as I am, because now I got no
kid. I got no baby boy here no more."
Chartrand says her son had
some contact with the law. Court records show Dumas was convicted
in October 2004 for possessing a weapon.
* Inquest called *
Police spokesman Const. Bob
Johnson the city's police chief has been in contact with aboriginal
groups about the shooting.
"I think the fact that
Chief Ewatski has made immediate contact with the Assembly of
Manitoba Chiefs, that we will make every effort to ensure that
the investigation is done in a fashion that's satisfactory to
all the parties involved," says Johnson.
A statement released by the
AMC is calling for a change in attitude by the Winnipeg police,
and questions the correctness of the details that have been released
by police.
The homicide unit is investigating
the shooting, which is standard procedure in all shootings involving
police officers. The officers involved in the shooting have been
put on leave and are receiving counselling, which is also mandatory.
University of Winnipeg criminologist
Doug Skoog says the investigation is critical for relations between
police and the community.
"The biggest stumbling
block for the police is that they're always criticized - at least
by certain segments of the population - when a citizen is killed,"
says Skoog. "So, I think that they must be careful, prudent
and attempt to show the public that they [can] have confidence
in the Winnipeg Police Service."
Provincial officials say a
judicially led public inquest into the death will be held, as
required by the province's Fatality Inquiries Act. The inquest
will be co-ordinated by an independent Crown attorney.
The Law Enforcement Review
Agency is also available to review the incident if complaints
are made about the way the officers conducted themselves. Provincial
officials say they will also consider a further independent review
if issues remain after other reviews are held.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
