Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged]

Two First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.

The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw fishermen, whose ordeal has prompted comparisons with the notorious “starlight tours” in which the police routinely abandoned Indigenous people in the bitter cold.

Blaise Sylliboy of Eskasoni First Nation and Kevin Hartling of Membertou First Nation were arrested by federal fisheries officers on the night of 26 March while fishing for elvers in a river in south-west Nova Scotia.…..

After the pair were arrested, the officers confiscated their fishing waders – with their boots attached – and their cellphones, a “standard practice” when investigating poaching, the department said in a statement.


Sylliboy told CBC News he was in so much pain from the handcuffs he agreed to be dropped off at a gas station shortly after midnight.

But without a phone, he was unable to call friends or family for help.

“I told [the officer], like, ‘Man, this is outrageous. You’re leaving me with no shoes,’” Sylliboy said. “He said, ‘You know the consequences. But I said, ‘I know the consequences, but this is, like, outrageous on human rights.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, sounds like your guys’ problem.’”

The men were told to leave the gas station and so they walked along the road in search of a motel, their feet wrapped in duct tape and plastic bags.

“When we were walking, there’s times I’m like, ‘Man, if we stop, we’re going to die,’ because our feet were just soaked,” Hartling told CBC.

They said an ambulance driver stopped to let them use his phone, but refused to pick them up. The pair eventually convinced a truck driver to bring them to the town of Shelburne.

Neither of the men have been formally charged.……..


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ishermen-left-shoeless?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other