Last week, the Ottawa police confirmed they were investigating comments a local officer had left on an Ottawa Citizen article about artist Annie Pootoogook. Screencaps published by APTN show Sergeant Chris Hrnchiar brushed off Pootoogook’s death, writing, “It’s not a murder case… typically many Aboriginals have very short lifespans, talent or not.”
“Much of the aboriginal population in Canada is just satisfied being alcohol or drug abusers,living in poor conditions… it’s not society’s fault,” Hrnchiar wrote in another comment.
Ottawa lawyer Michael Spratt recently told VICE that he was doubtful Hrnchiar would face consequences,arguing that the police service”is infected by this sort of systemic racism.” And the presence of racism in policing is a fact proven by some of the country’s best journalists and acknowledged by Canada’s highest-ranking police officer.
Read Stephen Spencer Davis’s full article: VICE
