Court File and Parties

Ontario Court of Justice

Date: January 18, 2017

Court File No.: Kenora 151872-01, 151872-03

Between:

Her Majesty the Queen

— and —

Bradley Suggashie

Jerius Quill

Before: Justice D.M. Gibson

Heard on: November 30, 2016

Reasons for Judgment released on: January 18, 2017

Counsel:

• Jana Rae Dewson, Counsel for the Crown
• Sayer Down, Counsel for the accused Bradley Suggashie
• David Gallagher, Counsel for the accused Jerius Quill

GIBSON, J.:

INTRODUCTION

[1] On June 27th, 2015, Bradley Suggashie and Jerius Quill were among a group of three to five hundred people who gathered outside the police detachment in the Pikangikum First Nation territory to protest an incident that occurred during the arrest of a community member hours earlier. What started as a peaceful protest evolved, over the course of several hours, into a violent, dangerous riot. It ended with every police officer stationed in the community retreating to their barracks inside the detachment and guarding the two entrances to their living quarters from a group, including the two accused, who had forced their way into the secured detachment and sought to break into the barracks in the face of warnings by the officers that they would be forced to use lethal force if they did so.

[2] Eleven officers were trapped on the second floor of the detachment while rioters ransacked the working areas on the floor below them breaking equipment, causing more than $80,000 in damage and setting off fire alarms. As Suggashie and Quill attempted to force their way into the barracks several officers believed the detachment had been set on fire and they would have to jump from second floor windows to save themselves. This potentially deadly situation was only diffused by the remarkable leadership of Acting Sergeant Ryan Gordon who managed to simultaneously reassure the officers trapped with him and de-escalate the violence of the rioters without the use of force.

[3] As a result of their role in the riot Bradley Suggashie has entered guilty pleas to two counts of breaking and entering with intent to commit an indictable offence and Jerius Quill has entered a guilty plea to one count of break and enter and committing the indictable offence of mischief and one count of mischief for damaging vehicles belonging to the Pikangikum police service.

THE COMMUNITY OF PIKANGIKUM

[4] Bradley Suggashie and Jerius Quill are both Anishinabe men from the Ojibway community in the remote Pikangikum First Nation territory. Pikangikum is located on the Berens River north of Red Lake and is now home to almost three thousand people. For many years social conditions have been steadily deteriorating to the point where now the many challenges faced by those living there are difficult to understand for anyone who has not been there. Seventy-five percent of the community is under twenty-five years old. The entire population lives in three hundred and seventy five homes. A single diesel generator supplies electricity to the community and eighty percent of the homes lack running water and sewage. Unemployment is seventy-five percent. Alcoholism and solvent abuse is rampant with estimates that up to 500 young people regularly sniff gasoline. There is an epidemic of suicide among young people in Pikangikum. In 2012 Macleans magazine conducted a review of global statistics and described Pikangikum as the suicide capital of the world based on per capita deaths. In April 2016, while the accused were awaiting sentencing, nine people in one family died in a house fire, at least partly because efforts to douse the fire were complicated by lack of access to running water.

THE EARLIER INCIDENT

[5] The touch paper for this riot was lit in the early morning hours of June 27th, 2015 at 12:15 a.m. First Nation Constable Lieverse had observed an all-terrain vehicle operated by one male carrying three passengers and made a traffic stop. A brief investigation resulted in the driver being arrested for impaired operation and the three passengers being questioned. One of the passengers, Delvin Suggashie, became involved in an argument with Constable Lieverse and the officer attempted to arrest him for causing a disturbance. Delvin Suggashie refused to cooperate with the arrest and the officer deployed his taser and subdued him. Unknown to the participants, a resident of a nearby home recorded video of the end of the confrontation including Delvin Suggashie being tasered and it was made public on Facebook about three o'clock in the afternoon the same day.

[6] It soon became clear that many community members were shocked by what they had seen and believed Constable Lieverse had used excessive force during the arrest. Delvin Suggashie's father went to the Pikangikum police detachment with another man at approximately 6:30 p.m. and demanded to speak with Constable Lieverse. He was told the officer was unavailable. Suggashie's father told the officer in charge that he was angry about his son's treatment and he wanted Officer Lieverse removed from the community and that a lot of people were going to be coming to the detachment to make sure he was. At approximately 7:40 p.m. community members began to gather at the detachment. Officers at the scene described the initial gathering as noisy but peaceful and Acting Sergeant Ryan Gordon went outside to speak with the crowd. He was told he had one hour to have Constable Lieverse removed from the First Nation.

[7] Pikangikum in June is only accessible by airplane or boat from Red Lake and Acting Sergeant Gordon went inside the detachment to begin making arrangements for Constable Lieverse to be removed by plane. He also decided to release the prisoners being held at the detachment and to send the civilian staff home. At 8:00 p.m. Gordon met with several members of Chief and Council at the detachment to update them and advise them that a plane would arrive for Constable Lieverse in 30 to 45 minutes.

[8] After meeting with the councillors, Sergeant Gordon went outside and addressed the crowd. He announced that Constable Lieverse would be driven to the airport and flown out of the community shortly. Some of the protesters in the crowd demanded that Constable Lieverse be forced to walk to the airport because it was "what he deserved". Sergeant Gordon told the crowd this would not be allowed due to the obvious concerns for Constable Lieverse's safety and his response had the effect of further angering the crowd which by this time was estimated to be about 300 people.

[9] After some further discussion it was decided the police would attempt to launch a boat to remove Constable Lieverse and a member of Chief and Council attempted to move people away from where they had gathered at the boat compound gate without success. Eventually members of the crowd began to throw rocks at the officers and the councillor trying to assist them. At approximately 9:30 p.m. all of the officers retreated inside the detachment and Sergeant Gordon suggested that Officer Lieverse be driven to the airport in a police vehicle accompanied by two councillors. Unfortunately, the crowd would not allow the vehicle to depart and the officers abandoned any further plan to remove Constable Lieverse that evening and decided that all officers would remain inside the detachment for the night.

[10] Once inside, the decision was made to move all officers to the upstairs detachment living quarters to minimize potential points of access. All eleven officers retreated to the second floor residence taking with them all weapons stored in the weapons vault. In doing so the officers abandoned the first floor of the detachment which contained a public waiting area and, behind a secure barrier, their work area, holding cells and a single set of stairs leading to the upstairs barracks.

[11] At some point after 10:15 p.m. the officers could hear windows in the police vehicles outside being broken. They could hear people yelling and screaming and glass being smashed. The officers had no way of seeing what was happening downstairs but it became evident that entry had been gained to the lower level of the facility. The officers divided themselves into two groups and prepared themselves for a confrontation with the rioters.

[12] Security footage recovered after the incident shows Bradley Suggashie entering the ground floor of the detachment at 10:35 p.m. and attempting to break the inner lobby windows with a rock. At 10:37 p.m. Sergeant Gordon could hear the door at the foot of the stairs leading to the barracks being breached. At 10:42 p.m. officers could hear people trying to break open the door at the top of the stairs to the residence at which point Sergeant Gordon called out to the rioters on the other side of the door and told them that any entry would be met with lethal force. Two male voices were heard to reply "we don't fucking care".

[13] The door was ultimately broken in and Sergeant Gordon was confronted by Bradley Suggashie, who had two bloodied hands, an unknown female, Jerius Quill and a six year old boy known as Bradie. Bradie is a boy who in the past would often come to the detachment and spend time around the officers. It appears that Bradie was drawn to the detachment by his curiosity about the commotion. Sergeant Gordon yelled at the female and Jerius Quill to get Bradie out of the building. According to the witness statement of Sergeant Gordon:

"I yelled to the female and Jerius to get Bradie out of the building, Jerius said that he didn't fucking care and would not move. The female didnt do anything either. As I was looking at Bradie, Bradley Suggashie started to advance toward me. I pushed on his upper chest hard enough to move his upper torso slightly off balance, I did not push him very hard as I was concerned he would fall and get seriously hurt or fall on Bradie. I told Brad to leave and to make sure he bandaged his bleeding hands. They all repeated they didnt care. I urged them to leave. Bradley said he was angry, I said I understood. Bradley reached out and shook my hand. He identified himself as I urged him to leave and take care of his hands. He did a fist bump with me and he and Jerius retreated down the stairs".

And with that the confrontation came to an end.

[14] Subsequent investigation was able to establish that after the officers initially retreated to the detachment and before the accused entered, a great many of the protesters who had earlier gathered had begun to disperse. Officers were able to verify from witnesses that a relatively small number of rioters engaged in damaging the police vehicles outside the detachment and that ultimately fewer still entered into the detachment and damaged the interior.

[15] Unfortunately, this was not the first time there has been large-scale conflict between the police and community members in Pikangikum.

[16] In 2009 Pikangikum Chief and Council passed a band by-law expelling a school teacher and directed the OPP to enforce it. The OPP, after receiving legal advice, refused. The Chief and Council then passed a further resolution ordering the OPP to leave immediately, an order which was also refused. When a band councillor threatened to bulldoze the police detachment with police officers in it, the OPP pulled out. The following year, in July 2010, following a complaint of alleged police misconduct, 200 protestors appeared at the OPP detachment and, after rocks were thrown and threats were made, the entire OPP contingent was made to walk with their belongings to the airport, followed by approximately 200 people, vehicles and a front end loader, where they were evacuated.

THE CROWN'S POSITION

[17] Ms. Dewson, on behalf of the Crown Attorney, takes the position this Court must recognize the principles set out in Gladue and Ipeelee and the personal circumstances of each of these accused persons and balance those considerations against the need to impose a sentence which both deters and denounces their offences. The Crown submits that the conduct of the accused in this case strikes at the heart of the rule of law, respect for the administration of justice and respect for societal and communal values at its most basic point.

[18] The Crown also notes that the riot in June, 2015 is the third major incident of serious conflict between Pikangikum and the Ontario Provincial Police to take place in the last six years. As a result, the police in Pikangikum are under constant tension. They are expected to maintain the rule of law, public order and a peaceable society in a community that has become dysfunctional under the stress of crushing poverty, rampant substance abuse, lack of opportunity and a youthful population that suffers from a sense of hopelessness. These factors create a constant source of potential flashpoints between the police and community members, and even when flashpoints are diffused they often leave a residue of mistrust and unpredictability. In such circumstances the Crown argues, firm sentences are required to deter potentially like-minded individuals and support the position of the police in the community.

[19] In the Crown's view what started in this case as an exercise in freedom of expression turned into an attack on the administration of justice. The Crown takes the position that of the various cases it submitted dealing with offences against public order, the case that most closely resembles this matter in the Quebec Superior Court decision in R. v. Conway [2006] Q.J. No.2015. That case arose from a political dispute on the First Nation territory of Kanesatake. Certain factions of the community were upset with the state of policing and sought, by way of Band Council Resolution, to have the police removed. Before that could happen, a dispute erupted and led to a group of people surrounding the police detachment with heavy machinery and trapping officers inside for almost 37 hours. During that time, community leaders went in and out of the detachment in an effort to broker a peaceful resolution to the incident and there was no overt violence directed toward either the detachment or individual officers. There were several people charged out of the incident and they all received significant jail sentences, ranging in length from 12 to 15 months, for their participation in the stand-off.

[20] In passing sentence on the offenders, the Court said:

It is one thing to offend the rules. But attacking those who are sworn to maintain the peace and deal with transgressors of the law is quite something else. Democracies are fragile. To allow individuals acting in their own interest to detain the very people who are supposed to uphold the law is to undermine the law itself. Officers of the law deserve respect. The legal system deserves respect. It is the legal system which protects us all, including those among us who feel excluded as well as those who claim not to belong. (Conway, Ibid, p.7)

[21] It is the Crown's position that similar considerations apply in this case. Moreover, the Crown submits, the recent history of confrontations between significant portions of the community and the police require a firm denunciatory sentence. It also points out that unlike the situation in Conway, in this case there was a significant amount of damage done to the detachment and actual direct threats of violence directed toward the officers. For all those reasons and considering the respective records and relative levels of involvement of both accused (factors addressed in more detail below) the Crown submits that a sentence of two years less one day with probation to follow would be appropriate for each accused.

GLADUE CONSIDERATIONS

[22] The Code requires that before passing sentences, this Court must "pay particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders" and in preparing these reasons I have spent a great deal of time considering the scope of that directive in this challenging case. The Crown, in its able submissions, acknowledged, and I agree, that the administration of justice is often perceived as a foreign system by the people of Pikangikum. Police officers are the most visible face of that system and on a day to day basis they work at the place where that "foreignness" meets the daily lives of the people of in Pikangikum.

[23] While it is certainly true, as the Quebec Superior Court has said, that "officers of the law deserve respect and the legal system deserves respect", it is also true, in my respectful view, that Gladue requires this Court to consider the factors that account for the legal system sometimes being assessed as "foreign" by aboriginal offenders in places like Pikangikum. That is particularly so in a case such as this case where the offences constitute a direct attack on the administration of justice.

[24] The background of this case is driven by a very particular history. An overview of that history is set out in a quote found at page 3 of the Gladue report prepared in this matter from a 2013 community health needs assessment called "Working It Out Together". It reads:

Our people have lived off this land and practised traditions of hunting, fishing and gathering food since time immemorial. The Hudson Bay trading post was established in Pikangikum in 1925, along with the first mission teachers and church influences. Starting in the 1940's, our community gradually shifted from a local subsistence-based economy to a wider and more cash-based economy.

Around the 1950's and 1960's, the federal government became more directly involved with individual and community life, through such things as residential schools, delivery of Western-style health services, child welfare programs and social assistance payment.

[25] The Report on Youth Suicides in Pikangikum published in September of 2011 by the Ontario Chief Coroner describes Pikangikum now as:

An impoverished, isolated First Nation community where basic necessities of life are absent. Running water and indoor plumbing do not exist for most residents. Poverty, crowded substandard housing, gainful employment, food and water security are daily challenges. A lack of an integrated health care system, poor education by provincial standards and a largely absent community infrastructure are uniquely positioned against the backdrop of colonialism, racism and social exclusion arising from the historical plight of First Nations people including the effect of residential schools. (p.14)

[26] In my view an understanding of this "historical plight" and its origins is an important part of arriving at a just decision in this case. To that end, after hearing the submissions of counsel and after reviewing pre-sentence and Gladue reports prepared for both accused, I directed that Mr. Lloyd Comber be called as the Court's witness to testify directly about some of the things touched on in the Coroner's Report and the Community Health Assessment.

[27] Mr. Comber is a court interpreter who, along with twelve siblings, grew up in Pikangikum. His parents Maudina and Angus Comber came to Pikangikum in 1930 when his father worked as a freighter for the Hudson Bay Company paddling 1000 pound canoes from Little Grand Rapids, Manitoba to Pikangikum full of goods brought by river boat from Selkirk, Manitoba. Mr. Comber was born in 1955 and has witnessed first-hand the changes in the community from his childhood and has received teachings from his family members about traditions and practices that stretch back much further.

[28] I want to express my gratitude to Mr. Comber for sharing his knowledge and personal experiences with the Court. His evidence was both illuminating and moving.

[29] The world his parents inhabited was a trapping society and the Hudson Bay Company, in his words:

They were the ones that were buying all the furs. Pretty well dictating how things were going to be in regards to buying food, supplements, bullets, whatever you needed to sustain yourself.

Most of the families that were here had trap lines, and there used to be a credit service where you would get your supplies before you go out in the fall to prepare and then when you come back, the Hudson Bay Company would say okay these furs are worth so much and you owe us so much so here's the money for that.

Sometimes they would come back around Christmas time for a couple of weeks and they would go back. But sometimes they would leave in the fall and they would not come back until after the ice broke.

(Transcript of the testimony of Lloyd Comber, dated August 31, 2016) p. 3-4.

[30] According to Mr. Comber the community consisted of approximately 100 people when he was a child but in his grandfather's day there were only five or six families. When the Hudson Bay Company built a little store with the help of locals, it was a log cabin "with a little office, a little weigh scale for weighing the furs and preparing them and they also had a little warehouse in the back which was also another log cabin…". (Ibid p.5)

[31] Eventually, the store became a magnet for other families to establish themselves to be close to flour and canned goods and bullets. Mr. Comber's father was asked by the Company to live in Pikangikum and work as an assistant in the store and as Mr. Comber said "that's what he did all his life that he was here". Mr. Comber's five oldest siblings were born in log cabins or canvas tents in the community and delivered by old women who were skilled mid wives.

[32] He told the Court, "Back in those days everybody had a cabin. They were all cabins. There was no plywood; there was no two-by-four type of material. It was all done by, as you would see an old time log cabin and that's what they lived in. They were built by individual families or community of families would get together and they would get the material". "Back in those days I remember my brothers, my older brothers going out with dog teams and cutting wood but with a swede saw and an axe and that was their job. (Ibid p.6).

[33] The community back then, like today, used a chief system. According to Mr. Comber:

"From what I understood the way it was told to me was that in order to become chief or a leader of the community you had to be basically, your qualities had to be that of a leader. And the community chose whoever they thought would be the best to lead them either with skill, negotiation tactics. But everyone seemed to have a say in who was going to lead them or became chief. That's what I remember. I remember seeing them debating the matters why somebody should not be a chief or who has good qualities to be a chief, and they used to have a community hall back in the day and everybody was asked do you have an opinion about this. And the women, I remember were very vocal. They had a really powerful voice. And I still remember some of those old women. They made a lot of sense. And that's how somebody was chosen to lead." (Ibid p.7)

[34] Mr. Comber explained how in the days of his youth four or five women at a time would paddle across the lake to visit his mother and family and they would sit on the grass and talk about history and what people were doing. It was an oral history and everything was told through stories. He said "that's how I learned a lot of who I am today, listening to those old women speaking and the old men also".

[35] Asked to compare the role of women in those days to present times he said, "They don't have the voice like, that they used to have. They're not shown the respect they used to be shown. There was women there that had such a presence about them that when they walked into a place where there was a crowd, the crowd would actually part because they were revered, they were respected. What they had to say made so much sense. Because they've had their life experiences and it was a hard experience. No running water. No electricity. Everything is done the old traditional way. But the way they did it, they were such masters of their environment that they made it look easy. I tried some of these things. Even as a young man, a young 20 year old, I can't even come close to it. The skills of their crafts was museum quality". (Ibid p.8).

[36] Mr. Comber explained how as a younger woman his mother had practised traditional Anishinabe spirituality and how, with the slow growth of a centralized community, Christian missionaries arrived resulting eventually in the conversion of most of the families along the Berens River. He described how as a youngster, "we used to sit on the shoreline in the evening when the water was all nice and glassy, it was calm. And on the north end there used to be an old couple there and I used to listen to their songs. They still practised. They were one of the last. They never gave in they practised the spirituality that the Anishinabe followed Old time religion. And I used to listen to those old people singing, little old voices. Yeah. Some of them did. Some of them never gave in. They never converted to Christianity. But they were the last couple that I know of and that was a long time ago. That was probably back in the mid 60's, early 60's". (Ibid p.9)

[37] That couple kept a drum that was very important to the community. It was one of four community drums held in each of the four related communities along the Berens River, Pikangikum, Poplar Hill, Little Grand Rapids and Pangaussi Those drums embodied the spirit of each of the communities. They were, according to Mr. Comber, "the pounding, the heart. That's where everything centres. That centres them. That gives them the feeling of belonging. That feeling, that sound your mother's heartbeat, the earth's heartbeat". (Ibid p.11).

[38] That drum was last seen in the summer of 1969 being taken onto an airplane by a departing principal at the local school. Mr. Comber recalls:

"my father and I were sitting in the canoe right by the Hudson Bay dock and they were loading up all the teachers in these airplanes, Norseman's and Beavers and what not and my dad asked Mr. Collins, "what are you doing with that drum?" He says "I bought it." And my dad says, "well, you can't buy those kinds of things. It has to be given to you". And he says "who did you buy it from?" and he says, "I bought it from that old man's son". "I think he paid something like a hundred bucks or 90 bucks or something for it. At least that's what he told us at the time". (Ibid p.10)

[39] That event appears, in many ways, to have marked the passing away of the old religion in Pikangikum, to the point now where none of the children in the community have access to the stories of how those four drums, according to Mr. Comber, "would get together and have a gathering of all these people from four different communities at the time of summer solstice for feasting and dancing and singing". (Ibid p.12).

[40] When asked how his mother felt about practicing the traditional ways, Mr. Comber said, "I asked her on several occasions. She says 'I left that behind, I am now a Catholic. That's my religion now'. And she didn't want to talk about any more of the old Madewin society religious beliefs". And of course, in an oral culture once things are no longer spoken of, the memory of them faded quickly. (Ibid p.11).

[41] By the time Mr. Comber was a young man most in the community had been converted to Roman Catholicism or became followers of the United or Mennonite Churches. He explained that missionaries had come to Pikangikum from Pennsylvania and brought with them skills that were very impressive to the locals, including masonry, carpentry, steel work and the ability to generate electricity. They taught those skills and spread their religion. He described their view of traditional ways like this:

"that was the absolute end of, the end of the world. That was like these people, whoever practiced this kind of paganism is going to be ending up in hell for sure. They used to go back and forth, they used to have also have another compound in, they had a school actually, kind of a residential school in Poplar Hill on an island and they used to go back and forth all the time….. But going down about two or three sets of rapids from here, going down on the left hand side is a nice big smooth rock and up on top of this rock is what the locals and all the people up and down the Berens River called the grandfather rocks. And there's a beautiful round rock there and I remember that since I can remember even remembering. And around there used to be these little round, perfect little round rocks. They looked like little marbles, but they're about that big, maybe bigger. And this rock I remember only about that big and almost perfectly round. How and where these were formed I have no idea. But that was a really respected spiritual place where all the Anishinabe that went up and down that river. And we used to always stop there when we went down there, we used to always put down either cigarettes, bullets, used to be all kinds of beautiful artifacts there; bead work, there was fresh bullets, fresh food. And all the people still had a connection to that place. But every time the Mennonites would go by there they would throw these rocks down the hill and into the river to destroy the connection between the native spirituality". (Ibid p.19)

He went on to describe a kind of competition where the Mennonites would roll the rocks into the river and the travellers would retrieve them and replace them and how this would happen over and over for many years.

[42] At the same time children were being increasingly disconnected from their families. Mr. Comber explained:

"and I think a lot of the disconnect that started to happen is what happened to me also is I went to the residential school for nine years. And a lot of these youngsters went there too, different ones one of the things that used to happen, and it still does to a certain degree, and like I said at the beginning of my talk, is they used to have this thing they called "tell me your story" in Ojibway. Now how do you tell your mother or your father, your grandmother, the people you love the most, how do you tell them after you've been gone for the winter, how do you tell them that you got buggered up the ass? How do you tell your mother that you got raped or you got beaten. You got starved. You got beaten for speaking your language. There you see it every year it gets worse and worse, the disconnect goes further and further and further because you cannot tell the story because they're not going to believe that 'you're serious? God's agent on earth did that to you?' These are next to God. These are priests. These are nuns. And here's the fallout from that. That's part of it. That's just part of the equation. I know what I'm speaking about because it happened to me…".

"For me it's two things. It's difficult to talk about it. It hurts. But I also like it in that at least I get to tell a story that a lot of people have never heard, even the ones that are from here after me. They come from a very, very brave and a very strong people, the ones that I knew, masterful craftsmen and women… if these people were as minor as they are written about in history books they wouldn't be here for 60,000 years. It takes great skill. I've seen that skill. I've seen the very last part of that. What it took to be here. How they mastered their dogs, their environment. There are people here, very few still alive now, that are just extraordinary hunters…. They were just amazing. The snowshoes they used to make them by hand. The weaving was so intricate it was just amazing. And those were the skills they had here and those were tools that they used. Now they are looked on as art. But those were commonplace. And I still have the old brass bells that used to be on the lead dog, my dad's old lead dog. I still have them at home. And I can still hear that sound when those dogs coming in a cold winter night, coming back from wherever, can hear that ringing sound right across the lake as the dogs were running and that beautiful sound, crisp sound. These people here, they were self-sufficient". (Ibid p.27).

[43] By the late sixties a few people began making home brew alcohol out of raisins and sugar from the store and eventually the drinking began to spiral out of control. In the early 70's, Mr. Comber remembered the first two brothers who used to come into the Hudson Bay store acting oddly and smelling of gas. No one knew what they were up to at the time but it took off like wildfire. Sniffing gasoline has now become so commonplace in the community that many adults consider it a normal phase for children to go through as they pass into early adulthood.

[44] As the forgoing makes clear, contact with the forces of modernity has had a profoundly negative impact on the people of Pikangikum and unfortunately the personal stories of Bradley Suggashie and Jerius Quill both reflect this dismal legacy.

BACKGROUND OF THE ACCUSED

[45] Bradley Suggashie is thirty two and the youngest of seven children. He has spent his whole life in Pikangikum except for a period of time he lived in Sachigo Lake First Nation with an ex-girlfriend with whom he has four young children ranging in age from 5-10. Mr. Suggashie has only had two jobs, once he was a security guard at the Nursing Station for a month and for three weeks he worked at the Northern Store in Sachigo before being caught selling OxyContin there and sent to jail for 4 months in 2012. As a result he was barred from returning to Sachigo and he has had limited contact with his children since, something that appears to have caused him great distress. Many of Mr. Suggashie's friends committed suicide in their teenage years including an ex-girlfriend who took her own life in 2006.

[46] Mr. Suggashie's alcohol use escalated through his teenage years to the point where about five years ago he was drinking homebrew every day. After his incarceration in 2012 he was able to maintain sobriety for a period of almost two years until, in the months before this incident, he was again consuming alcohol very heavily. In 2006 and again in 2009 he was involved in two all-terrain vehicle accidents that left him with a neck injury and unspecified head trauma. The neck injury was serious enough that in 2009 he was told that he might not walk again. When he was seen by a social worker as part of his rehabilitation, it was noted that Mr. Suggashie, "has difficulty making decisions, finding and keeping work, feelings of being rejected, taken for granted, flashbacks, fears, anxiety and panic, difficulty with conflict, relationship issues and unresolved grief".

[47] Jerius Quill is forty-five years old. One of nine children, he grew up in a home where nine family members lived in a two bedroom home. Two of his siblings died before his birth. Alcohol abuse and domestic violence was a regular part of his childhood. His oldest sister reports that there was often a shortage of food in the home and inadequate clothing. Mr. Quill went to school as far as grade nine when he dropped out of high school as a result of his solvent abuse that continued until he was 18.

[48] Mr. Quill acknowledges being an alcoholic for his entire adult life. He first consumed alcohol when he was 9, as an adult the longest he has been abstinent has been one month by his estimate. He told the author of his pre-sentence report that the saddest moment of his childhood was witnessing his mother being raped by two men during a drinking party at his house while his father was out of the community. He said that even though he has tried to forget about this incident, it still brings him sadness.

[49] Mr. Quill said that he did spend time at the families trap line when he was young and they would trap beaver, martin and lynx for fur and rabbit for food. He said his father taught him how to chop wood, hunt and set nets for fish and that these were some of his happiest times.

[50] He has occasionally been employed but has not been able to maintain steady employment due to his alcoholism. Mr. Quill has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1992 that includes, among other things, fifteen convictions for some form of assaultive behaviour, always while under the influence of alcohol.

POPULATION GROWTH

[51] Both accused in this case are the products of exceptionally large families. This is not unusual in Pikangikum as one might expect in a community that consisted of five families in the 1930's, grew to approximately 100 people in the late 1950's and now members almost 3,000. After the establishment of the Hudson Bay Post in 1959 people would gather in the central community and subsidies were handed out from the trading store on a monthly basis. Eventually, it became more convenient to spend time at the trading post than travel back and forth from the store to trapping grounds.

[52] Welfare was also introduced at the same time. When asked how the community became so large, Mr. Comber said "There was a really interesting…. There was a fellow on the radio one time. And I remember my dad saying 'listen to this guy he's a… whatever he's preaching there, whatever he's talking about is really strange'. What he was basically saying was that the more kids you have, the more the government will pay you. So if you're looking at $300 or $400, $500 bucks a kid that's a lot of money a month, a lot of money a year. So they became sort of like little money makers". (Testimony of Lloyd Comber, Ibid, p. 44).

[53] At the same time family dynamics also began to change profoundly. Mr. Comber explained:

"But, sometime around about the late to mid 60's there was this thing that started to happen. These old women they used to come across to talk to my mom. They used to say things this is starting to happen a lot. And they used to call it an Ojibway word which means they'd literally discard each other with no sense of… that's it. It's over, like I discard you. Especially the men would leave the women. And the women would be left to raise the kids. And they move onto another relationship just like so. There are certain individuals here that I know of that had four or five different relationships. They got two or three kids from, maybe more, from each of these last three relationships. And they'd look at it in the long run, who's going to pay for all this. See the old concept of looking after your kids and looking after yourself, that's gone. Somewhere it went along side of the road. Before they used to take great pride in looking after their kids and teaching them all the different skills that they needed to know. And I think a lot of that kind of went sideways when these youngsters came back from these different schools". (Ibid p.46).

[54] Other attitudes also changed over time. In 1954 according to reporting in Macleans magazine there was exactly one recorded drunken assault in Pikangikum and a study of the reserve published five years later noted its "low incidence of violence". According to the same Macleans report, published in 2012, the community, then of 2,400 people, had just over 3,600 lockups and 5,000 calls for service in 2011. (Macleans magazine, Canada "Home of the Suicide Capital of the World" Macleans.ca p.2).

[55] Mr. Comber describes the change:

"This place has become a very scary place to be at night time. Daytime is not too bad. But it never was like this, not at all. Not even close. I remember back in the day also the police were here, the police lived in the community. They had little cabins here. They were here with their wives and kids. And I used to see them going over the lake, wintertime, summertime, with the community members, going fishing, going camping. Same with the Hudson Bay managers. Same with the nurses. Same with the teachers. They used to get involved. Everybody got along. Court was happening maybe four, five times a year, if that. That was very rare. This was a big hit when court when held in the community. But now we're here twice a week. What happened? I can still remember Terry Armstrong, he's now the chief of police in the NAPS in Thunder Bay, he used to go fishing here, him and his wife and his kids, two boys, two tiny little things. Go fishing with the locals, sitting on the ice just chuckling away having a good old time. They were respected in the day. They respected the Hudson Bay store people, the nurses, the teachers. Now they got no respect for them. They don't even have respect for their elders. Two weeks ago I was sitting here talking for an Elder, an elder person, and the young ones were ridiculing him outside here, outside the courtroom. I said 'don't do that. Why are you talking about this old man?'. Back in the day when I was a youngster, that was not, that was unheard of. To lie, to tell a non-truth, you just didn't do that. You just did not do that to the Elders and stuff, the older people that asked you something. That was like, the feeling that I get when I came back from residential school and start lying to my mother about what happened, this… a feeling of despair. A feeling of distance. You're not supposed to lie to your parents. Not supposed to lie to the Elders. Supposed to be honest and truthful. That's one of the teachings they followed back in the day. I don't see that no more. They learnt that somewhere, somebody taught them that. I learned that in residential school. Yeah". (Ibid p. 38).

[56] For many, these residential school experiences have left them unable to cope with the demands of parenting their own children. The article, Canada, Home to the Suicide Capital of the World, reported on conversations with Billy Joe Strang, who was the chairman of the Pikangikum Health Authority in 2011 when the article was written, its story says in part:

"Billy Joe Strang doesn't seem the least bit concerned with Pikangikum's seemingly perpetual brick and mortar issues. Focusing on water and electricity, he says masks the community's real problem; the abject failure of many parents in the community. "Infrastructure" is relatively simple to fix, but parenting isn't". "You're going to have the same problems whether or not you have running water". Mr. Strang told the reporters he had an epiphany six years ago, he told the reporters in 2011, when he saw two kids "maybe eight or nine years old" wander by his house at four in the morning "I can't get that image out of my head, kids like that are going to grow up not knowing right from wrong".

(Ibid p. 12)

[57] Indeed, Pikangikum's Community Health Needs Assessment of 2013, initiated by the Pikangikum Health Authority as recommended by the Chief Coroner following the suicide inquest cited police data that shows a rise in violent crime incidents from 98 in 2001 to 600 per year for the period 2009-2011.

[58] The same document provided an estimate of 350 solvent abusers as of 2008 and noted that 27 percent of Grade three and four students in the community self-reported they had tried sniffing gasoline. As a woman's aide participant for the health assessment said:

"Almost all the youth drink and no one is here to stop the drinking, the violence and things like gas sniffing, it's like a tornado of drugs, alcohol and violence." (Working it out Together, p.52).

[59] As the Gladue report prepared for this sentencing indicates:

"For whatever reason, a spike in violent crime incidents reported in Pikangikum, as recorded by police coincided with a change in the way OPP administered its policing of the community. Until partway through 2007, said OPP Sgt. Adam Illman, the OPP had a stand-alone detachment in Pikangikum. It was staffed almost entirely by police officers who lived in the community. Some of them were community members but most weren't. One officer for the detachment lived elsewhere and would travel back and forth. This arrangement was problematic said Sgt. Illman, in that the officers in Pikangikum basically became out of touch with the OPP."

[60] In the spring of 2007, however, responsibility for policing of Pikangikum policing was transferred to the OPP Red Lake detachment and officers from the south were seconded to work in Pikangikum for two week rotations (an arrangement that continues to this day). This current policing model, for some, creates challenges for both the police and community members because the frequent rotation of officers unfamiliar with the community interferes with continuity and makes it more difficult to create the kinds of relationships necessary to conduct effective policing.

DECISION

[61] This is the context within which this sentencing takes place. And so we return to a consideration of the proper placement of general deterrence in the aboriginal circumstances of this community and these individuals broadly understood.

[62] It is true that the rule of law and administration of justice must be respected if we are to remain a country governed by laws and not by force exercised by either the strong or the irrational and intemperate passions of the mob. But it is also true that the administration of justice must be guided by understanding or risk losing that respect.

[63] It would be wilful blindness not to recognise that Pikangikum is going through a terrible and deteriorating health crisis. I have travelled to this community on average once a month for the last 24 years, first as a lawyer and lately in my capacity as a Judge of this Court. I have seen first-hand the steady and rapid increase in the size of the community, the explosion in violent crime and the deterioration of living conditions. There are many good people here and the conditions they are living in are a national disgrace.

[64] It is shameful that a country as wealthy as ours tolerates that any of its citizens should live as many of the people of Pikangikum do. But it is not only the appalling lack of basics like reliable electricity and water and sewer that is striking here. It is the fact that within one elderly person's lifetime, a small group of people, whose ancestors lived off the land, who developed deep understandings of the spirit of the land they inhabited for millennia, could one day meet strangers in the wilderness with such devastatingly consequences for their children and grandchildren.

[65] I have no doubt of the good intentions of the traders and the missionaries and the government ministries who sought to, in their own way, educate and support those first families living in the wilderness. But there can also be no doubt that the effect of their well-intentioned efforts has been to set these people on a traumatic and uncertain trajectory.

[66] As challenging as their reality is for the people of Pikangikum, it is challenging also for the police in this community. It is unfair to the police to put them on the frontline of this health crisis and ask them to manage the symptoms. The officers who were present during this incident were extremely traumatized. Acting Sgt. Gordon has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and several officers have missed extensive time, at least one of whom is still unable to return to work. Unless there is a consistent, coordinated effort across political jurisdictions to address the systemic social illness that exists in Pikangikum, the police and the Courts for that matter, are being put in an extremely precarious position. Consider the comments made by the then President of the OPP Association to the Globe and Mail in an article published August 2, 2010 after the OPP was forced out of the community for a second time:

"As a Canadian, I'm ashamed to admit that's happening in this country (referring to the police needing to pull out of the community). When we leave there, teachers don't want to be there, nurses don't want to be there, that community will descend into chaos". He is alarmed by the message sent when the community ejects an entire contingent of police. "Now we've let it happen a second time" he said "it will happen a third time".

[67] While the police were not forced out of the community this time, it was undoubtedly the "third time" as earlier predicted. Sgt. Gordon confirmed that while he was negotiating the resolution of the conflict he was fielding calls from the medical personnel at the nursing station in Pikangikum asking to be taken out of the community with the police if they decided they wanted to leave.

[68] When the accused first appeared before me to enter their guilty pleas in April 2016, they had been in custody at the Kenora District Jail continuously since the date of the incident. I indicated to counsel at that time I would need additional background information before I was prepared to pass sentence and sentencing was adjourned for the preparation of a separate Gladue report to supplement the pre-sentence report previously completed. In June 2016, after hearing sentencing submissions from counsel, I directed that the accused be released on conditions and asked that community reconciliation efforts be explored.

[69] As that process unfolded I directed that Mr. Comber be called as a witness to provide additional Gladue information. Since then I have received a report from Shirley Keesic, a restorative justice worker with Nishanabe-Aski Legal Services, outlining steps Bradley Suggashie and Jerius Quill have taken as part of a reconciliation process. According to the report, both accused participated in a restorative justice circle on July 13, 2016. At that time the incident was discussed and many people, including the accused and members of the OPP, were able to express their perspectives on what had happened and the impact it had had on them and the community. At the conclusion of the circle, both accused agreed they would perform various forms of community service including painting the Whitefeather building, where court is often held, specifically removing graffiti from the outside of the building that made negative references to the OPP. They also agreed to assist the police and peacekeepers in repairing and maintaining police assets in the community. They also agreed to cooperate with the Chief and Council and the OPP to educate youth about the need to foster a positive relationship between the community and the police. Each accused also completed a letter of apology.

[70] In considering whether the time these accused have already spent in custody is sufficient to meet the requirements of general deterrence, I have considered the important fact that very few of the 300-500 people who surrounded the police detachment joined the accused in their criminal behaviour. That is, in my view, a testament to the fundamentally law abiding nature of the vast majority of Pikangikum residents.

[71] I have also considered that the arrest and jailing of these accused for a very significant time, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, has sent an important message to members of the community that this kind of serious lawless conduct will be met with immediate and serious consequences.

[72] I am impressed by the extent of Bradley Suggashie and Jerius Quill's efforts to repair the noxious effect of their actions and the time has arrived in my view to build on those efforts of reconciliation. Given the detailed history and context I have reviewed in these reasons I am struck by the symbolism of Bradley Suggashie's confrontation with Acting Sgt. Gordon and how at the height of the confrontation and with the outcome still uncertain, he was able to express his anger in words and receive Officer Gordon's expression of understanding and that they were both able to extend their hands to each other to end the conflict.

[73] Balancing Mr. Suggashie's more prominent role in the riot with Mr. Quill's more substantial criminal record, I am of the view it is appropriate that both receive the same sentence. For both accused, on the count of break and enter with intent to commit mischief, I will credit them both with the equivalent of 16 months of time already served and further suspend the passing of sentence for two years, the terms of which will require them to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, report to a probation officer, today and thereafter as required by their Probation Officer. They will attend and complete counselling for alcohol abuse, grief, and trauma and anger management as may be arranged by their Probation Officer. They will complete 80 hours of community service within 9 months and provide proof of completion to their Probation Officer. The same terms and conditions will apply on the balance of charges concurrently. I will also order that each accused provide a sample of his DNA for the DNA data bank.

Released: January 18, 2017

Signed: "Justice D. Gibson"