Media.Knet.Ca

'Ontario Today' on CBC Radio One last Friday covered this story.

Everyone is invited to listen to this broadcast by clicking on the following link:

http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/story_archive.html
 
Also, there was an article in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, see below.
 
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From The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal

Official complaint: Fort Severn teen seeks review of sweatshirt incident by agency overseeing police

By Alana Toulin, February 8, 2008
 
The Fort Severn First Nation teen taken aside by a Thunder Bay police officer during a school tour is calling for a review of his case by the agency that oversees police services in Ontario.

Abraham Miles, 17, says he was touring the city police station last November with his Dennis Franklin Cromarty Secondary School classmates when he was taken aside and questioned after a plainclothes officer spotted him wearing a Warchief Native Apparel sweatshirt, a brand apparently favoured by some native street gangs.

Miles says the officer told him to remove his shirt and he was escorted into a room, interrogated and photographed in the presence of a teacher and a uniformed officer.

In a letter to Miles from Thunder Bay Police dated Jan. 10 and obtained by The Chronicle-Journal, a senior police administrator said the plainclothes officer involved committed a misconduct and may face consequences for detaining the teen without reasonable grounds.

“The officer shall receive a written reprimand that will stay on his employment record for a period of two years,” wrote J.P. Levesque, administration superintendent for Chief Bob Herman. “Further, the officer will participate in training involving powers of arrest, detention, and search and seizure. Lastly, the officer will apologize to you in writing and in person at your convenience.”

The letter also said all photographs taken of Miles at the station would be destroyed, since Miles did not consent to them and the officer did not have the judicial consent to take them. 

Police adjudicators, however, deemed the uniformed officer‘s involvement in the incident as “relatively minor.”

“Although I am unable to conclude that there may have been misconduct, I recognize the principle concern that you have outlined in your complaint and his involvement in this incident,” Levesque wrote, adding that the uniformed officer‘s branch commander would review the incident with the officer.

For Miles and his lawyers, this isn‘t enough.

In a letter to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services dated Feb. 8, Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto executive director Kimberly Murray outlines their concerns.

According to the letter, Miles‘ legal counsel believes the decisions made after the Thunder Bay Police Services‘ investigation were flawed, from the decision to label the uniformed officer‘s role as “relatively minor” to the failure to follow procedure set out in the Police Services Act.

“A police officer stood by and watched a fellow officer wrongfully detain, and then illegally search a youth. Such condemnation on the part of a police officer constitutes a neglect of duty and discreditable conduct,” she wrote.

Murray also thinks police did not investigate “what role Mr. Miles‘ identity as an aboriginal youth played in the actions of the subject officers,” and she says they failed to investigate breaches of Miles‘ Charter rights.

Police spokesman Chris Adams said city police are confident in their adjudicator‘s findings.

“OCCPS will now review the adjudicator‘s file and will then make a decision as to whether they uphold the adjudicator‘s decisions or whether they feel more investigation is warranted,” he said. “We will wait and then see what the OCCPS‘s finding is.”

In December, Fort Severn First Nation Chief David Matthews called the incident an example of racial profiling. He said Warchief Native Apparel is a clothing line meant to promote pride and unity in First Nations rather than endorse gang violence.“I wouldn‘t want an incident like this to tarnish a successful young First Nation entrepreneur who‘s incorporating clothing trends with traditional art and culture,” Matthews said then. “This is a good news story, not a negative one.”

In an interview yesterday, Matthews said he is pleased one officer involved was reprimanded, but is disappointed the second offer is not being disciplined.

“I hope the officers get sensitivity training,” he said. “Not just them, but all of the policemen so that this won‘t happen again.”

Matthews added he knows other individuals in his community who have been targeted by police for wearing Warchief clothing and is trying to get them to come forward.

Kimberly Murray and Abraham Miles could not be reached for comment yesterday.